FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE July 2024 7 However, too many barriers still exist to vaccine uptake, ranging from lack of investment to cold chain infrastructure to slow regulatory approvals. Policymakers must come together in the coming years to work with vaccines manufacturers to develop new strategies for getting vaccines to more farmers and veterinarians in a faster, more effective manner. BIOSECURITY While vaccines are an essential tool, they are not available for all diseases and not every illness can be avoided. Biosecurity offers a complementary method for preventing disease through practices that keep disease off the farm altogether. These can be simple steps like boot sanitization stations, to more complex systems like indoor animal rearing and quarantines. This spectrum of biosecurity tools means there are opportunities for better prevention on farms of every size, sophistication, and system. A recent study found that prevention of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which many countries achieve through biosecurity, reduces poultry emissions by approximately 11%. IMPROVED FEED AND NUTRITION The past decade has seen substantial improvements in understanding of the gut microbiome of animals and how it supports disease prevention. This has helped animal health companies develop a range of nutritional supplements that improve gut health, leading to lower levels of diseases like necrotic enteritis that sap productivity and increase the environmental footprint of production. Furthermore, an emerging area of feed additives like 3-NOP can reduce the amount of methane produced in the gut of a cattle, which U.S. Department of Agriculture funded research found led to a 25% reduction in cattle methane emissions. BETTER BREEDING Just like in people, an animal’s genetics can dictate whether it will be vulnerable to various health ailments. Breeding is therefore a critical component of any health strategy to help ensure that the animals that arrive on the farm have an innate resistance to certain diseases and can produce more efficiently in that region. Studies in Europe have shown that better genetics could reduce livestock emissions in the European Union by 8%, while in the Netherlands a focus on genetics could slash methane emissions by 24%. DIAGNOSTICS AND DIGITAL Increasingly sophisticated farms are shifting from not just preventing disease but predicting it and taking action before it has an opportunity to strike. For instance, widespread use of diagnostics across farms allows researchers to track the movement of disease across borders and support farms in taking preventative measures before it arrives on their doorstep. On the farm itself, new digital tools like smart sensors alongside 24/7 video and sound monitoring mean A.I.-driven tools can detect the very first cough or elevated temperature of a sick animal before a person can. Farms can then isolate sick animals and prevent the spread of disease that could wipe out a herd. ANIMAL HEALTH AND THE FUTURE AHEAD Animal health tools to strengthen, prevent disease, improve sustainability and reduce emissions in livestock are available. Global institutions are increasingly recognizing them as a key pathway in addressing both hunger and climate simultaneously. The next step is for governments to take the necessary local actions to ensure farmers, veterinarians and other animal keepers can access these technologies and have the necessary support to use them. This means: - Ensuring proper access to veterinary expertise to help with deployment; - Building regulatory systems that allow safe, effective animal health products to quickly reach those in-need; - Providing the appropriate support to help farms adopt animal health products that provide significant societal benefits; - Working directly with animal health companies to set long-term strategies that can help new vaccines and other products reach the market, particularly in outbreak scenarios. These actions will ensure that when world leaders measure global progress against the SDGs in 2030, animal health will have been one of the drivers of livestock’s contributions.
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