Wishing all of our clients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Goodbye 2023 and Hello 2024
This year has seen the Coronation of King Charles III and wars in Ukraine and Israel-Gaza. High-interest rates and uncertainty about the upcoming general election have made businesses cautious when it comes to new investment and growth.
In the poultry industry, there has been a lot of diversification following the unprecedented cases of Avian Influenza that were confirmed at the end of 2022. If there is anything that the poultry industry does very well, it is resilience and innovation. The improvements to biosecurity standards and the use of technology in the last 12 months have been amazing. There has been the introduction of new breeds and new breed standards, including the marketing of white eggs which we have not seen in the UK for a very long time.
The number of cases of HPAI in commercial poultry has decreased significantly compared to this time last year, mirroring the number of cases in wild birds. While it is still too early to confirm that this is the trend that the virus will follow in years to come, the last few months have been encouraging.
We at PHS would like to thank you for your support in 2023, and we look forward to a healthy, successful, and productive 2024.
Sara Perez, Nikky Motley, and the PHS Team
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Salmonella Testing over the Christmas & New Year Period
Whilst our lab will be open over the entire Christmas and New Year period, Royal Mail will not deliver samples to our Edinburgh Newbridge lab from Saturday 23rd December to Wednesday 27th December as these are Bank Holidays.
There will then be normal deliveries from Thursday 28th December through to Saturday 30th December.
The first Royal Mail delivery to the Edinburgh Newbridge lab in 2024 will be on Wednesday 3rd January 2024.
Please note, that there will be no deliveries on Tuesday 2nd January 2024, as this is a Scottish Bank Holiday.
We strongly recommend making sure that samples are received by Wednesday 20th December 2023 to ensure results are reported before Christmas and thus allowing time for any delays that may occur.
As you can imagine this is the busiest time of year for postal/courier services. With this in mind please plan your sampling and posting dates to ensure your samples can be delivered within the 4-day testing limit.
Christmas & New Year delivery schedules for courier items
Any medications that need to be sent by a courier service will need to be ordered and put on the courier by Monday 18th December at the latest to ensure delivery before Friday 22nd December. However, we do recommend you request any items requiring a courier service as far in advance as possible, due to recent driver shortages causing delays with some deliveries. There will be no courier deliveries available on weekends and Bank Holidays over the festive period. Please contact your local practice for further advice.
Vaccine orders during the Christmas period
Please ensure that any vaccine orders that are required for the Christmas & New Year period are placed by Friday 15th December. This will guarantee delivery before the festive period.
2024 prices
Despite the continuing challenges surrounding the industry PHS has always strived to give our clients an excellent service at the lowest possible prices. PHS has never implemented additional charges for services such as out-of-hours calls or telephone advice, and has invested heavily in technology such as Digiflock and sponsoring diagnostic testing. Despite a predicted price rise of between 5-7% last year, our drive for efficiency savings kept this to 3% overall for our clients, and throughout 2023 there have been no rises in medication costs. We will continue to try to deliver this through 2024, however, there are parts of the Autumn statement that will bring significant challenges. Early indications from pharmaceutical companies are that vaccines will rise again at around 5% and for professional fees there will be an increase of 7-10%. Please contact your local office for specific prices for next year. These will remain in place for the whole of 2024 unless we receive additional charges from our suppliers that we will have to pass on.
PHS Christmas Jumper Day – 7th December
PHS, Newbridge Scientific, and AgriCure Farm Supplies will be taking part in World Christmas Jumper Day this year. We would like to invite you to join us in raising money for the Mental Health Foundation.
“We work towards good mental health for all; as everyone knows, prevention is better than cure. Everything we do is focused on protecting people’s mental health. Our work involves rigorous research and practical projects to identify the most helpful, public information that empowers people to look after their mental health and influences work to move policies in the right direction. We know that some communities are at higher risk of mental health problems due to the social, economic, and environmental circumstances they find themselves in. Much of our work challenges these mental health inequalities by helping those at the greatest risk.”
Christmas & New Year Opening Hours
Christmas Eve – CLOSED – On-call vet available
Christmas Day – CLOSED – On-call vet available
Boxing Day – CLOSED – On-call vet available
27th December – 08:30-17:00
28th December – 08:30-17:00
29th December – 08:30-17:00
30th December – 08:30-17:00
New Year’s Eve – CLOSED – On-call vet available
New Year’s Day – CLOSED – On-call vet available
2nd January – Normal hours resume
Advertise with us for free
Do you have a vacancy? Or want to sell equipment? Are you struggling to recruit? In Spring 2022, we launched the new PHS ‘Classifieds’ section – an online space for advertising jobs, equipment, services, and more for the poultry and gamebird industry in the UK. Please contact your local PHS branch for more information or to send us your advert. This service is available for free to PHS clients and for a small fee to non-clients.
Social Media
Social media is a great way for us to keep you up to date with what’s going on at PHS. We also like to share the occasional funny post, so if you’re a scroller then look us up! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter (@Poultryvets), and LinkedIn.
Our new Promo code!