Moredun scientists were delighted to contribute to the recent Elanco Animal Health ‘Access to Knowledge’ (A2K) event, held virtually on Fri 17th September. This was one of a series of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events for vets and RAMAs (Registered Animal Medicines Advisors), and was hosted by none other than Adam Henson, well known farmer and TV presenter. The programme featured a series of short talks inter-cut with videoclips filmed on location. One of those locations was the recent Westmorland Show (8th-9th Sept.), and included a visit to the new Moredun outreach bus on-site and short interviews with Moredun scientists, Beth Wells, Dave Bartley and Philip Skuce about Moredun’s history, research and KE activities.
The topic of the September 17th A2K event was Sustainable Parasite Control, with a focus on fluke, and featured a presentation on ‘Liver fluke – the theory’ from Dr Philip Skuce, interfaced with an on-farm piece from Elanco Vet, and former Moredun Regional Advisor, Matt Colston, discussing practical liver fluke control with Cumbrian farmer, Pete Webster. The programme also included a ‘Parasite Matters’ update from Matt, as well as a thought-provoking presentation from Alison Lambert, vet from OnSwitch Ltd., on encouraging best practice in anthelmintic product choice and parasite control advice to farmers. The session finished with a live and lively Q&A, with lots of pertinent questions from the large audience, some 450 vets and RAMAs were registered to attend. There were live polls and questions to the audience throughout. One key question related to what attendees thought future A2K events should focus on, based on what their farmer clients asked or were concerned about! Interestingly, topics such as sheep scab, rumen fluke and ‘iceberg diseases’ featured strongly so, hopefully, there will be a demand for Moredun’s input and expertise at future A2K events!
