Livestock

livestock Salers safeguarded from myostatin to maintain the maternal magic

In 2019 the Salers Cattle Society of the UK took the decision to protect the Salers’ leading maternal traits, especially it’s unrivalled calving ease, by implementing a fve-year program to eliminate the various mutations of the myostatin gene.

From 1st January 2024, registrations will no longer be accepted into the main herd book of animals with an unknown myostatin status or known carriers of the myostatin gene.

To support breeders in the transition period, where it is advantageous to ascertain the myostatin status of their breeding females, the Society has reduced the cost by more than 50% of registrations of U3month females born in 2022. Registrations meeting the same criteria in 2023, will also attract signifcant discounts.

Myostatin has the potential to negatively infuence traits such as pelvic size, milk production and fertility. The Society believe this policy is essential to protect the breed and its sought-after maternal traits, enabling suckler farmers to continue to capitalise on the unrivalled calving ease of Salers, whilst having the freedom to select any sire, including strongly muscled terminal sires, that suits their system!

#salers #maternalmagic #suitsanysire #suitsanysystem #theultimatesuckler

MSD Animal Health UK Launches Breakthrough Poultry Vaccine

Poultry producers across the UK are set to beneft from a new vaccine launched to tackle three of the most infectious diseases facing the industry.

MSD Animal Health UK, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA, has today announced that the INNOVAX®-ND-ILT vaccine is now available to customers.

Among some of the most commercially disruptive fock diseases, Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT), Newcastle disease (ND) and Marek’s disease (MD), are highly transmissible and affect the nervous, respiratory, immune and reproductive systems in poultry.

Historically, a combination of vaccines was needed to protect against these diseases.

“The new vaccine is the frst to provide long-term* protection against three of the most infectious poultry diseases in a single vaccination,” explains Katie Pitman, technical veterinary adviser at MSD Animal Health UK.

INNOVAX®-ND-ILT is a dual HVT construct vaccine that can be administered either in-ovo or subcutaneously at the hatchery.

“This new vaccine offers the convenience of a single immunisation to improve fock immunity and minimise operational disruption, without the risk of reversion to virulence or interference with other respiratory vaccines.

“More effcient disease control can improve fock health. The addition of this new vaccine to the INNOVAX® range will enable producers to pick the most appropriate option for their system and create space in busy on-farm vaccination schedules,” concludes Ms Pitman.

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livestock Boost suckler genetics using free KPI app

Suckler producers can dramatically improve performance and fnancial returns by monitoring key breeding indicators – but manual recording is laborious and time consuming. Now, farmers can record everything on their phone using a new feature on the free Breedr app, generating automatic reports and easy-to-understand graphics.

The new breeding feature aligns with AHDB Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and helps farmers to identify the best animals to breed from, whether that’s producing beef calves to fnish or heifer replacements.

“Genetics affects almost every element of suckler cow performance, and by benchmarking farmers can speed up the rate of genetic improvement – particularly if they are calving at two years old,” explains farmer and Breedr founder Ian Wheal. “Our free tools enable farmers to analyse the genetic performance of their herd and individual animals quickly and easily.”

The best place to start is logging when females are bulling – this will create an alert for 20 days later so producers can check to see if they’re cycling again. Logging the AI date or when bulls are turned out, as well as any pregnancy diagnosis results, will automatically calculate and fag the likely calving date.

“At calving, you can log the birth in seconds ready to sync with BCMS, and enter the calving ease, calf weight and vigour – by linking with the dam and sire, this makes it easy to identify the best cows and bulls to use,” says Mr Wheal. Medicine records and activities like disbudding can also be kept in the app, so that all of the animal’s information is in one place.

When weaning, calf weights can be captured in just 10 infuenced by a compact calving period; the more calves born in the frst three weeks of calving, the older they are at weaning, so the heavier they will be.” Farmers can use the KPIs to select the most fertile females to breed from, achieving a tighter calving period and ultimately boosting proftability.

seconds with the Crush Mode tool, and when more than one weight has been recorded the app will predict future growth rates to help with fnishing plans.

“According to AHDB, achieving 10kg higher weaning weights can increase output by an average of £20/head,” explains Mr Wheal. “This can be

IAAS welcomes new report on role of auction marts in rural communities

Response to the Prince’s Countryside Fund report, More Than A Mart, from Neil Wilson, Executive Director of the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland.

livestock Calf rearer improves sales with Breedr

A Welsh calf rearer has embraced new technology to sell her livestock, enabling her to improve effciencies and save time.

