Equine influenza outbreak-29/11/07

There are 2083 Infected Properties (IPs) in Queensland with 8 new IPs recorded. However, there is a continuing reduction in IPs due to reclassification to the status of R (Resolved). A property's R status means that its horses are no longer shedding the virus. Please maintain decontamination procedures and remain vigilant

Call Centre 13 25 23 Now open 8am-8pm 7 days a week

Horse Flu Business Grants: How to get them!

The Australian Horse Industry Council has been contacted by many horse people who have been told they are ineligible for the Business Assistance Grant for those affected by the Horse Flu, as it requires them to have increase in their costs.The wording of the grant application requires amongst other requirements, that : businesses must“(d) demonstrate and declare that they have had a significant downturn in their income due to the impact of EI in Australia and an increase in costs due to the restrictions on horse movements.”This latter requirement has proved an obstacle to many.
On 18 September the government changed this wording from OR an increase in costs to AND an increase in costs, and from that time it has been much harder for many to access this grant. In this stroke of a pen they appeared to exclude many valid applicants.
Dr Smyth, president of the Australian Horse Industry Council said today “We have received many complaints from our members who have come to us in desperation, saying they are not eligible for this grant because they have no increase in costs!
“Certainly there are those who have called out vets to treat sick horses may have an increase in these veterinary costs and medications. However, the bulk of those affected are not battling with sick horses.
“Many small businesses are fighting for their lives. It is difficult to understand how a business has an increase in costs if it involves a clinic instructor or a farrier who is forced to stay at home, or a saddlery with 20% of their normal customers and a decrease in staff. In these legitimate cases for obtaining assistance, their costs are actually less, not more. Those who cannot carry out normal business and are prevented from going out and spending money on fuel, travel, accommodation, replacement of equipment, purchase of products and materials etc. have a decrease in costs …Their problem is no or minimal income, not increased costs!
A typical small horse business describes it this way in an email to the Australian Horse Industry Council :
“My business includes workshops and the sale of specialty farrier's equipment. At the moment we have had to cancel all our proposed workshops all over Australia till Christmas. As no trimmers are working we are not selling any boots. So we are living on no income at present and dipping into our savings. If we don't get the business grant we won't have enough money to restart our business as the insurance premium of $3,000 is due in November. Our costs have not increased, so according to the regulations, we are not eligible for the government grant.”
The Australian Horse Industry Council recommends that horse businesses who are excluded from this grant because their costs have not apparently increased should do the following:
1. Explain your increase in costs in this way. Compare your normal costs and takings with the EI affected figures for income and expenditure. If your costs are the same but your income has dwindled to nothing, the percentage of costs has increased. This percentage increase is what you declare when you self assess at the time of making your claim with Centrelink.
2. If you are genuinely affected, make sure you apply . Ring 1800 234 002 and follow through with the application process, making a clear case for your current needs.
3. Join the Australian Horse Industry Council (and state industry bodies) and email them with stories of successes or failures so that there is evidence of problems in the system . This can be used when discussing the issues with the government.
Dr Smyth said that meanwhile the Australian Horse Industry Council will continue to do its utmost to ensure that those who are genuinely in need because of the horse flu find this grant accessible.

www.horsecouncil.org.au

Equestrian centre proposal losing favour - On-farm quarantine plan

NSW and Victorian authorities have confirmed they are considering an on-farm process in preference to a plan to utilise the Albury-Wodonga equestrian centre as a quarantine station.Deputy chief veterinary officer for NSW Department of Primary Industries, Ian Roth, said yesterday the alternative on-farm option would involve horses from the NSW green zone being held in isolation for a period of time before they were able to return home in Victoria.

Dr Roth said Albury had previously been considered as an option for this period of quarantine and the equestrian centre had been looked at as a possible location.
“We want to acknowledge the concerns expressed by the horse community of Albury on this issue, and applaud their ongoing efforts to maintain good biosecurity,” he said.
“Senior vets with both the NSW and Victorian Departments of Primary Industries are considering an on-farm quarantine process and it is extremely likely that this will be approved.
“This will mean that the Albury-Wodonga equestrian centre will not be needed.”
Meanwhile, a small group of Wagga-based students are devastated at the decision not to utilise the Albury-Wodonga centre as a quarantine facility.
A mother of one of the students, Anne McCallum, of Tower Hill, near Port Fairy, said the Victorian students were set to return home at the end of the week after completing their tertiary year in horse studies at Charles Sturt University.
Mrs McCallum said the students were supposed to take their horses with them and had been “hanging” on the decision to open the facility at Albury.
Now, she says, the students have the next-to-impossible task of finding, within the next two days, a private property owner willing to sign an agreement to provide isolation facilities for their horses for 14 days before they can take them back into Victoria.
“The kids are stuck there with their horses and they have had the stress in the middle of their exams,” she said.
“Fiona, my daughter, has to be out of her on-campus accommodation by Friday.
“University students don’t have any money. What are they supposed to do?”
Mrs McCallum said one less desirable option was for the horses to remain at the university facility for $9 a day, with minimal care and having to stay there until February when the new semester began.
Border horse industry representatives have welcomed the decision, including the Albury-Wodonga Equine Influenza Action Group.

