ISSUE 56 Spring/Summer 2016
Livestock www.paragonvet.com
NEWS
Inside this issue: TB Testing Update Nematodirus Cumbria Calf Club Velactis Beef respiratory disease ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY
Spring/Summer 2016
Staff news Rob Simmons We are delighted to welcome Rob Simmons to the farm team. Rob qualified from Glasgow University in 2009 and after an 18 month spell in mixed practice has been in farm only practice since, initially in the South of England and for the past 4 years in Cumbria. Rob is interested in all aspects of farm work but particularly surgery and dairy cow fertility.
Farmer Day Trip The Paragon Farm Team are organising a bus trip to the Royal Highland Show on Thursday 23rd June. The bus will leave from the Dalston surgery first thing and return to the practice by early evening. Places will be limited and offered on a first come basis. Tickets will cost ÂŁ35 per person and will include transport, breakfast on the bus and gate admission. Please contact the practice to book your place.
Post lambing flock check As lambing is pretty much done and dusted, now is a good time to look back at any issues you may have had over the last breeding season while fresh in your mind. We are having a drive in the practice to help improve flock efficiency so in conjunction with MSD we are offering a free 1 hour on farm consultation for 5 flocks to look at ways to improve lamb losses and scanning rates but also parasite and lameness control in your flock. We have access to free testing for abortion agents until the end of July and are offering free worm egg counts for the month of May! Get in touch with vets Philip Wilkinson and Caroline Abbott to get your free visit booked ASAP.
LIVESTOCK NEWS
Spring/Summer 2016
TB Testing Update By Anne Abbs Post-movement testing This has been introduced to avoid transmission of TB from the High Risk and Edge areas to the Low Risk Area (LRA). All cattle coming from a nonLRA area need to be TB tested 60-120 days after moving on the first holding that they enter i.e. they can’t be moved or sold to another holding for testing, unless they are slaughtered with 120 days. This is regardless of whether the animal had a pre-movement test (calves might be moved under 42 days of age but will then be eligible when they have been in the LRA for 60 days). The keeper is responsible for arranging and paying for the test and penalties apply if the test isn’t completed or the cattle moved before testing occurs. Cattle from farms that are in the LRA but currently on annual testing e.g. in a radial, do not need to be done. Complex rules apply to cattle transiting markets or attending shows and there is further information on the TB hub which covers these situations.
Private Gamma testing APHA has made private TB gamma testing available to farmers in a limited range of circumstances. Cattle need to be over 6 months of age and the herd must not be under TB restrictions. It can’t be used to speed up removal of TB restrictions or in herds whose TB test is overdue. It could be used as an extra layer of security if purchasing high value animals, particularly from the High Risk or Edge areas. The test needs to be authorized by APHA and booked with the relevant lab. Sampling and transport requirements are very particular especially with regard to temperature so the times and days that the samples can be taken is likely to be restricted.
Free pre-sale tests APHA will pay for a free herd test for cattle owners selling 20 or more breeding animals provided the herd is on 4 yearly testing and has not had an APHA funded test within the last 12 months. This will give buyers some reassurance that your herd is a low risk for TB but does involve a herd test, not just those animals being sold, and the same restrictions etc will apply if the test reveals any reactors or inconclusive reactors. Although the test will be completed by private vets it must be booked by APHA, so if you are interested you should contact them in the first instance. If you wish to have further information then the TB hub (www.tbhub.co.uk) is very informative, or contact one of the vets to have a chat about your individual circumstances. LIVESTOCK NEWS
Spring/Summer 2016
Nematodirus in Lambs By Cheryl Watson SQP Risk factors to consider for Nematodirus: 1.
Are your lambs grazing pasture that carried lambs last spring?
2.
Are they old enough to be eating significant amounts of grass (generally 6-12 weeks of age)
3.
Do you have groups where there is also likely to be a challenge from coccidiosis? For example mixed aged lambs are higher risk.
4.
Has there been a sudden cold snap recently followed by a period of warm weather?
5.
Have you got lambs that are under other stresses e.g. triplets, fostered, on young or old ewes?
