In part three of our focus on the work of COWS, RUMA hears from Bruce Thompson who is the current farmer member on the COWS group.
Bruce is an 8th generation commercial dairy farmer from Ballyfin, County Laois, Ireland, with a herd of over 300 cows who, in his own words has an ‘obsession with dung beetles’ and received a Nuffield Scholarship to investigate their merits to agriculture and the wider environment. He is passionate about responsible medicine use and where possible, reducing medicine use through prevention strategies with a particular focus on wormers. He has achieved significant reductions in wormer use on his farm through the use of his farm microscope to diagnose and by implementing new grazing strategies. He shares with RUMA how important a role the COWS group plays in providing effective and impactful advice to the cattle sector.
Bruce says: “Being the current farmer member on COWS has really broadened my perspective on the area surrounding parasite management and ruminant health. Collaborating with a variety of stakeholders with different areas of expertise, means that there is a fully rounded view being taken that ensures all aspects are considered when it comes to creating new advice and implementing new technologies, from a legislative, scientific, and ground force perspective.
“This basically means that any problems or opportunities can be aired to allow solutions to be considered by everyone concerned to come up with a workable solution for all stakeholders. The work of COWS puts forward advice based on evidence, affording farmers the ability to employ workable solutions with all the best expertise behind it.
“As a farmer representative, I have had the opportunity to air my views on a wide range of matters covering financial considerations, barriers to change, effects of animal disease, communication and interpretation, and to put forward my expertise in grassland and herd management. These seem obvious to farmers, but it is important to be part of the conversation and ensure the farmer experience and viewpoint feeds in to the bigger picture.”
Reflecting on how he used the COWS resources before being on the group itself, Bruce adds: “Before being considered for the COWS group, I found the website and information an invaluable resource. I referenced the freely available COWS advice when studying for my Nuffield research topic, which helped me to get a better understanding of this area of ruminant animal health. Inside my farm, this has helped me to significantly reduce animal disease while also reducing animal remedy usage in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.
“I would encourage farmers refer to the impartial COWS advice when it comes to parasite management. This advice is free and has been created by a group of experts from different backgrounds with the shared goal of reducing disease in animals. We have to appreciate that our current parasite control strategy has to transform to a parasite ‘management’ approach due to resistance, environmental, food security, climate change and primary resource challenges.”