Update - april 2018

Teaming up for animal health

GD-magazine - April 2018 - No. 1

update

TEAMING UP ABROAD

Everything about our distribution network

ALWAYS DEVELOPING

Pig department in the picture

ABOUT VHL GENETICS

‘DNA is in our core’

Teaming up for animal health

NEW

PTS for gy bacteriolo

Proficiency testing schemes

Evaluate the performance of your laboratory Even though we already started some of our proficiency testing schemes (PTS) this year, you can still participate in the following PTS: Cat. no.

Proficiency testing scheme

Closing date for registration

Shipment of the samples

Closing date for submission of test results

Final report and certificate

March 23

Week 15

June 1

Week 29

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April 27

Week 19

June 29

Week 30

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August 3

Week 34

October 12

Week 48

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August 31

Week 38

November 9

Week 2

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2019

September 28

Week 41

November 30

Week 2

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2019

April VLDIA172*

PTS IBDV antibody detection (Gumboro)

VLDIA314*

PTS IBD virus detection (Gumboro)

VLDIA286*

PTS BVD virus and antigen detection

VLDIA235*

PTS SRLVs (MVV/CAEV) antibody detection

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification cattle

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains cattle

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification poultry

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains poultry

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification companion animals

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains companion animals

August VLDIA255*

PTS aMPV antibody detection (TRT)

VLDIA277*

PTS ARV antibody detection (REO)

VLDIA292*

PTS ILT antibody detection

VLDIA329

PTS CAV antibody detection

VLDIA291*

PTS Brachyspira hyodysenteriae bacteria detection

October VLDIA232*

PTS AI antibody detection

VLDIA327

PTS AI virus detection

VLDIA233

PTS Salmonella poultry antibody detection

VLDIA171*

PTS Salmonella porcine antibody detection

VLDIA295*

PTS SIV antibody detection

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification cattle

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains cattle

VLDIA323

PTS Bacterial Identification companion Swine

VLDIA324

PTS Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains swine * accredited according to the international standard ISO 17043:2010

Please check our website www.gdanimalhealth.com/PTS for the current time schedule and apply directly online.

Why participate?

• Evaluate the performance of your laboratory • Maintain or achieve ISO 17025 accreditation • Identify inter-laboratory differences • Identify problems within your laboratory • Provide additional confidence to your customers GD, P.O. Box 9, 7400 AA Deventer, the Netherlands, T. +31 (0)570-63 33 91, F. +31 (0)570-63 41 04 www.gdanimalhealth.com, pts@gdanimalhealth.com

foreword

CONSTANTLY IN MOTION In a world that is constantly in motion, nothing ever really stands still. As a company, you are therefore always in motion too. Personally, I feel it’s important to continue developing, so I’m delighted to be leading GD Animal Health’s new marketing line: business development.

At GD, the importance of innovation is reflected in many things. For example, Plexus stimulates interesting developments in the field of antibiotics use and reduction and we try to present innovations at as many trade fairs as possible. We are currently busy organising the CAHE exhibition in May (China) and in June, we’ll obviously be at the VIV in Utrecht, where we will be giving rolling presentations in the pavilion. Here too the focus is naturally Plexus, but we expect many guests and foreign delegations. In response to international demand and to

give others insight into our approach to innovation, we are organising tours around GD. One of the innovations is the development of Plexus Pig, which we will be introducing soon in Vietnam. Training sessions also continue to be an important point in the development. That’s why an interesting dairy seminar is planned in Ukraine in the framework of DUDC. In addition, good monitoring is one of the most important aspects of GD and I’m therefore very glad to see that more and more people worldwide are recognising its importance and that development doesn’t stop at the border.

Jan Willem de Vries, Manager International and Large Accounts

content

04 In practice: udder health in Ukraine 06 Always developing - pig department CONTACT INFORMATION GD ANIMAL HEALTH

07 About VHL Genetics

If you want to know more about what GD Animal Health can do for you, please contact one of our staff members, responsible for international sales:

