Dry Cow Tube Changes

Pfizer have announced that there is a change to their Orbenin Dry Cow tubes. The requirement is that cows should now be dry for at least thirty days if you want to use this product and the milk with hold has been increased to 204 hours after calving. The with hold period for Orbenin Extra Dry Cow remain unchanged at 96 hrs for milk after 42 days dry. There is always a problem with drugs when they are re licensed because the new rules are to apply with immediate effect what ever is written on the box or the label. In many ways it would be better to give the company a month or so to change the packaging so that every body is aware of which regulations apply at any one time to avoid confusion.

Learning from Milk

Milk is a valuable diagnostic tool as it can indicate the presence of different conditions and diseases in the herd that may be having a direct impact on production and on the fertility of the cows. We have long been used to sending in samples to check for the presence of Leptospirosis, Bovine Viral Diarrhoea and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis. Recently a test for fluke has been devised, but I think I am right is saying there have been some initial problems with it. It is a little bit unfortunate that Merial have announced a test for ostertagia in the herd at a time when many herds are back in or on restricted grazing.

Treating Dairy Cows

Most of you will be aware that more than 80% of dairy cows have significant gut worm burdens and that you will see a favourable increase in milk production and fertility when you use a certain pour on wormer. This task can be done at any time of the year, but the more logical time to treat is in the autumn when worm burdens on pasture are at their peak. In a normal summer when the grass dries up cattle get a break from the worms as the larvae migrate down into the ground to find moisture. This is not a normal summer. Your cows may need extra help in the winter because the chances are your fodder supplies will not be as good as you would like.

Is it really Necessary

For those of you that still need convincing testing the milk for Ostertagia will give an indication what the cows have to cope with. Merial are offering free tests at the moment if you do it through their web site www.Proveit.info . We can register for you if you do not use the internet. It would seem that the milk test works best the longer the cows are grazing so it might be better to wait a bit until things settle down and you can start using the grass again.

Risk from Fluke

It is difficult to know if the summer floods will cause an increase in the levels of fluke in cattle and sheep during the winter and early next year. Of all the parasites fluke has one of the most complicated life cycles as it involves a small snail before it can move into your sheep or cattle. We are not in an area where there is a high incidence of fluke, though it is troublesome on some farms, especially if you buy in stock in the autumn from Wales or the West Country. The strange thing about the summer flooding is that in many places it has occurred on fields and parts of the farm that are usually dry so presumably there will not be many snails to act as the secondary host. The chances are that silage quality may not be good this winter and that will encourage fluke to get established so it is important to carry on with your normal treatments.

Risk from Lungworm

In a normal year lungworm starts slowly in the spring, has a check in the summer when pastures are dry and comes into it’s own in the autumn when the ground is moist and temperatures are high for the larvae to be active. This year they had an early start and have had no check so far since March so their numbers on the pasture continues to increase. It would be wise to listen out for the first signs of lungworm and to be prepared to treat the whole group as soon as you hear any coughing, before a significant weight loss has occurred.

Poisoned Cattle

Last year August was a bad month for yew poisoning, I hope it does not happen again. Cattle will not normally look for yew if it is growing on a tree, as soon as it is cut or a branch falls they will go and investigate, just a few leaves are enough to leave cattle of any size dead. There is no effective antidote. If you do have to get rid of any branches or hedge trimmings make sure they are thoroughly burnt away from cattle and that all of the leaves are consumed by the fire.

Treating lame Sheep

I can appreciate that until the ground dries it is difficult or impossible to sort out lame sheep, there is just no where dry for them to go and you may well be dealing with more urgent matters for the next week or so. When things settle down and you have the opportunity to have a foot trimming session it might be better to separate out the lame ones, put them through a foot bath and get them onto the driest fields. Some ewes that have been lame for a while would benefit from an antibiotic injection. There will be only a short time to get them right before you are thinking about using the tups. It is better not to breed from ewes that are chronically lame. If you can get all of the lame ones onto a small field and go through them each week you will hopefully be able to send more and more back to the main flock again.

Public Consultation

The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy has identified that Defra has a responsibility for the identification and management of risks from wildlife for human health and the health of livestock. Defra are undertaking a consultation exercise at the moment asking for comments from interested parties and what you think are the main wildlife diseases that are a risk.to livestock and people. In the example that they give all sorts of species are mentioned including American Cray Fish and Coots being euthanased on a South American Island because they were though to be carrying cholera. The strange thing is that there is no mention of the word badger in any of the examples.

Have Your Say

Comments on the consultation can be completed on line if you follow this link to the consultation Document. Then download the consultation document.It is quite easy to complete the forms and send your comments over the internet. Contact the surgery if you want to write your comments and send them in by post. I know it is probably a complete waste of time, but I feel we ought to try as there will be more people supporting badgers than opposing them.

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