ClipFitter & Numnuts were featured in a session on day 2 of the SVS conference in Penrith, as viable options delivering pain relief/reduction/limitation for lambs of a wide range of ages who undergo castration & tailing procedures. However the emphasis of most of the introductory presentations and even points raised throughout, was, naturally, on avoiding invasive treatments.
The good news was that, should these treatments be required, then at last there is or soon will be a choice of options – thanks to two inventions, both of Scottish origin!
Numnuts, in the person of Robin Smith one of the originators of 15 years, spelt out their message to vets. They need their anaesthetic to be licensed for use in the UK as soon as possible. It is permitted & used in so many other countries already. Their hand-tools are in production and their ‘printer-ink’ business-model packages a well known anaesthetic in special bottles that fit uniquely onto their device. Unless the ‘ink’ is approved they can’t sell the treatment – and ‘thanks’ to recent trade deals – the 3 million Australian lambs that have already benefitted from numocaine, might now end up on UK supermarket shelves competing with non-pain-relieved British lamb. Vets need to lobby for the sake of all lambkind
British lambs deserve better
ClipFitter’s message (our message!) was ‘hello’ – we’re here too – and with only 4 years under our belt. The chance to speak at the Penrith conference was excellent timing because we had some fresh trials facts to offer that had delighted even us, and Joyce Kent was on hand to present them. The surprise-result was that very young lambs had benefitted from clips too – @7 days or less – very significantly – look here.
This opens the door in England (and everywhere) to the legitimate and beneficial use of our simply-mechanical ClipFitter device on young lambs, while we wait for approvals on our clip’s use on older lambs. Scotland has already approved it on lambs up to 3 months, and Andrew Voas, also attending the meeting, showed no signs of changing ScotGov’s stance on this for next lambing season. Hopefully QMS and other farm assurance organisations will promote its use. Let them know if you would like that !
Hopefully, UK Sheep Vets now know a little more about the options available to farmers who have issues with welfare of lambs at castration and tailing time.