Despite the UK government announcing temporary visas for 5,500 poultry workers in September, emerging reporting from FarmingUK shows that poultry businesses are still struggling to stay solvent.
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The Australian chicken meat industry supports the World Health Organisation (WHO) in calling Australians to handle antimicrobials with care, in line with the theme of this year’s global awareness week.
Australian Chicken Meat Federation Executive Director Dr Vivien Kite says, “The Australian chicken meat industry has been a global leader in helping to prevent antibiotic resistance through the adoption of responsible use practices and policies since the 1980s. The industry acknowledges that it has a role to play to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance, while at the same time has a responsibility to protect and maintain the health and welfare of the chickens in its care, and we are proud of the work that has been done to date, and that is ongoing.”
Over the past year, AgriFutures Australia supported a project to independently verify the existence and maturity of the AMS programmes developed and maintained by the six companies that produce 90 percent of Australian chicken meat. The report on this project is publicly available. The results verify that the AMS principles adopted by the Australian chicken meat industry have been successful in maintaining the low-resistance status of key bacterial species isolated from Australian meat chickens.
Furthermore, and in collaboration with the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources’ Animal Biosecurity and Response Reform Programme, the industry participated in a national survey of antimicrobial resistance in Australian meat chickens. The results show the Australian chicken meat industry is in an enviable position globally with low and improved levels of AMR and, importantly, low levels of resistance to antimicrobials that are priorities for use in human health. This has been achieved due to the industry’s long-standing program of responsible use of antibiotics.
Dr Kite says, “Our collaboration with the Government, Australian scientists and other experts in this study on AMR and the commitment of our members to antimicrobial stewardship programmes will continue to place the Australian chicken meat industry as an international leader in the area of responsible antimicrobial use, while continuing to ensure that the health and welfare of our chickens is not compromised.
Despite the UK government announcing temporary visas for 5,500 poultry workers in September, emerging reporting from FarmingUK shows that poultry businesses are still struggling to stay solvent.
Bethan Edwards, a recent Broadcast Journalism graduate at The University of Salford located near Manchester, UK, created a television series delving into the process and sustainability of poultry farming as her final class project. Edwards lives on her familys poultry farm in the UK.
According to reporting in The Namibian, the chairman of Namibia’s PPA, René Werner, says that the poultry industry’s growth is being thwarted by growing feed costs and competition from imports, despite the number of poultry producers increasing. Werner explained that the volume of imports from consol
Most backyard chicken keepers resort to self-help to care for injured, sick and dying chickens at home due to the lack of access to a poultry veterinarian, but there are state and federal resources available to the poultry community that offer a variety of services. Those resources are listed by state below and include, each state veterinarian, each state’s Department of Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service poultry specialist and each state’s ve