RESEARCH
Parasites and Climate Change Moredun were asked recently by SAC’s Farm Advisory Service if we’d be prepared to do a piece to camera on ‘Parasites and Climate Change’ for their newly-launched FAS TV YouTube channel. This gave us an excellent opportunity to showcase the work we’ve been doing at the Institute’s farm at Firth Mains. There are climate change adaptation and mitigation aspects to parasitism. We need to adapt to climate change, in terms of changing parasite prevalence, seasonality and geographic spread, but also to mitigate the impacts of parasitism on animal health and efficient livestock production. Monitoring is a key aspect of this, through
the development of anti-parasite vaccines. The segment featured short ‘talking heads’
their impact through optimising anthelmintic treatment using Precision Livestock Farming and Targeted Selective Treatment approaches.
appropriate diagnostic testing so we know
interviews with Principal Scientists, Philip
what’s normal, what’s changing etc., so ‘Test
Skuce and Fiona Kenyon, describing some
Don’t Guess’. Protecting our animals from
of the parasites we encounter in Scotland,
https://www.moredun.org.uk/news/
changing parasite challenge is also key, with
including Nematodirus and liver fluke, but also
protecting-against-parasites-scotlands-
a long-term research focus at Moredun being
a demonstration of how we might mitigate
farm-advisory-service
Precision livestock farming event at Moredun’s Firth Mains farm.
Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2021
9
