FARM NEWS shropshire FARM NEWS IN THIS ISSUE: May 2019 • Living the High Life? • “Staggers” or Hypomagnesemia • Herd and Flock Health Plans • Next Steps for Mihail • Meds Corner • Coming Up • Transition Group Meeting • Bank Holiday Opening Hours • Recap of Udder Club Meeting • New Faces • TB Update Shropshire Farm Vets Hanwood Office: Unit 3, The Depot, Hanwood, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY5 8NY T: 01743 860 920 F: 01743 861 934 Whittington & Oswestry Office: Glovers Meadow Industrial Estate, Maesbury Rd, Oswestry SY19 8NH T: 01691 898 822 E: [email protected]W: www.shropshirefarmvets.com Company Reg No 6497266. VAT Reg No 817914608 Living the High Life? As we head into summer, bar the odd brief storm (Hannah), the weather has been fair, with plenty of warmth and good sunlight hours. Many spring calving herds are yielding better than ever, with tremendous yields exclusively from grazing, whilst we have a good proportion of all year round calving herds averaging over 40L per cow per day. So, despite decidedly unexciting milk prices, marginal litres and good cow health and fertility mean that there is hay to be made. What could possibly go wrong?. Without being a harbinger of doom, it is worth casting a critical eye over factors which are making current outstanding performance on many dairies and what bottle necks are likely to arise this season. Furthermore, how each farm can manage them, dependant on their situation. Forage Stocks. After a long, mild and relatively dry winter many people have made good first cut silage already. After last summer, there is a risk of poor subsequent crops struggling with drought, as water tables are reportedly yet to recover. Is it worth making cuts earlier to preserve quality and encourage early regrowth on farms prone to burning off? Have you identified any passengers in the herd (by and large I expect I can hear a resounding yes) if forage stocks come under pressure? Are there any cows between 20 and 150 days in milk that are giving less than 20L per day? Overall, keeping a close eye on forage stocks and conservatively managing herd exits to match will be a key driver for success on many dairies this year – a difficult juggling act weighing up current performance vs future herd size. Rain. Despite the fairly dry conditions, we have encountered staggers after bursts of rain on several farms at the end of April. James A provides a closer look at staggers later in this newsletter. Forage quality from last year, and from that analysed so far this year, had been excellent by and large. Many grass silage samples are returning ME values of over 12MJ/Kg DM. Be aware that with energy content this good, cows may downregulate intakes, which can lead to unusual problems (including staggers even in housed animals) – Sean takes a look at the impact of this amongst other things affecting transition cows in next month’s newsletter. Cow Health. Should milk prices take a turn for the worst for whatever reason, it is worth repeating that cow health and fertility underpins good economic performance on dairy herds. Saving pennies on vaccination to ease cash flow in a low milk price scenario inevitably leads to lost pounds of income as fertility and yields slide with the appearance of preventable disease. Flies are already appearing with large early hatches. The commercially available, deltamethrin based pour-ons rely on flies biting treated livestock and then killing the fly. Treating early prevents the early flies from surviving to lay eggs which can lead to much larger hatches of flies later on in the season. Phone the practice or ask any of the vets about fly control, as disruption from feeding can lead to a 5-10% drop in daily yields as well as disruption in heat expression, and increasing mastitis and lameness incidence on farm as cows take evasive action. James
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Living the High Life?As we head into summer, bar the odd brief storm (Hannah), the weather has been fair, with plenty of warmth and good sunlight hours. Many spring calving herds are yielding better than ever, with tremendous yields exclusively from grazing, whilst we have a good proportion of all year round calving herds averaging over 40L per cow per day. So, despite decidedly unexciting milk prices, marginal litres and good cow health and fertility mean that there is hay to be made. What could possibly go wrong?.
“Staggers” or HypomagnesemiaDefinition–PotentiallyfatalnervousdisorderthatoccursincattleandsheepwhenthereisadeficiencyindietaryMagnesiumlevels.Mostofteninlactatinganimalsthatarenotabletoeatenoughdrymatterorhaveareducedappetiteaftercalving/lambingandfailtomeetthemagnesiumdemandofmilkproduction.
As most of you will be aware, new requirements by the Red Tractor Farm Assurance now mean that alongside reviewing the standard herd or flock health plan, there is now an additional stipulation for us to review the use of antimicrobial products on farm assured farms every 12 months.
Foot Trimming Course: 9 till 4 06/06/2019 - £200 + VAT per person
Mobility Club: 12 till 2 13/06/2019
Bank Holiday Opening HoursFirst May bank holiday, the practice is open until 5:30pm on Friday 3rd and re-opens at
8:15am on Tuesday 7th. Second May bank holiday, practice is open until 5:30pm on Friday 24th and then re-opens at 8:15am on Tuesday 28th. As ever there will be two vets
on-call over these periods for emergencies.”
SHROPSHIREFARMNEWS:MAY2019
Please keep a note of the mobile numbers for the vets should you ever need them
TB update for AprilIn April, we did 71 tests totalling 8088 animals. There were 25 reactors and 3 inconclusives.
The first Udder Club meeting of 2019 was held on April 24th at Lower Eyton Farm, Alberbury where we had a good discussion refarding an on-farm problem of mastitis.Thetopicofourmeetingwasfactorsoftheenvironmentwhichcanaffectmastitisrates,withtheemphasisonkeepingthecowcleansopathogenchallengeisminimised,andtheriskofenvironmentalmastitisreduced.Wetalkedaboutcollectingyards,loosehousingandcubicledesign,stockingdensity,strawstorageandventilationbeforegoingonabrieffarmwalktolookattheeffectsofpoachingespeciallyaroundgatewaysandwatertroughs,shadeandflyproblems.Usingotherfarmers’experienceswethenhadagooddiscussionandexchangeofideasonhowtosolvethisfarm’sproblems.Itwasgoodtogeteveryoneinvolvedandfortheofferofthefarmertovisitotherunitstoseehowproblemshavebeenresolvedthere.Thatiswhattheclubisallabout.Wefinishedjustbeforetherainscame,althoughitwasmuchneededbuthadlittletimetolookatourKPisthoughitlookedasifthemajorityhavewinteredwell.AbigthankyoutoPeterandBenDaviesforhostingus.WewillbeinterestedasthesummerprogressestoseehowtheirplansdevelopandperhapswecanspendafewminutesdiscussinghowtheyaregettingonatournextmeetingwhichwillbeinOctober.Thanksforyourinterest.Rod and Sean
Recap of Udder Club Meeting New Faces
Renata Sa Cruz
“I graduated with a Masters in Veterinary Medicine in December 2018 at the University of Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro in Vila Real, Portugal.
The externships I enrolled with different farm animal practices during my last year of training confirmed my great interest in farm animal medicine.
My adventurous side made me take the opportunity of working in the UK, as TB Tester for Shropshire Farm Vets. I took it with great drive and ambition to learn and progress.
In my free time I enjoy scuba diving, outdoor activities and I am also very passionate about music.”