SCRATCHED- Plans for horse quarantine station dumped

THE NSW Department of Primary Industries today will announce it will not pursue plans to utilise the Albury-Wodonga equestrian centre as a quarantine station for horses moving from NSW to Victoria. The department is expected to make a public announcement of its decision this morning after privately advising centre members and others involved in the Border horse industry late yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the department last night declined to confirm a decision had been made in relation to the status of the Albury-Wodonga centre.
“I have just come out of a briefing and no mention has been made of it, but it is the No.1 job that we will be moving to follow first thing tomorrow morning,” the spokeswoman said.
Horseland co-owner and president of the Albury-Wodonga Equine Influenza Action Group Marg Barwood said she believed the department had yesterday considered her group’s objection to the quarantine centre proposal.
Mrs Barwood said she was aware the proposal was likely to be set aside, but she declined to comment further until an announcement came from the department.
Instead she referred The Border Mail to the group’s letter to NSW and Victorian veterinary officers that outlined members’ major objections.
These included the inadequacy of the quarantine buffer zone, the proximity to the primary transport route between NSW and Victoria, the expected increased movement of horses and handlers within the region and the inadequacy of the centre’s facilities for long-term accommodation of horses.
Earlier this month the Victorian Department of Primary Industries proposed the Albury-Wodonga equestrian centre should become a quarantine station, providing for a two-week stay for horses seeking to move back across the Border from NSW to Victoria.
The proposal meant that horses now boarding or on agistment at the centre would have had to be moved by Friday.
More than 80 horse owners, retailers and pony club members, along with equestrian association members, attended a meeting on November 17 where they voiced their concerns about the plan.
This was followed a visit by the NSW Department of Primary Industries to the region on November 19 to consult members of the horse community.
Later that week a meeting of people opposed to the centre plan was held and the Albury-Wod­onga Equine Influenza Action Group was formed.
The department is now likely to consider private farm quarantines as an alternative to the equestrian centre proposal.
A regular report from Victoria’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Hugh Millar, said yesterday that the state remained free of equine influenza and 903 horse equipment movement permits had been issued in Victoria since the disease broke out in August.
The report says nine investigations into possible border breaches remain active, with two ongoing investigations that may result in prosecution, but which were not in the Border region.
There have been 24 warning letters issued regarding minor border breaches.
A spokeswoman for the Victorian Department of Primary Industries said the 24-hour border security measures would remain in place.

Travelling Horse Statement needed in NSW Green Zone

Horse owners in the NSW equine influenza green zone can issue themselves a Travelling Horse Statement (THS) when they need to move their horse, NSW deputy chief veterinary officer Ian Roth said today.

“A Travelling Horse Statement is required for each and every movement of a horse within the NSW green zone, other than those within a single property,” said Mr Roth.
“This includes trail riding across multiple properties or riding to a nearby neighbour on the road.”
Mr Roth said a THS was easy to obtain online from www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/equine-influenza.
“People without internet access can phone the disease hotline on 1800 675 888 and have a form sent out to them, which they must carry with them on their journey.
“The self-issuing system has been working well in the western and southern parts of the State that have been in the green zone since September.”
The new green zone extends along the Queensland border east from Moree and down the north coast to Taree, and includes most of the Coonamble, Walgett, Warren and Shoalhaven local government areas. Maps are available on the DPI website or people can call 1800 675 888.
There is a small section around Woodenbong, north of Kyogle that remains in the amber zone, creating a buffer against high risk properties in Queensland.
Mr Roth said the information supplied on the THS form was stored in the NSW DPI database to help trace movements in the unlikely event that EI is detected in the area.
He said horse events can go ahead in the green zone if they are registered on the DPI’s website with 48 hours notice, and organisers provide details of the horses attending.
“The rezoning that occurred this week is welcome news for all sectors of the horse industry because it signals a return to normality in these areas,” Mr Roth said.
“However, this doesn’t mean that people in the green zone are free to move their horses to the amber, red and purple zones or interstate – permits are required for these movements from your Rural Lands Protection Board.
He said horses from the amber, red or purple zones can not enter the green zone. Horses may move into the green zone from another State or Territory, except from Queensland, where a permit is required.
Mr Roth said the co-operation of all horses owners was still required to successfully rid EI from Australia.

