ANDOVER, England, February 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Farmers, Livestock Keepers, and Veterinarians can now Become Proactive in Responding to Outbreaks of Notifiable Animal Disease Such as Bluetongue, Avian Influenza and Foot and Mouth Disease

Voice and text broadcaster Relay Station today announces that Animal Health, the government's executive agency responsible for ensuring the health and welfare of farmed animals in Great Britain, has selected its broadcasting technology to launch a managed multi-form, early-warning subscription service for farmers, livestock keepers and veterinarians and all others concerned about animal disease.

For the first time, subscribers can receive Animal Health alerts in the form most convenient for them: voice or SMS messaging to their mobile or landline, email, or by fax at no cost within minutes of new outbreaks.

Relay Station has been working closely with Animal Health since 2005, initially providing emergency broadcasting of voice, SMS, fax and email message alerts each time a notifiable animal disease alert occurred across the UK. The service enabled Animal Health to communicate with the large number of stakeholders involved in responding to outbreaks of animal diseases such as bluetongue, avian influenza and foot and mouth disease.

Emergency services, vets and public officials welcomed Animal Health's initiative, enabling them to quickly deploy the most effective response and to seal-off infected premises. Importantly for Animal Health, it freed-up critical staff and resources and provided an extensive audit trail whilst providing a more effective way of reaching stakeholders in the shortest timeframe.

Building upon its successful relationship with Relay Station, Animal Health has now decided to introduce a new subscription service aimed at further improving the reach and coverage of the early-warning programme. Central to the service is an innovative data management tool developed by Relay Station which enables Animal Health to send specific alert messages to specific groups in specific areas. The tool can be accessed from any location at anytime.

Subscription to the service is free and all that farmers or vets need do to activate the service and receive alerts by phone, email or fax is to complete a simple form on Animal Health's website http://animalhealth.system-message.co.uk/AH_subscribe_index.php or by calling the Agency's interactive telephone system on +44(0)844-884-9888.

David Shearn, Animal Health's Contingency Communications Manager, comments: "Animal Health is focussed on providing the best early warning alert system possible and Relay Station's technology and frontline support singularly allows us to achieve this. We expect thousands of farmers and vets to take advantage of this new flexible service so that all can become proactive in limiting the cost of animal disease."

About Relay Station

Relay Station is a voice and messaging broadcaster for government, emergency services, banks, enterprises, SMEs, charities, professional organisations, sports clubs, and many other types of operations with large audiences. Its web-based products enable them to better engage and interact with their publics. For more information on Relay Station's best-practice communications solutions visit http://www.relaystation.co.uk.

For more information on Relay Station's best-practice communications solutions, contact Hugh Paterson on +44(0)845-430-8934, email hugh.paterson@relaystation.co.uk, or visit http://www.relaystation.co.uk.