Jan Willem de Vries Manager International and Large Accounts

Fanny Nieuwenhuis Senior account manager

04

08 Teaming up abroad - introducing our distributors

10 Plexus’ antibiotics module jw.devries@gdanimalhealth.com

f.nieuwenhuis@gdanimalhealth.com

Annemiek Kolkman Senior account manager

Ellen Koetsier Sales support

a.kolkman@gdanimalhealth.com

support@gdanimalhealth.com

Eveline Peereboom Business manager

e.peereboom@gdanimalhealth.com

support@gdanimalhealth.com

Monique Kleinlugtenbeld Sales support

Phone In the Netherlands 0900-1770, Outside the Netherlands +31 (0)570-63 33 91 Fax + 31 (0)570-63 41 04 | E-mail info@gdanimalhealth.com Website www.gdanimalhealth.com | Mail ADDRESS GD, P.O. Box 9, 7400 AA Deventer, the Netherlands | Delivery address for samples and post mortem material GD, CMD, Arnsbergstraat 7, 7418 EZ Deventer, the Netherlands.

11 News and communications 12 GD specialist: Ryan van Egmond 06

10

Update, April 2018 - 3

Udder health in Ukraine 4 - Update, April 2018

in practice

Anne Taverne, editor

The Dutch Ukrainian Dairy Centre (DUDC) is a three-year project of the Dutch government with the aim of supporting the Ukrainian dairy industry. GD Animal Health supports this project by offering seminars and training sessions to promote the knowledge in the field of udder health and nutrition.

In this way, an attempt is made to increase the quality and quantity of the milk produced in Ukraine. In addition, GD Animal Health is involved in setting up animal disease control programs for infectious diseases such as Leptospira hardjo, and to stimulate laboratory diagnostics.

Practical training By offering practical training sessions, GD helps the dairy farm advisors, veterinarians, farm managers and agricultural experts to improve udder health. In this way GD contributes to optimize treatment protocols, work flow and udder health to improve milk quantity and quality on the dairy farm .

Ryan van Egmond (veterinarian, GD) and Hans Miltenburg (zoo technical specialist, GD) recently presented a number of these practical training sessions. They started with a presentation to explain the theoretical background of the function of the milking machine, mastitis infection, mastitis treatment, nutrition and most of the other udder health related aspects. The next day the group brings the learned theory in to practice. The participants had to collect farm data and they use checklists to find the critical control points and discussed the possible implementable improvements with each other. At the end of the day the group had to present an improvement plan to the owner or the farm manager of the dairy farm.

Collecting data The collection of data is an important part of the process towards improved udder health on a dairy farm. This pinpoints the importance of a good management program the advisor can use to analyze for example the number of mastitis cases, the number of high cell count cows etc.. The more quality data available on the farm, Would you like to contact GD from Ukraine?

Tatiana Kopniak, GD representative for Ukraine, is pleased to help you. tkopnyak@ukr.net +380672309763 Татьяна Копняк Координатор проектов в СНГ GD Animal Health

Hans Miltenburg calibrates part of the milk machine and discusses the results with participants.

After the case study, the participants gave advice to the company management. Ryan van Egmond explains more.

the higher the return on investment of the given advice can be.

In Ukraine good quality farm data are often not collected or available to analyze. Many dairy farms do not have a monthly milk control system for collecting valuable individual cow data. If such a milk control system is not in place, as an advisor you cannot see, for example, which cows are contributing the most to the high bulk milk cell count.

By offering training sessions, GD shows how useful and needed these data are. These data ultimately allow you to manage milk quantity and quality. If the milk quality improves, the farm can make a better milk price and as a result the farm income will rise.

Quality improvement of milk is important for a sustainable dairy chain, a good milk price for the dairy farmer, a high quality milk product for the dairy processor and the end consumer. During the training course it became clear that the instructions GD provided was very much appreciated by the participants. However changing the way you work or advice is never an easy process. That is why the specialists from GD always try to respond to the differences between the Netherlands and the Ukraine in the area of culture and organization. By working together, it is possible to achieve a positive change in farm management.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT: HTTPS://DUDC.INFO/EN

Update, April 2018 - 5

Anne Taverne, editor

PIG DEPARTMENT

Always developing GD Animal Health always wants to be up to date with the latest developments relating to animal health. As a company, it is in our core to keep developing. We do so not only by introducing new products, but also by investing in new knowledge.

This happens in various ways, including recruiting new employees. For example, two new vets recently started in the Pig department: Linda Peeters and Lucía Dieste Pérez. At GD, they mainly focus on infectious diseases, salmonella and research.

Another of their priorities is welfare. Welfare must be properly managed and good animal health contributes to good public health.