Nematodirus is a round worm that infects young lambs typically those six to eight weeks old. The parasite is widespread throughout the UK and causes significant production losses particularly in heavily infected animals. Nematodirus infection causes severe yellow/green diarrhoea, leading to dehydration and in some cases death before parasite eggs appear in the faeces. Nematodirus has a simple life cycle in which eggs pass out of the host in faeces, develop to the infective larval stage within the egg and finally hatch onto grass. Hatching occurs annually resulting in very high levels of nematodirus challenge from contaminated pastures. Acute disease occurs when hatching coincides with the grazing of young lambs. Generally, the eggs deposited during one spring/summer will not hatch until the following spring. Cold weather delays hatching, so when we get a sudden change in temperature, as we have this year, it can trigger a mass hatch. If this coincides with the time lambs are starting to take in significant amounts of grass (over about 6 weeks old), the result can be devastating. The best control method is to graze lambs on pasture not grazed by lambs the previous year “safe pasture”. Where this is not possible and March is mild allowing an early hatch then late January and February born lambs may need anthelmintic drenching. Whilst incidents of anthelmintic resistance have been reported, benzimidazole (BZ Group 1) wormers are still generally recommended for nematodirus control. Endospec 2.5% - Worm dose 10ml per 50kg, Meat Withdrawal 4 days, 25kg lamb – 5ml = £0.05 Contact Cheryl on 07748392124 for any of your worming requirements. LIVESTOCK NEWS
Spring/Summer 2016
Cumbria Calf Club Last month we held the first of our ‘Cumbria Calf Club’ meetings for those farmers that have been involved in calf monitoring and the Calf Tracker campaign. The meeting was held at Holmes Mill Farm, Burgh-by-Sands by kind permission of The Hodgson Family. It involved a farm walk looking at the new calf rearing set up that they have as well as discussing the changes that have been implemented in calf rearing and monitoring since last Summer in conjunction with vet Jemma Reed. It was a really enjoyable meeting with plenty of discussion and ideas and tips for everyone that came along. This was followed by an excellent lunch at The Greyhound Pub kindly paid for by Zoetis. The ‘Cumbria Calf Club’ is a new initiative for Paragon and is open to anyone who is interested in calf monitoring and looking at learning more about calf rearing and getting the best from their calves. Please ask the farm vets for more information if you would like to get involved!
Yorkshire Farm Visits Calf club members are invited to a day trip across to Yorkshire focusing on calf rearing facilities at: 1) The Yorkshire Wagyu Company (monitor calf health with their own on farm vet) 2) Messrs Spence, Low Field Farm, Brompton, Northallerton (former Gold Cup winner) Please register your interest with Emily at the Dalston surgery and a date will be confirmed shortly. LIVESTOCK NEWS
Spring/Summer 2016
New Product Launch—Velactis
New to the dairy market for Summer 2016 is Velactis, a novel dry off facilitator from Ceva. The National Mastitis Council advises that to minimise the risk of a new intramammary infections being picked up during the dry period, cows should be dried off when yielding 15 litres per day or less. However, the average yield at dry off in the UK is 17 litres!! This results in a much higher risk of cows calving in with high cell counts and getting clinical mastitis in early lactation. In fact up to 70% of clinical mastitis cases that occur in the first 60 days of lactation are caused by infections picked up in or carried over the dry period. To reduce yield at drying off: a) feed can be restricted, however, this leads to metabolic stress b) cows can be milked once daily, however, this is not advised due to increased risks of mastitis Now there is a third much better option in Velactis which dramatically reduces milk production when used immediately at drying off. Research carried out by Ceva has also shown that Velactis treated cows: have an 80% reduction in milk leakage have a 20% reduction in risk of new intramammary infections have a 60% reduction in risk of udder over engorgement have over 80% reduction in udder pain have a significant reduction in clinical milk fever cases lay down for an extra 2hr 21mins on the day of dry off Treatment with Velactis consists of a single intramuscular injection of 5mls at drying off. For more information visit www.dryyourbest.com or speak to one of the farm vets. LIVESTOCK NEWS
Spring/Summer 2016
Respiratory Disease in Cattle - an all year round problem? Many farmers consider pneumonia in cattle to be a winter/housing problem only. The graph below show the seasonal variations in pneumonia investigation submissions to the SAC lab. It is not unsurprising that the fewest samples are sent in during the months April to June (Q2). What is surprising though is that there isn’t that much difference! – pneumonia is definitely an all year round problem.
For suckler farms it is often thought that calves will be fine out at grass and that vaccination is only needed at housing. These results would suggest otherwise. It is now increasingly common for beef farmers to vaccinate suckler calves pre-turnout with Rispoval Intranasal and then follow up at housing with their normal winter vaccination programme.
Facebook Keep up to date with our latest news and what our farm vets are getting up to by visiting our page on Facebook. Your contributions are most welcome and we'd love to see your pictures out on the farm. We will occasionally run competitions on our page so keep an eye out! www.facebook.com/ParagonVets.Farm
LIVESTOCK NEWS
Pilot Farm Wanted With an average lameness incidence of 30% on UK dairy farms and with each case costing an average of ÂŁ240, identifying lame cows early and treating aggressively are key to minimising herd costs. Alongside this monitoring lameness incidence is part of the latest farm assurance requirements. We are looking at training 2 of our support staff in mobility scoring and are looking for a farm volunteer. Fortnightly over a 3 month pilot period we would come out and record mobility scores from a proportion of the herd as they go about their normal routines. At the end of the pilot we would sit down and discuss the results with you, making recommendations for individual cows and the herd overall. There is no charge for being involved in this pilot so if you are interested please contact Emily at the Dalston surgery.
Contact us: Paragon Veterinary Group
Townhead Veterinary Centre
Carlisle House, Townhead Road Dalston, Carlisle, CA5 7JF Tel: (01228) 710208 vets@paragonvet.com
Newbiggin, Stainton, Penrith, CA11 0HT Tel: (01768) 483789 townhead@paragonvet.com