Cheryl Reeves rears 600700 Belgian Blue, Aberdeen Angus and Friesian calves a year at Woodcroft farm, Wrexham, and has adopted a new app to streamline stock sales.

She was initially looking for an easier way to record cattle movements when she came across the free Breedr app. “I thought there’s got to be an easier way of doing all this – I was sick of updating the spreadsheet, going onto Cattle Trading System (CTS) online – it just all felt a bit messy.”

Mrs Reeves began using the app for cattle movements and medicine records but soon branched into trading through it. “It’s just really quick, when a customer rings up and asks how many Belgian Blue bulls or heifers I have, rather than getting my laptop to go onto a spreadsheet, I can open Breedr and tell the customer there and then.

“Another positive is showing the customer how the calves have been looked after – it’s been really good for selling.”

Over 3,000 farmers are registered to trade on the app, and it takes just minutes to set up for the farm, with trading listings showing the cattle weight, growth rates, health and movement history.

Mrs Reeves sells the calves at either four months old or between 14 and 16 months. “We have a two-shed system – they stay in the milk shed for six weeks then they move into the weaning shed for six weeks before they’re sold at four months old, or we keep them on our rotational grazing system until they’re 14 to 16 months old.”

She has been delighted with trading through the app. “It’s great, putting up an advert probably takes 15 minutes at most.”

With Breedr, payments are secured before the animals are released and then passed on within two working days of transport. “It’s a simple process; I do worry sometimes about cheques because it’s not a small amount but with Breedr it’s secure and reliable,” says Mrs Reeves.

“Only 72.7% of the steers and 60.9% of lambs processed by Scottish price reporting abattoirs in 2020 met specifcation. When we’re talking about specifcation, for lamb we are talking about an E, U, or R grade for conformation, a 2 and 3L for fat and up to 21kg deadweight with a large number of processors not paying for any weight past 21kg.

“For cattle, again an E, U, or R grade for conformation and a 2,3 and 4L for fat. Many processors are inficting penalties for carcasses over 420kg deadweight, though some have reduced this to 400kg. It depends how, when and where you are marketing your livestock.”

The tool gives producers the opportunity to learn about the requirements of the whole supplychain – from abattoir grading systems and hygiene requirements to consumer preferences for consistency to allow for planning and to improve their productivity and proftability.

Developed alongside processors to help farmers boost their bottom line by improving livestock selection and management for slaughter, Meat the Grade, has been met with positive feedback from farmers utilising the tool.

Alongside her position at QMS, Beth also works on the family’s upland beef and sheep farm in Perthshire and has found, in practice, that the tool is helps to realign yourself to what processors and consumers need.

“It’s really worthwhile familiarising yourself with the tool as there is a lot of practical information about grading and what processors are looking for.

“Tools like Meat the Grade beneft the whole supply chain as we can get a better understanding of how we can all work together for the beneft of the end consumer.

“It’s important to us that farmers provide feedback on the tools we develop to ensure they are benefcial for possible for everyone across the supply chain.”

Users are able to provide feedback via the Meat the Grade tool which is now available to access by visiting the Quality Meat Scotland website: www.

qmscotland.co.uk.

Hen charity leads the way in facilitating first research into pet chickens

The British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT) is once again leading the way in hen welfare by launching a pioneering new forum to facilitate research into pet chickens.

This online forum, nicknamed The Coop, will pave the way for ground-breaking studies by scientists and researchers around the world into hen welfare and hen keeping.

Hens have been sadly neglected by the world of evidence-based academic research, with only two known papers written about their welfare – one of which concluded that there was a need for more research.

Now, the tide appears to be turning and researchers are beginning to study our backyard focks.

As well as providing an online space for scientists and researchers to communicate and share their studies, the BHWT is also promoting their research surveys to its supporters to help them gain insight into frontline hen-keeping.

Jane Howorth MBE, Founder of the BHWT, says, “It is wonderful to see the world of academic research realising what we’ve always known – that our pet hens matter! They are just as deserving of scientifc studies as our other animal companions who have been more extensively researched.

“The research about to be undertaken ranges from exploring how hens beneft our mental health to seeking good veterinary care and appropriate drugs. They will also examine how the pet hen population has grown over the years and reasons for keeping them, and which homegrown remedies are used and which work.

“We have European Councilfunded research being carried out on non-human life in London and Delhi and a close look at end-oflife options and decisions. Calls and emails into our Hen Helpline will also be analysed so we can better understand what health problems our adopted hens face and better inform our adopters on how to handle them.”

Some of the frst research to be supported by the BHWT