Introducing Linda Peeters: “I enjoy studying possibilities and opportunities together with the livestock farmer and vet. If possible, I like to draw up a plan in advance. During my PhD, this was something I focused on and I can still see the researcher in me coming to the fore.”

Lucía Dieste Pérez: “We are always driving innovations, but I think it’s important that we don’t forget that the importance of the basics, such as food, water and good housing.”

Both vets have worked abroad as PhD students and therefore realise that there are massive differences in the world relating to animal health. They therefore also emphasise the importance of the (ongoing) development of products. In their view, there is a need for accessible products all over the world. Which is one of the reasons why GD’s Pig department is now offering the Happy Bite (oral fluid testing) in China too.

Happy Bite (oral fluid testing) is a way to evaluate the health status of pigs. Oral fluid is easy to obtain by using special ropes in the pens. This means that samples are obtained from the pigs with less work and less stress. Lab results give a reliable picture of certain agents and antibodies that can occur in the majority of pigs in a pen.

MORE ABOUT ORAL FLUID TESTING: WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/LAB-SERVICES/ORAL-FLUIDS

6 - Update, April 2018

Kris van Malderen, operations director

VHL GENETICS

‘DNA is our core’ GD Animal Health has a specialised company in the group for DNA and RNA analyses: VHLGenetics. Based in Wageningen (NL), close to Wageningen Agricultural University, VHLGenetics offers a wide range of genetic tests for animals, plants and microorganisms.

In addition to its Wageningen lab, VHLGenetics has two more certified and independent laboratories: Dr. van Haeringen Polygen bvba (VHP) in Malle, Belgium, and Certagen GmbH in Rheinbach, Germany. Our expert laboratories offer more than a thousand routine DNA tests for animals, plants and microorganisms. The three sites offer the same DNA services and the number of available DNA tests is steadily growing in line with the latest developments in the field.

Global range With these two subsidiaries and five distributors, VHLGenetics covers a wide market. Ranging from private individuals to large organisations, their clients are located all over the world, mainly in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia.

Various technologies (Genotyping by Sequencing Genotyping SNPs/InDels; Genotyping Microsatellites (STRs) and Realtime/ Quantitative PCRenable) and more than a thousand routine

tests are performed.

Broad scale of tests VHL is accredited under the NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard. The scope of accreditation is registered under number L472. The laboratories perform over three hundred kinds of DNA tests on farm animals. Within each species, we categorise our tests as follows: • Kinship, parentage and identity • Genetic diseases • Other genetic characteristics • Microorganisms (in partnership with the GD Animal Health Laboratory) In short: do you have any concerns or require proof about the supposed mother or father of your farm animal? Do you need information about any (hidden) genetic diseases of an intended forefather? Or do you need insight into the genomic estimated breeding value of your top dairy cows?

Visit www.vhlgenetics.com for more information or consult your regular contact at GD Animal Health. They will gladly help you with your questions.

Update, April 2018 - 7

INTRODUCING DISTRIBUTORS

Teaming up abroad Animal health is of paramount importance for GD Animal Health. In the Netherlands but also further afield. We are therefore working to establish an international distribution network. After all, teaming up for animal health does not stop at the national borders. Annemiek Kolkman, senior account manager, explains why this is so important.

As a company, GD wants to grow internationally and market more products outside Europe. One of the growth opportunities is building a distribution network. This makes it possible to market a product in countries with which direct sales with end users would have been difficult if not impossible, because of complicated import regulations for example. “In this distribution network, we are starting with the sales of our diagnostics and want to expand this where possible with other GD products

Turkey, Azerbaijan and North-Cyprus POLİMED İlaç ve Tav. Tic.ve San.Ltd.Şti. http://www.polimed.com.tr/page/main-page

and services Distributors can help us in this because they know the market in their countries better than we do. They act as the link between GD and the end customer as it were,” says Annemiek.

Partnership with lots of advantages “This partnership offers both partners advantages, as we can see from the following,” she explains. “It’s convenient for the distributor to be able to offer the customer a total package. The more products, the better your position in the market. However, it’s important that this total package links up with the product GD is offering and that no competitive products are being offered. Furthermore, as we mentioned, it helps GD to grow in a market which would otherwise have been inaccessible. The distributor also knows the market well and is familiar with the leg-

Iran Golbid Co http://golbid.com/ Pakistan Pharmakon International Enterprises (PIE) http://www.pharmakon.com.pk/

Egypt Bio-Lab pharma Abo Nabhan for import and export http://biolab-eg.com/page.html?id=1

8 - Update, April 2018

Thailand Chakmartin Intervirontech Ltd. https://www.chakmartin.com/

Anne Taverne, editor

islation and regulations, as well as the language and culture.

