Horse Passports

At first sight the requirement for all horses and donkeys to have a passport reminds me of some sort of Biblical Decree. Exactly why DEFRA has decided that all horses require a document in which you have to record all worm doses and veterinary treatments is unclear. The argument is that it to comply with a directive that has to apply throughout Europe and that it is to ensure that horses that are destined for human consumption do not contain any chemical residues. I can understand that there is a need for passports for animals that leave the country and for the few that may go for human consumption but I cannot understand why all of the others need this documentation.

Identification

For the system to work many Veterinary Surgeons would like to see microchips used as the method of identification. There are seventy or more organizations that are issuing passports at the moment each charging widely different amounts for the documents.

One of the best deals that we have come across are the passports issued by Pet ID. This is a well established company that sells microchips. Ideally they would like you to michrochip your horse and then buy their passport. They will however accept a sketch as the means of identification as long as it is has been signed by a Vet. This is relatively straight forwards if you have a vaccination certificate as we can photocopy that and send it off with the documents.  There is no way around the problem of whether you need a horse passport or not. From the beginning of next year you will not be able to give any treatments or wormers without recording the details in the document and it will be illegal to sell a horse that does not have a passport. I realize that this is in many ways a poll tax for horses, but at least there is a way to keep the cost down.

Grass Staggers

I was a little surprised the other night to be treating a dariy cow with grass staggers. This animal had gone down in the collecting yard and had been transported to a small field where her condition deteriorated. Staggers is a difficult condition to deal with sometimes as it can be unpredictable. It is a bit different to dealing with cows that have milk fever. When cows are short of calcium everything slows down, if you can avoid the problem of bloat developing there will be a little time to get some calcium into a vein and start every thing moving again. Staggers is different because as the magnesium levels fall in the bloodstream it starts to trigger potentially damaging fits from the brain. Cattle are very sensitive to the amount of magnesium in their blood, even a small rise can cause electrical chaos in the heart so the mineral cannot be given directly into the bloodstream. The way to restore the levels is to get some calcium into a vein and rely on this to bring the magnesium levels up again. Magnesium is given under the skin to be absorbed slowly and maintain the balance. It is difficult because cattle cannot store magnesium for long in their bodies so need a daily intake.

Supplements

Some individuals seem reluctant to take supplements when they are offered either mixed into the feed or as a lick disguised by molasses from a bucket. These are often the cows that we get to see because the normal ways of maintaining their magnesium levels have failed. A safer way is to administer two magnesium boluses into the rumen. These slowly dissolve over a period of four months or more and are a fool proof way of ensuring that the mineral requirements are met.

Cattle with Bloat

Also this month we have had to deal with cows and store cattle suffering from bloat, or have heard about cows that have died from the disease. Again it is not at all clear why this should occur at this time of the year. There is a noticeable amount of clover in some pastures, but normally cattle would be well used to it by now. It is only when they have a sudden change that things go wrong and too much gas is generated in the rumen. Often it is not so much the quantity of the forage that is consumed, but more the way in which it has not been balanced by other fibrous material in the ration. Small gas bubbles start to form throughout the fluids in the rumen. These cannot escape to the surface and form a gas cap as too much frothing occurs. Hopefully the risk from bloat will decrease as the year goes on. If the herd does have to move from a temporary ley to a field with a lot of clover the time on the new pasture should be restricted in some way either by strip grazing or by limiting the time that the herd has access to the field. There is still a risk even with store cattle at this time of the year. It is particularly important to keep a close eye on young stock twice each day if you have moved them onto new ground.

Treating Scouring Calves

I have come across a new treatment for calves which seems to have a lot of potential. C Vet have formulated an electrolyte mixture for scouring calves which works when the scouring calf is still on milk. In the past it was always found that scouring calves did better if they were taken off milk for forty eight hours or so and just given the electrolyte solution. Rehydion is easier to use, it comes in a bottle and you just need to measure 20ml into each litre of milk when the calf is fed. The extra ingredient is a gel that slows the passage of fluids through the digestive system. Rehydion can be used with water and I should imagine that it would be better to do that at first if the scouring is severe and then mix it with milk at the next feed. I think this drug will be particularly useful where you have groups of calves on a feeder or for calves that are suckling from a cow.

Cattle Testing

Nobody likes having a Tuberculin Test done on their cows for fear of what the results will be and because of the disruption that it causes to your farm routine. Cattle are not used to being handled in quite the same ways as they were in the past and become wary of anything happening around their head and neck when regular testing is carried out. During the test each animal is given 0.2ml of tuberculin. This is only a very small amount but because it goes into the skin and not through it, older animals do find it a painful procedure. We have now found a way to speed up the time the test takes on the farm. I can get access to the cattle ear numbers from the Cattle Movements Service and bring a printout of the cattle expected to be on the farm. On most farms this speeds up the test because we do not have to spend so much time identifying animals and writing their numbers down. We are still working on a way of automating the form filling we have to do back in the office.

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