Deworming more diffcult for small UK poultry producers
Thousands of small poultry producers in the UK will have to change the way they worm their flocks to comply with Veterinary Medicines legislation, warns Janssen Animal Health.
The company says in the past many poultry keepers with small to medium sized flocks have used its dewormer Flubenvet® 2.5% Medicated Premixture 240 gram pack.
In future it will no longer be possible to do so unless individuals (or companies) are approved and registered to mix medicines into feed.
Under the legislation, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate has confirmed that medicated feed supplements that need to be mixed in greater than 30kg of animal feed (Schedule 5 products), can no longer be supplied to veterinary practices, pharmacists or animal health retailers for them to sell.
Registration required
This can only possible if they register as approved distributors of Schedule 5 products – category 8 on the ‘Register of approved Retailers Premises’.
Most retail outlets do not register as category 8 distributors because they do not sell significant quantities of these products and there is also a cost involved in registering as a category 8 distributor that makes it unattractive to most merchants.
Registered retailers are also only able to sell medicated pre-mixtures for mixing into more than 30kg of feed to customers who are specifically registered with the VMD to mix these into animal foods.