The distributor also manages the marketing and delivers local after-sales services.”

Such an intermediary step is particularly good for the end customer, according to Annemiek. “It makes things much easier for the end customer and for us too,” she says. Most of the contact with the distributor is via email and telephone, but the aim is to also meet face-to-face. This can be at GD in Deventer, at the distributor’s office, but also at a trade show or congress anywhere in the world. GD supports the distributors by for example offering the option of visiting customers together with the distributor. “In this way, we demonstrate our involvement to both the distributor and their customers. This promotes trust in the partnership.” From various conversations she has had, Annemiek

Experience of Mehdi Mirsalimi, distributor in Iran “Every company that exports products needs a local company to do marketing, sales and distribution on their behalf. Iran is a huge country, with an area approaching that of France, Germany, Italy and Holland combined, and foreign countries simply aren’t able to handle such a large country without assistance.

They therefore need a distributor. Before working with us, GD Animal Health only had access to a small part of the market, which was mostly government tenders. By working together, we hope to access a much larger share of this market.” knows that this works well for the distributor. “Through this contact, GD supports the distributors and their customers, by supplying technical knowledge and updating them on what is currently happening in the market, for example.”

Valuable relationship One example of this contact is Annemiek’s recent visit to Iran.

Together with the distributor, she was on a promotional tour here. “We gave business presentations for the government, veterinary organisations and private laboratories,” she says. “In addition, we spent two days at the distributor’s stand at the International Veterinary Poultry Congress, meeting customers and prospects and answering questions.”

This mutual contact ensures that both parties benefit from the partnership. For example, the distributor ensured that Dr Sjaak de Wit, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ECPVS and senior scientist at GD, was one of the keynote speakers for the congress and also one of the presentors during a workshop. This was an opportunity for GD to provide extra information on the products and services.

“We really regard the distributor as a partner for the long term and not just as a temporary access to a market,” says Annemiek. “Through such activities, it’s important to work towards a strategic relationship which is interesting and valuable for both parties.”

Annemiek Kolkman during her recent visit to Iran.

Register GD is looking for distributors in different countries mainly outside Europe. With GD Animal Health, you add a big name with a great international reputation to your package. If you are interested, please send your partnership proposal to a.kolkman@gdanimalhealth.com.

Update, April 2018 - 9

plexus

Floris Ruiterkamp, senior account manager poultry department

EXPLAINED

Plexus’ antibiotics module In the last edition of the Update, you read about the introduction of Plexus. Obviously, things have moved on during the past six months. So this time, we are taking you to various trade shows in China, where we explained the Plexus antibiotics module and answered questions from interested visitors.

Lots of people interested in GD Animal Health’s revolutionary software tool soon gathered around the GD stand. One of the things they learned here was that by using Plexus, they can gain more insight into the level and background of antibiotic use. They can then introduce specific management measures aimed at reducing their use. It also enables them to monitor developments over a period in time, so that the effect of these

measures is also visible. ‘But how does it work?’ was a frequently asked question. So here is an explanation for everyone who couldn’t attend.

This insight was made possible by the unique flock registration system that forms the basis for Plexus. By uniquely defining each flock in the database, observations (vaccinations, treatments, flock history) can be saved so that you can interpret them later in a practical way. The way in which this data is saved and made accessible is based on GD Animal Health’s (nearly) hundred years of experience in animal health monitoring in the Netherlands. It is the combination of data processing and veterinary knowledge that makes this work, also for you.

By means of trend analyses, the development over time of antibiotic use is easy to follow. You can also make comparisons between different product locations. This helps promote awareness among employees regarding the consequences of prescribing. This awareness is the first step towards reduction and Plexus helps.

In order to analyse antibiotic use, a calculation method developed by GD is used. This method makes it possible to compare flocks or farms in an objective way, even if there are differences in size or occupancy.

The best thing is this: you don’t need to enter very much data in the system to get a wealth of information out of it. From our experience with animal health monitoring, we know exactly what is useful to record and what not. With minimum input of data, you get maximum output of insight.

Interested in more information about Plexus?

Please visit our websites: English: www.gdanimalhealth.com/plexus Chinese: www.gdanimalhealth.com/cn Russian: www.gdanimalhealth.com/en/ru

10 - Update, April 2018

news & communications

GD launches its new Service Lab!

