Drug Trial

It sounds as if a new injectable treatment for sheep scab is being developed and the Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge is hoping to recruit suitable farms to test out the product. To qualify you must have sheep with scab that have not been treated and you must not be registered organic. I suspect that a series of wool sample will need to be taken , but the good news is that all of the drugs will be free. Please contact the surgery if you might be able to help with this drug trial. We need a single injection treatment for sheep scab that can be relied upon, so hopefully everybody will benefit in the end.

Fattening Cull Cows

It is a long time since you have had to make decisions about the weight of cull cows. Certainly it is not possible to fatten all of them and I should imagine it is not easy to decide whether it is worth the effort to fatten cull cows or if it would be better to sell them through the market and give somebody else the opportunity to try. The milk development council has developed a simple tool on their web site to help. You can use this link to try it out.

New Start for Pre Movement Testing

It is with some hesitation that I mention Pre Movement Testing after it was postponed at such short notice last month. The letter that I eventually received did not really explain the reasons for the new starting date and I must apologise in particular to those of you that had already arranged pre movement tests. You will not of course be charged for the work involved. The new starting date we have is Monday the 27^th March, which is a little unfortunate as it is the day before the long a waited move to the new market in Shrewsbury. It is still not clear how the new regulations will be enforced. The results for all of the animals that we test are eventually logged onto DEFRA’s computer system and that will automatically respond if an illegal movement has taken place. The rules are complicated so I should imagine some mistakes will occur and animals will need to be tested on farms after a movement has taken place. If you have any doubts as to whether you need to test animals that are shortly to leave your farm please contact the surgery and we will do our best to find out for you.

Disposing of Older Cows

It has been reported that a small number of cattle born before August 1996 are presented each month at slaughter houses that only process cattle for human consumption. Please keep a close eye on your passports and ensure that older cows are only sent on the disposal scheme. It sounds as if these errors are being taken seriously as they jeopardize any future exports and are liable to result in a substantial fine.

Wobbly Lambs

This year we have seen several new farms with Vitamin E problems. This vitamin is involved with the way that neural impulses are transmitted to the muscles. When there is a shortage some of the messages do not get through and young lambs either are unable to stand or have muscle tremors. The danger is that affected lambs do not feed properly, they appear to suckle but do not take much as they will not be able to keep up with the ewes when they are first turned out. If you think that you might have a Vitamin E problem in your flock try treating two or three lambs with the injections and if you notice a change in the animals you would benefit from treating all of your lambs before they leave the lambing pens.

Scouring Lambs

This winter has been colder than those of recent years and it is likely that Nematodirus will cause problems when the weather warms up. Nematodirus is mainly a disease of young lambs, occasionally calves can be affected as well. Most strongyl worm eggs start to hatch out and develop to the next generation as soon as they are passed out onto the pasture. Nematodirus is different as all of the eggs that are deposited since last spring wait on the pasture until they have over wintered so that massive numbers hatch out at the same time when the ground temperature rises. After mild winters this hatching will take place over several weeks and may be incomplete so there is a reduced challenge for the new born lambs. This year it is likely that all of the worm eggs will hatch out at the same time to over whelm the defenses of the lambs.

Treatments

The treatment for Nematodirus is to worm the lambs every three weeks. In ideal situations you should try to put them on ground that was not grazed by lambs last year, but few people are able to do this. Nematodirus can be particularly severe if you have coccidiosis problems at the same time as it is not easy to distinguish the two conditions.

Salmonella Infections

Another disease that may not be apparent if it occurs alone is Salmonella dublin. This is often assumed to be an enteritis of calves with particular significance as it can be picked up by people, particularly young people. When it turns up in older calves it can manifest itself as pneumonia or meningitis associated with pasturella or IBR infections. Some cows carry this infection with few symptoms although abortions can sometimes occur. There is an effective vaccine against Salmonella dublin to stop it having an economic impact on your herd although you cannot rely upon it to stop sub clinical infections so you must continue to take precautions to stop it spreading.

Avian Influenza

This disease comes ever closer and it is only by chance that it has not reached our shores yet. It is difficult to predict the impact that it will have when it does come. Judging by what has happened in other countries we can expect it to have a detrimental effect on our poultry industry. From this month small flocks of fewer than fifty birds can register so that you can be informed of the disease controls as they are brought into action. You can register either through the Avian Influenza page of our website or by telephone on 0800 634 1112.

Endemic Situation

I think it is wrong to assume that Avian Influenza will just affect individual farms, be controlled then go away. It should be remembered that all birds are affected by this virus to a greater or lesser degree and that we are not really prepared for it to spread amongst our native bird population.

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