Animal Health & Welfare
SFSI partner, the Department (Ministry) of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is responsible for operating animal health and welfare controls in Ireland and maintaining Ireland’s exceptional animal health status and high animal welfare standards.
Exporting up to 90% of its beef and dairy produce, Ireland operates some of the world’s most robust and effective animal health controls. Ireland has had tremendous success in keeping animal diseases out of the national herd and safeguarding the integrity of Ireland’s health status. Where required eradication programmes have proven to be extremely effective – for example, Ireland is officially Brucellosis-free.
The state-of-the-art DAFM Laboratories at Backweston Campus support and augment the work being undertaken in animal health and welfare.
Integration of data on animal health with Animal Identification and Movement is important to validate both systems and to support other initiatives such as genomic-based breeding. Ireland’s AHCS (Animal Health Computer System) is a system that has been developed to support DAFM’s various animal health and welfare activities.
DAFM is responsible for implementation of the highest standards of health and welfare for live animal import and export.
SFSI offers the expertise gained in Ireland to partner countries interested in improving animal health and welfare standards.