• Which tasks are performed in the context of data collection, and who is responsible?
• For which farms is data submitted?
• What information must veterinarians report?
• How are the nationwide key figures calculated?
• Consequences of the benchmarking system

Which tasks are performed in the context of data collection, and who is responsible?

Livestock owners

• Notification of the number of animals kept by production type for each half-year, as well as entries and exits (including animals that died or were killed). Reports must be submitted no later than July 14 for the first calendar half-year of the relevant year, and no later than January 14 of the following year for the second calendar half-year.
• Notification if no antimicrobial medicinal product was used (Nullmeldung, zero report).

Veterinarians

• Notification of the prescribing, use or supply of antibiotic medicinal products via the HI-Tier (Herkunftssicherungs- und Informationssystem Tier). Notifications must be submitted by July 14 for notifications within the same year and by January 14 for notifications regarding the following year.

Monitoring authority

• The monitoring authority determines farm-related treatment frequencies semi-annually and forwards the anonymised data to BVL on August 1 of the relevant year for the first half-year, and on February 1 of the following year for the second calendar half-year.

BVL

• BVL annually determines and publishes the nationwide key figures for therapy frequencies on its website by February 15 of the following calendar year.

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For which farms is data submitted?

Treatment frequencies are determined only for certain categories of food-producing animals, and only on farms whose herds exceed defined minimum herd size for these categories (see table).

Nutzungsart	Erläuterungen	Bestandsuntergrenze pro Betrieb
Dairy cow	Cattle used for milk production after the first calving	25 animals
Calves	Calves not born on the livestock farm from their arrival at the receiving farm up to the age of 12 months	25 animals
Suckling piglets	Unweaned suckling piglets from birth until the time when the respective animal is weaned from the dam	85 breeding sows
Piglets under 30 kg	Piglets from the time when the respective animal is weaned from the dam until they reach a weight of 30 kg	250 animals
Pigs for fattening	Pigs for fattening weighing more than 30 kg	250 animals
Breeding pigs	Sows and boars kept for breeding purposes from their introduction for piglet production	85 Zuchtsauen
Broiler chickens	Chickens intended for the production of meat from the time of hatching of the respective animal	10.000 animals
Laying hens	Chickens intended fort he production of eggs for human consumption from the time they are placed in the laying holding	4.000 animals
Chickens	Chickens intended for the production of eggs for human consumption from the time of hatching of the respective animal until it is placed in the laying holding	1.000 animals
Turkeys	Turkeys intended for the production of meat from the time of hatching of the respective animal	1.000 animals

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What information must veterinarians report?

Veterinarians must report the following:

• Name of the medicinal product prescribed, administered, or dispensed
• Name and address of the attending veterinarian or veterinary practice
• Date of prescription, first administration, or date of supply of the medicinal product
• Total quantity of the medicinal products prescribed, administered, or supplied
• Animal category and numer of animals treated
• Number of treatment days
• Farm registration number

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How are the nationwide key figures calculated?

Two key figures are calculated. Key figure 1 is the median, representing the value below which 50 percent of all recorded semi-annual treatment frequencies in that calendar year fall. Key figure 2 is the third quartile, representing the value below which 75 percent of all recorded semi-annual treatment frequencies in that calendar year occur.

The nationwide key figures thus determined serve as reference data for the benchmarking conducted in the next step.

For this purpose, each reporting company compares its semi-annual treatment frequency with the most recently published key figures. The key figures published on February 15 each year are used to compare with the farm-related treatment frequencies of the second half of the previous year, which must be reported by the livestock owner by March 1st. They also enable a comparison with the treatment frequencies of the first half of the same year, which must be reported by 1st of September.

Key figures for treatment frequencies do not allow any conclusions regarding the average number of treatment days per animal and half-year. Nor can any comparisons be made between the different categories of animal use. The methodology for calculating the farmrelated treatment frequencies was amended by the legislature, effective January 1st, 2023 by adjusting the calculation factors (see TAMG, Section 57 (2)). Since comparing therapy frequencies based on different calculation bases is considered inadmissible, these metrics and the nationwide key figures for 2023 and subsequent years cannot be compared with those from previous years.

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Consequences of the benchmarking system

Farms whose treatment frequencies exceed key figure 1 must, in consultation with a veterinarian, identify the reasons for their high antibiotic use of and implement measures to reduce it going forward. Farms whose treatment frequencies exceed key figure 2 must develop an action plan to reduce antibiotic use. The action plan must be submitted in writing to the competent monitoring authority, which will review it and may require additional measures if necessary. If the nationwide key figure 2 is exceeded again in the half-year immediately following the first exceedance, no new action plan needs to be prepared and submitted.

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