“It’s important that people abide by the rules, maintain their bio-security, and don’t assume that they are free to move anywhere without checking the DPI website or phoning the disease hotline.”

Vic Chief Vet Rejects "Special Deal" Claims

A claim that "special deals are being done with auction houses and racing administrators to allow feature events to go ahead as scheduled in February & March next year, after the equine influenza", have been rejected by Victoria's chief veterinary officer Hugh Millar. In The Australian newspaper, Millar declared that the "phasing in of of new protocols that will allow horse movement across borders" would take place "under guidelines that will apply nationally and not exclusively to Victoria". Millar stressed that: "There seems to be a feeling that special arrangements have been put in place (for Victoria) and that is not the case". (Nov 29)

CHRISTMAS SALE BIOSECURITY PLAN

Newmarket, 7 December 2007 - entires close at 5pm on Friday 30 November

PRE SALE CONDITIONS

• Prior to the sale, vendors must engage a veterinary to take blood and nasal swab from each horse entered and have it sent to the DPI for testing. No horse currently positive to the virus will be permitted to attend the sale. Vet certificate required by 12 noon Thursday 6 December.
  All horses must have either been in contact with the EI virus (blood test to confirm antibodies) or be fully vaccinated (vaccination certificate required).
  Vendors must supply Inglis with address of the property the horse will be travelling from. Inglis to give NSW DPI this information by 3pm on Tuesday 4 December.
  No horses will be permitted to attend the sale should the property they are currently stabled on be of the following status:
  Infected property (currently)
  Dangerous contact property
  Suspect property

• All horses attending the sale should be quarantined on their home property or stable for a period of three days prior to attending the sale.

• Newmarket will be kept free of horses for a minimum of 14 days prior to the date of the sale.
• Interstate horses can enter the sale provided they have a certificate to say they have been vaccinated or have immunity and comply with the above conditions.
• SALE BIOSECURITY PLAN

Inglis to ensure the following guidelines are followed:
No susceptible horses nearby.
No horses on sale ground for 14 days prior to auction.
Truck decontamination area set aside.
Decontamination foot baths to be placed at every entry and exit point of the sale complex.
Hand washing stations with clear notices to be positioned at the end of each stable row.
Once sale has been conducted all areas to be thoroughly decontaminated.

MOVEMENT CONDITIONS
Horses travelling from within the purple zone will not require a permit to travel to the sale.
Horses from outside the purple zone will require a permit and Inglis will apply on behalf of vendors no later than Monday 3 December through the DPI.
Once horses are sold they may be transported without permit back to any location within the purple zone. If a purchaser or vendor wishes to transport a horse to a location outside the purple zone then the following protocols apply:
A permit for travel outside the purple zone must be applied for through the DPI - who will have a staff member at the sale to assist clients.
All horses travelling outside the purple zone are required to remain at the William Inglis complex for a period of seven days from their arrival at the complex. Once transported to their destination they should be kept in quarantine isolation for a further seven days.

Sold within Purple Zone

Sold to first person to come and look at him. Thanks to Horse Deals Magazine he sold within the purple zone in NSW. Had no trouble with movement as they had no need for permits. Received many calls, could have sold the horse many times. Very happy with the response. (November
Issue Horse Deals).

Queensland Pleasure & Performance Horse Website

Does anyone know what is going on with the QPPHI website since the one that was built was taken "off the air"? I’ve heard they are now building some $500,000 website with attached database????

My question is - what's wrong with the AHIC website & database? They have been facilitating the flow of information from the beginning so why can't the DPI work in conjunction with them instead of building yet another database that is apparently costing an absolute fortune.
Or alternatively work in conjunction with the Qld Horse Council? Both of these bodies already have websites in place.

Or better yet, what was wrong with the website that was created specifically for the industry by someone in the industry? Why has that been removed???

Wouldn't the $500,000 be better used to assist with vaccinations rather than lining some IT experts pocket???

JK