The territorial delegate of Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development, Antonio Mena, the president of the Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders RUMIAL, Evaristo Muñoz Imbernón, and the president of the Official College of Veterinarians of Almería, Yasmina Domínguez, have kicked off a technical conference related to the optimisation of hardware, software and computer applications adapted to the needs of the veterinary and livestock collective.
The delegate explained that «for the Regional Ministry, the current challenge is to achieve a connected and intelligent agri-food sector, although there are currently barriers to be overcome to achieve this objective, such as the advanced age of producers, the small size of farms and the lack of technological solutions adapted to the needs of the sector». The mission of the Livestock Health Defence Associations (ADSG), such as RUMIAL, is to articulate the productive sectors, the transfer of technology to farms and livestock farmers, communication with the Administration and the implementation of health programmes to combat the main diseases of livestock.
The conference has been organised by the Territorial Delegation of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, together with RUMIAL, the main ADSG of the province, whose scope covers the regions of Levante, Almanzora, Campo de Tabernas and Bajo y Medio Andarax. It currently has 1,100 associated breeders. More than 20 professionals who work in ADSG, Regional Agricultural Offices (OCA) or Territorial Delegation have participated in the activity.
On this occasion, official veterinarians and veterinarians from the Agrupación de Defensa Sanitaria Ganadera focused on optimising the software of the electronic identification readers, in order to simplify the collection of data in the field and during the intradermal tuberculin test, within the Andalusian programme for the control of goat tuberculosis, as well as the official notification of this data to the OCA, which is responsible for the health status of the different herds. The official veterinarian Daniel López Baldán was in charge of this part of the training activity.
Manuel Granero Molina, veterinarian, has been responsible for putting on the table the possibilities and advances in the use of SIGGAN ADSG WEB, a computer application created by the Regional Ministry to make available to the ADGS the computer tools to update «on line» the animal census data, data on livestock movements, as well as recording of health actions carried out on the livestock on farms attached to each livestock farmers’ association.
More than 200 herds in our province participate in the programme for the control of tuberculosis in goats, which can be voluntarily joined by the owners of livestock farms. The implementation of the programme is supported by compensation for the loss of animals that have to be removed from the herd. The tests to be carried out may be subsidised if they are carried out by the Agrupaciones de Defensa Sanitaria Ganadera. Speeding up the performance of the tests and their official communication, as well as ensuring traceability, are the main objectives of this conference for a better implementation of this programme in our herds.