Wishing all of our clients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Goodbye 2024 and Hello 2025!
We are leaving a year marked by historic elections in the UK and USA, wars (Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas) and a number of natural disasters and floods. Despite this, the egg industry has seen a good year, dictated by increased egg demand and higher egg prices. In the last few months, we have seen several planning applications being approved for the erection or change of use of agricultural buildings to house laying hens. The pressure from retailers in the broiler sector has continued to reduce stocking densities to 30kg per square metre, which has resulted in an improvement of some welfare indicators such as pododermatitis, leg culls and litter quality.
Avian Influenza continues to be a threat to our industry, not only in the UK but also in Europe and around the world. Strategic Avian Influenza vaccination in ducks in France is showing promising results, although it is still early in the season to conclude whether this measure is successful in containing the virus. Next year we expect animal welfare to take a prominent place, with the RSPCA expected to launch their new laying hens standards in May 2025 and retailers continuing to push for more space for standard-grown broiler chicken.
We look forward to working with you in this ever-changing and progressive industry.
We would like to thank you for your support in 2024 and we look forward to a healthy, successful and productive 2025.
Sara Perez, Nikky Motley and the PHS Team
REMINDER: Salmonella Sampling over the Christmas & New Year Period
Royal Mail will not deliver samples to our Edinburgh Newbridge lab on:
Wednesday 25th December ** to Thursday 26th December ** as these are Bank Holidays.
There will then be normal deliveries from Friday 27th December to Saturday 28th December **.
Then no deliveries on Wednesday 1st January** and Thursday 2nd of January 2025** as these are Bank Holidays.
The first Royal Mail delivery to the Newbridge Scientific Scotland lab in 2025 will be on Friday 3rd January 2025 **. We would strongly recommend making sure that samples are received by Monday 16th December 2024 to ensure results are received before Christmas and thus allow time for any delays that may occur.
The lab will still be operating 7 days a week and all samples that arrive will be tested on the day of arrival as normal.
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.
If you think this will not be possible, please contact us in advance so we can try to help.
** We highly recommend you check https://www.royalmail.com/christmas/last-posting-dates#lastpostingdates
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 16th December at the latest to ensure delivery before Friday 20th December. However, we do recommend you request any items requiring a courier service as far in advance as possible due to recent driver shortages, which have caused some delays.
There will be no courier deliveries available on weekends and Bank Holidays over the festive period.
Please contact your local practice for further advice.
2025 Price Review
It is the time of year that suppliers apply their annual price rises for products. We continue to face challenges in the industry but 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.
Following the budget you will have seen again that minimum wage will rise significantly this year along with the employer’s contribution to National Insurance, which will add to existing challenges. PHS continues to bring new cheaper products to the market and, as promised, we were successful in bringing no rises in the cost of any medication throughout 2024. Early indications from pharmaceutical companies suggest that vaccines will again rise at around 5%, and for professional fees, there will be an increase of 7-10% from the 1st of January 2025.
Please contact your local office for specific prices for next year. These will remain in place for the whole of 2025 unless we receive additional charges from our suppliers, which we will have to pass on.
PHS Christmas Jumper Day Thursday 12th 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 join our PHS Christmas Jumper Day, where we will be raising money for RABI. “RABI’s https://rabi.org.uk/ established volunteer network brings the farming community together and helps raise awareness of the charity across England and Wales. Alongside our team of regionally based volunteer managers, the network delivers a varied range of community-led activities and events to help tackle isolation, improve wellbeing and empowers the local agricultural community to participate. Together, we can ensure that RABI continues to be the cornerstone of support for the farming community, nurturing the backbone of our society for generations to come.”
Wellbeing
As a company, PHS are very lucky to have our very own Wellbeing Champion Lucia & Mental Health first aiders Meaka & Sam in our branches.
Each month we aim to share our favorite fun fact, recipe & quote.
Fun fact: There are no seagulls in Hawaii.
Quote: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”—Buddy the Elf.
If you need support with your mental health this is always available from https://rabi.org.uk/ the leading UK farming charity.
Christmas & New Year Opening Hours
Christmas Eve Tuesday 24th December – 3 pm Closing. On-call vet available
Christmas Day – CLOSED on-call vet available
Boxing Day – CLOSED on-call vet available
Friday 27th December – 08:30-17:00
28th – 29th December – CLOSED on-call vet available
Monday 30th December – 08:30-17:00
New Year’s Eve – 08:30-17:00
New Year’s Day – CLOSED on-call vet available
Thursday 2nd January – Normal hours resume * Bank Holiday in Scotland
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!