Proposed changes to the sale and supply of vaccines will make the provision of services that large-animal vets provide more challenging, Offaly-based vet Donal Lynch has said.

An emergency meeting was held in the Horse and Jockey on Monday 15 July to discuss the new changes proposed under the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Act 2023.

The imminent signing of a statutory instrument by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue will essentially see the sale of some vaccines, which were once only available via vets or pharmacists, now be available at merchant level.

However, vets have warned that by taking this margin away from them, it will make their practices less viable, which will in turn lead to challenges providing out-of-hours services into the future.

'Not sustainable'

"If my neighbour up the road rings me and says, 'Donal I have a cow calving and I've two heads coming' - I'm not going to say no to that man. What we're really worried about is into the future, it won't be sustainable to do it because we won't have the manpower to do it.

"It's no secret - the margin on these products is very small, no matter who sells them. When someone comes in and buys vaccine from me, I make very little out of it.

"But when you add it all up, it comes to something and I use that then to subsidise the vet work that's done.

"The challenge is, out-of-hours services can't be done unless a practice is sustainable, because if I can't pay the vets at the end of the week - naturally enough they're not going stay, they're going to go to small animal or something else," he said.

Advice

Vets, Lynch said, went to college for five years to be able to advise a farmer what the appropriate thing to do is and have also spent the last 20 years promoting the use of vaccines.

"While merchants and co-ops fill an important role - there's no way the advice coming from somebody with a three-day course can equal the advice coming from somebody with a five-year degree," he said.

Not only is this unfair, Lynch added that there's no way you can learn in three days what it takes you five years and experience to learn.

Veterinary Ireland is meeting with Minister McConalogue on Tuesday evening 16 July to discuss these concerns.