Joining and Parting

After all the fuss last year about the merger of Merial Animal Health, the makers of Eprinex, Equavalan and other useful drugs and the much larger Intervet the two companies have now announced that they will stay as separate entities. Sometimes the demarcation between drug companies is far from clear as some products are manufactured by one company and marketed by another. Mergers have sometimes caused problems with the competition rules Pfizer had to sell on several of their successful vaccines last year when they joined forces with Forte Dodge. It is sometimes difficult to see why  drug companies feel that bigger is always going to be better.

The Wonders of Nature                               

Every morning I walk past the reservoir in Snailbeach. For the whole of the winter there has been no sign of any life in the water the fish only come to the surface and feed in the summer when the water warms up. One day last week frogs appeared around the edge of the pool, all of a sudden there were dozens of them looking for a mate to pair up with. It is fascinating to see all of this activity and amazing to think that each year they all appear on one particular day. Now one week on there are only a few stragglers left, most have found a mate and moved on.

The Wonders of Worms

This is a bit like what happens on a smaller scale with nematodirus and lambs. All of the eggs passed onto the fields last year have remained dormant until something triggers them all to hatch out together and infect this season’s lambs. It has been found that this effect is exaggerated after a particularly cold winter as there would be no eggs developing in the warmer spells we sometimes see and they will all now hatch at the same time. This is how nematodirus is able to over whelm the immune system of the young lambs, and sometimes calves to cause disease.

Changing Pastures

If at all possible it does help if lambs can first go onto fresh pastures that were not grazed by lambs last year. That way they will be older before they are exposed to the infection. Pasture control is not usually possible so you will normally have to drench the lambs every three weeks. Fortunately so far there have been no reported cases of drug resistance to nematodirus. The white wormers are mostly used as they are safe and effective. For some reason cydectin does not seem to work so well against this parasite, levamasol is effective, but you will need to use it with care on young lambs as it is easy to overdose them.

Fertiliser Poison

Usually at this time of the year the ground is wet and any fertiliser spread on grass fields will soon find its way into the soil. In dry conditions the granules can stay on the surface for several days. This can be a hazard for growing lambs and sometimes calves as they will investigate anything new that they find in a field. Nitrate fertiliser is a particular problem as it is converted into nitrite in the gut of the animal and this interferes with the way that oxygen is taken up by the blood stream. There is no suitable antidote for nitrite poisoning so it is important to avoid the cause. Sometimes it can occur if you have crossed a grazed field with the spreader and some has been spilt on the ground or it might get into puddles on the surface.

Avoiding Staggers

It is still not too late to start supplementing suckler cows at grass with magnesium. Unlike most essential nutrients cattle are not able to store magnesium so they need a constant small daily supply. Under most circumstances there will be sufficient quantities in the fodder, but when grass is growing quickly, especially if it has just had fertiliser applied it might not provide enough of the mineral. Often the easiest way to resolve this problem is to put mineral buckets in the fields so that the cows can lick at them until their needs have been satisfied.

Vulnerable Breeds

It is still the case that Hereford and Hereford Cross cows are the most susceptable to staggers although all breeds can be affected it is usually the white faced cows that go down with the disease. Dairy cows are at risk, but all of the feed manufacturers boost the magnesium content of their feed at this time of the year so mostly it will be taken care of. Keep a close eye on low yeilding cows who are on minimum concentrate rations. Also we come across the occasional cow who will not eat the cake. If you have one of these in your herd it might  be better to give her two of the Rumbul Magnesium Bolus which slowly dissolve in the rumen and will supply the mineral regardless of what is eaten.

Vaccine Shortage

Scabivax is the latest vaccine to be in short supply. It was readily available until this past week now all of the stocks have been used and we cannot get supplies from anywhere. We have been told it will be available sometime in April, but as yet we have no definite date. If you do get Orf starting in your lambs try to separate affected lambs from the rest of the flock and try to keep it away from the younger lambs as these will often show the worst symptoms. The ovaloid tablets are available and these help to clear up the lesions in newly affected individuals. Younger animals tend to get a bacterial infection inside their mouths to make the Orf worse so it is a good policy to give an antibiotic as it can take some days for the natural immunity to build up and for the scabs to heal.

Lack of Progress

It is over a year now since the Bleeding Calf Syndrome, Bovine Neonatal Pancytopaenia started to get established in the United Kingdom. Much research is still underway and surveys have been completed yet we are still some way from discovering a definite cause of the condition. It still seems to be a problem for mainly larger Dairy farms, most herds have still just one or two cases so the losses have not been significant. It has been found that affected cows tend to have a calf with the problem at subsequent pregnancies, but it can be prevented by feeding colostrum from a different cow. The symptoms are so dramatic that this is not a condition that you could miss so it doesn’t seem that it will have a long term impact on the way we manage calves even if we do not yet know the true cause of the condition.

The Latest Name Change

From the first of this month Animal Health has merged with the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. We have seen regular name changes over the years. MAFF, DEFRA, State Veterinary Service then Animal Health. The official address now is Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Block C, Government Buildings, Whittington Road, Worcester WR5 2LQ. In many ways it is a shame that the two agencies could not combine under a new and shorter name.

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