A recent trip to Denmark left me with one big takeaway: their success at eradicating diseases isn’t down to better kit — it’s cultural. Denmark has a strong cooperative culture, a concept they learnt from us back in the 1800s. It was farmer cooperatives that lead the early eradication programmes for TB and Brucellosis and the coop mentality is thriving today with the likes of Arla (processes >90% Danish milk), Danish Crown and DLG.
The successful disease eradication programmes (see above), were started by farmers but quickly adopted and supported by government, and levy funded bodies such as SEGES (see right). Biosecurity is treated as a key pillar in controlling and eradicating disease, rather than a ‘tick-box’ exercise. Danish farms undergo a structured risk assessment; walked through with the farmer and vet, scored section by section, against clear criteria, giving each farm a score. More importantly though are the recommendations. These are specific, measurable and evidence based, rather than just boot dips and isolation pens (see right practical tips: Biosecurity = Exclusion + Containment).
The UK has proof this model works: Action Johne’s is built on the same principles; Voluntary, collaborative, data-led, and it’s moving the needle here too. The lesson from Denmark isn’t a new product or protocol. It’s that biosecurity only sticks when it becomes a shared, scored, and continuously revisited habit.
SEGES Innovation — the knowledge and R&D arm. Independent, non-profit, and the technical expertise behind Danish agriculture: it runs the advisory services, R&D programmes and shared data infrastructure (like the Dairy Management Software (DMS) and Danish Cattle Database that underpin the disease control programmes.
The DMS captures data from farm, abattoir, feed & breeding companies. Capturing health, production and breeding data for nearly all of Denmark’s 548,000 dairy cows
Written By Josh Swain, Veterinary Surgeon
