FarmWater welcomes Ruminant Veterinary Consultant Phil Elkins

The FarmWater team are delighted have been joined by vet Phil Elkins. Phil will focus on supporting our current ruminant clients and continue to drive the benefits of good water hygiene and the FarmWater solution into the cattle sector. 
 
“Water hygiene is an untapped area for cattle – with few people realising what properly clean water is,” says Phil. “We’ve talked for a long time about the importance of water, and it’s often called the ‘forgotten nutrient’, however what we’re generally talking about currently is water availability and not hygiene.”
 
Most animal health related issues that can be attributed to water hygiene come from microscopic issues. This means that water can look ‘clean’ but when it’s tested, there can often be high levels of contamination. The FarmWater solution can treat water at the source to remove the contamination as well as throughout a farm’s entire water infrastructure, including pipework and water storage tanks.
 
Phil continues ‘I was initially interested by FarmWater to support calf health as a way of controlling disease such as Cryptosporidium and E.coli, however I’m already seeing the benefits for cow health generally.  Just one example of this is mastitis and milk hygiene; by removing mastitis and other water borne pathogens, FarmWater is making a big difference on bactoscan and somatic cell counts.”
 
Director Ben South says “The FarmWater solution has already been proven in the poultry sector. Having Phil on board bolsters our vet-led approach to water hygiene into the cattle industry, where sites with the system have already seen significant benefits. Phil’s extensive experience will also enable us to further explore how farm-based chlorine dioxide water treatment solutions can drive efficiencies for farmers in all sectors.”
 
Phil concludes “FarmWater goes further than just disease control. It can lead to improved growth rates and consistency of performance, and I can see a real opportunity to improve animal welfare, health and productivity on a large scale.”