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Homeopathic remedies together with veterinary medicine will help improve the health of Ireland’s herd, according to the co-founder of Whole Health Agriculture.
Laurence Woodward was speaking at the inaugural Agri-Homeopathy conference, held in partnership with the National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS), in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny on Thursday.
According to the World Health Organisation, homeopathy is being used as a treatment for people and animals in at least 100 of its member countries. Some remedies include arnica, belladonna and hypericum.
Woodward told the 97 guests at the conference and the online listeners that the homeopathy event “would not be an attack on the veterinary profession”.
“Vets are here and have a vital role,” he said. “Hemopathy is a tool, not the be all and end all, but is a tool in the management of that process.
“This is all about the idea of restructuring to manage the health process. We would argue that homeopathy along with herbal medicines have a critical role in achieving that.”
Regulations
The use of herbal remedies and homeopathy to treat animal ailments is permitted in organic farming in Ireland. However, guidelines around its use in conventional farming as a primary treatment are less clear.
Another speaker at the conference included veterinary surgeon and veterinary member of the faculty of homeopathy, Chris Aukland.
In response to a question from the floor on bovine tuberculosis, he said that farmers must follow Government and veterinary protocols in relation to notifiable diseases.
“What you would never ever do, is attempt to treat an animal that might be going down with TB, you have to follow the regulations,” he said.
“When your animals have a higher level of vitality, they tend to be less susceptible to disease. If you decrease the stress levels, the immune system works better, you get less disease, we see that across the board.”
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