New data for Poultry training Our Poultry training, with its lectures, case studies and post-mortem demonstrations, is always greatly appreciated by international poultry veterinarians and poultry farm managers. Are you interested in experiencing it yourself?

The next training is scheduled for 26 to 30 November 2018.

REGISTER VIA WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/ACADEMY

Let’s go digital In these times of digital media, we publish the Update magazine on paper as well as online. Do you prefer to read the magazine online?

Please send your email address to support@gdanimalhealth.com and we will send you our future Updates digitally!

GD launched its new Service Laboratory to meet the growing demand for tailor-made diagnostic solutions. Within our Service Laboratory, we can combine our specialised knowledge and state-ofthe-art facilities to meet your specific requirements.

New: PTS for CAV

If you are looking for a specialised diagnostic solution, or you have specific wishes regarding our product range, please contact your Account Manager.

To extend our product range even further, we have added a PTS for CAV antibody detection to our range of poultry PTS. This PTS will be organised in August. The information sheet for the PTS can be found in our PTS times schedule on our website. Apply before August 3rd via our online application form and join this PTS.

New: PTS for bacteriology

If you have any further questions, please contact Annemiek Kolkman via a.kolkman@gdanimalhealth.com.

In recent years we have been organising PTS for bacteriology in the Netherlands for a large number of participants. Our international customers have been requesting these PTS too. To meet our customers’ wishes, we now offer these PTS internationally.

The product range will be extended with PTS for Identification and Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains. These PTS are available for cattle, swine, poultry and companion animals (dog/cat). You will receive a set of coded freeze-dried bacterial strains, together with instructions on storage and how to report your results.

Check out the dates and information sheets in our time schedule! The PTS for Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains is organised in cooperation with the Dutch reference laboratory Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR).

MORE INFORMATION WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/PTS

GD present at VIV Europe GD Animal Health will be present as one of the exhibitors at the VIV Europe, held from 20 to 22 June in Utrecht, the Netherlands. You can find us at booth 10.B009. We look forward to meeting you there.

MORE UPCOMING EVENTS WWW.GDANIMALHEALTH.COM/CALENDER

Update, April 2018 - 11

GD specialist: Ryan van Egmond The specialists of GD Animal Health focus their daily work on gathering and spreading their extensive knowledge of animal diseases. We pay special attention to a specific sector in each edition of the GD Update. This time: Ryan van Egmond, cattle veterinarian. At the moment, his work is focused on udder health and feed and he gives seminars in Ukraine.

Throughout his career, Ryan has always been interested in that international market. “I like to see how things work outside the Netherlands. Not only to support the local dairy farm, but also to pick up information for myself and keep learning. By learning from each other, you both gain new insights and ideas. A kind of cross-fertilisation.”

Bearing this in mind, years ago Ryan spent nearly eight years in Sweden where he started his own veterinary practice. “Although Sweden is similar to the Netherlands socially and economically, when I got there I began to see the differences,” he says. “The approach there was very different, but now that farms are getting bigger in Sweden, you can see that we are moving closer together.”

According to Ryan, everything you learn in your working life is useful. And that applies to his work in Sweden too.

“It makes you look at business processes in a different way.” Having personally experienced the enormous differences, he now realises that something which seems like a good idea here may not always work in another country.

“You become more critical. In the Netherlands, we are ahead of other countries in some things and we mustn’t forget the development that we’ve gone through. I feel it’s important that a country can keep pace with us. In the process, we obviously went from A to D in steps. You can’t expect another country to move seamlessly from A to D.” That’s why it’s important to stay up to date with each country. “When I visit a country, I first study the culture and where they are with regard to animal health. I try to use that in how I tell my story.” GD Animal Health will become increasingly international in the future. However, Ryan wonders: ‘How do we market what we’re good at in the Netherlands (good quality lab and good knowledge) abroad?’ By responding to the needs abroad and taking cultural differences into account, Ryan feels you can serve the customer and the market well. “It’s important to show that businesses can benefit from our knowledge and skills.

We need to translate that benefit into practice. That’s something we’re currently doing in Ukraine, for example.”

P.O. Box 9, 7400 AA Deventer, the Netherlands, T. +31 570 633 391, F. +31 570 634 104 www.gdanimalhealth.com, info@gdanimalhealth.com