Janssen Animal Health has highlighted that enforcement of the Veterinary Medicines legislation will require thousands of poultry owners to change the way they worm in the future.

The company says that in the past many poultry keepers with small to medium sized flocks have used Flubenvet® 2.5% Medicated Premixture 240 gram pack. However, going forwards, it will no longer be possible to do so unless individuals (or companies) are approved and registered to mix medicines into feed. The Flubenvet® 1% 60 gram pack for domestic poultry launched in 2008 remains widely available and can still be used without having to register. Each 60 gram pack is suitable to treat around 20 chickens.

Under the legislation, the VMD have confirmed that medicated feed supplements that need to be mixed in greater than 30 Kg of animal feed (schedule 5 products), can no longer be supplied to veterinary practices, pharmacists or animal health retailers for them to sell unless 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 premixtures for mixing into more than 30kg of feed to customers who are specifically registered with the VMD to mix these into animal foods.

Janssen Animal Health vet Nigel Underwood said: "We are advising all poultry keepers of this legislation. We must comply with the law and are simply not able to supply unregistered wholesalers, merchants, pharmacies of vet practices with medicated premixtures unless they are approved.. The new 60 gram domestic poultry pack of Flubenvet® 1% was developed specifically for the smaller poultry owner and is exempt from the legislation. It is available from vets, pharmacists and suitably qualified animal health advisers and poultry owners do not have to be registered to use it."

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