November 2014 - Farmgate Vets

NOVEMBER 2014
EDITION
Whilst driving out to a call last night, I met a tractor and buck-rake coming home.
Siloing in the last week of October is unheard of but with the amount of grass about
it is no wonder no one wants to waste it! October has been a great month for
animals outside; housed animals have been a different story. We have been seeing
pneumonia in all ages of stock, environmental mastitis and increased bacto-scans in
dairy cows. The range in temperature between day and night and the foggy
mornings are to blame. We will be giving some pointers this month to help to
reduce pneumonia in calves.
November sees a new face at Lancaster—Derek Bell joins us from across the water
(Northern Ireland, not the isle of Man!). He is a farmers son and has been in
practice in Yorkshire and N.I. before joining our team at Farmgate. Derek is looking
forward to getting stuck into farm practice in Lancashire and all the fun that goes
with it. We hope you’ll give him a warm welcome.
Jim McKinstry
SUCKLER COWS
The easiest way to know if a cow has held to a
service is to wait 9 months and if there are feet
showing at the back end, we know the bull or AI
has done the job. Big problem with this method is
that if she is not in-calf you have wasted a lot of
feed and time. So why not let us tell you if they are
in calf. We can easily scan cows down to 30 days
post service. If cows are not in-calf they can be
brought into season or they can be culled to give more space to the pregnant cows. If cows and
bulls are fertile, 65% of cows should be in calf in the first 3 weeks after the start of the breeding
season and most should be in calf after 9 weeks. A tight calving pattern is good as calves are all
a similar size and you do not need to be watching calving cows all summer.
Jim McKinstry
Don’t forget—we’re open SATURDAY
9am-12noon at both Jct.36 and Lancaster
LARGE ANIMAL VETERINARY SURGEONS
Tel. 01524 60006 / 015395 67899 / 015396 20335
24 hour service www.farmgatevets.com
NOVEMBER MEANS CALF PNEUMONIA SEASON AGAIN
It’s nearly a year since Caroline went on maternity
leave, and we make no apologies for repeating her
sound advice on calf pneumonia.
Pneumonia in calves is a very common disease over
the winter months. It is preventable and fatalities
should not be accepted as the normal. There are 6
key control measures to minimise the risks to your
calves:
1. Good ventilation – buildings should feel fresh and dry. Many buildings have insufficient air
outlets which prevents adequate air flow.
2. Hygiene – disinfect between batches of calves. Ensure bedding is clean and dry, scrape out
yards daily.
3. Vaccination can be a very useful tool to protect against outbreaks of pneumonia in housed
calves.
4. Mixing ages of calves is not advised. Older calves (that appear healthy) carry viruses in their
nasal passages and pass them to younger naive calves. Never put older ‘poor-doers’ in with a
group of younger calves.
5. Stocking density – lower stocking densities means more airspace per calf and less infective
agents in the air.
6. Colostrum – Calves must get at least 3 litres of colostrum in the first 6 hours to help protect
them against pneumonia bugs on your farm.
Whenever you suspect a calf has pneumonia you should take its temperature. Any calf in a
group with a temperature above 103°C (39.5°C) should be given an antibiotic and
anti-inflammatory. E.g. a combination product like HEXASOL or two separate drugs such as
METACAM and DRAXXIN.
We would strongly suggest that all purchased calves are vaccinated with RISPOVAL
INTRANASAL as soon as they arrive on your farm. Outbreaks of pneumonia can also be
controlled by vaccinating at risk animals. Please call us if you would like to discuss pneumonia
control on your farm.
Since Caroline went on maternity leave, her husband was promoted to a new job in Kent and
she has decided to move back down south with Alex and baby Annabell, and also be closer to
their families. We wish Caroline every success for the future.
WINTER DIETS
With the cows coming in and silos getting opened we are seeing problems balancing
diets. Cows have loose dung, milk drop and digestive upsets due to some still being on
late season grass and acidic silages.
The main problem is that the cows are not getting enough structural fibre in the diet
and their rumens are not working correctly. Soya hulls and beet pulp have more fibre
in them but we want the cows to chew more to produce saliva and keep the rumen
ticking over properly. Wheat straw is excellent as it has plenty of fibre and scratch
factor to keep the cows chewing and happy. Straw can either be chopped or ground to achieve the
correct length and consistency.
Jim McKinstry
INFECTIOUS BOVINE RHINOTRACHEITIS (IBR)
Following Jim’s last newsletter on pneumonia in cattle; it is worth considering that winter is fast
approaching and so is the pneumonia season. Housing is a very stressful time for cattle and can
lead to the emergence of dormant IBR infections. Once an animal has been infected, cattle are
carriers for life due the virus hiding in nerves. Vaccination helps keep clinical disease and viral
shedding under control. IBR can occur in young and old animals.
Clinical signs

Nasal discharge

Conjunctivitis (red eyes with increased tear production)

High temperature

Milk drop and loss of appetite

Coughing and breathing difficulties

Death

Abortion and high number of return to bulling.
Diagnosis—Eye and respiratory tract swabs, post mortem (hopefully not!), blood and bulk milk
samples.
Treatment—Antibiotic and anti-inflammatory treatment is
essential to prevent and treat secondary infections.
Vaccination and Control—Is tailored to each farm and would
require 6 monthly or annual booster vaccinations.
Remember to reduce potential stressors such as BVD
infections, and keep buildings well ventilated to prevent the
build-up of moisture.
Andrew Rutherford
ACIDIFYING WASTE MILK
Do you want a system that:

Safely stores and uses waste milk

Improves calf growth rates

Improves calf health by reducing gut bugs

Reduces Johnes bacteria levels
Acidification of waste milk isn’t new but after going to a talk presented by Roger Blowey on calf
rearing, I could see more of the benefits. As we all know, waste milk itself cannot go for human
consumption and feeding untreated waste milk to calves allows the spread of infection
(Johnes, BVD, Staph, E.Coli) from your herd to your baby calves. A calf’s stomach naturally
produces acid which clots and separates the milk curd helping to kill bacteria and other bugs,
so it is perfectly reasonable that acidifying waste milk before feeding could have some good
health benefits! At pH4.4 coliforms like E.Coli are fairly easily killed and there is a huge
decrease in Johnes bacteria at pH4.1, especially when left for about 8 hours. Preserving milk in
this way allows larger quantities of milk to be provided for ad lib feeding of calves.
Milk can be acidified by using formic acid, preserving waste milk for 4 weeks. Roger Blowey
estimated the costs of this method at 75p/calf/lifetime! His recipe is: add 30ml of 10% diluted
acid per litre of milk (when the milk has cooled). The mixture needs to be stirred twice daily
and heated up to 20⁰C before feeding.
Emily Ozols
KENNEL COUGH
With the shooting season underway, your rusty aim will
hopefully be dropping a few pheasants. As well as you starting
to mix with your shooting buddies, your shooting dogs will be
mixing with other dogs and this puts them at risk of kennel
cough.
Kennel cough is a bacterial infection of the windpipe that causes
a very harsh and distinctive cough. If left untreated it can
progress into pneumonia and a very sick dog. Affected dogs
can’t run or work to their full potential.
Kennel cough is easily prevented by a vaccine up the nose that lasts for up to 12 months. So
get your shooting dogs protected and all of you can have a good shooting season.
Jim McKinstry
SPECIAL OFFER
5+ dogs = £20(inc VAT) per dog
with no visit charge
(all visits must be pre-arranged and
mileage restrictions may apply)
MEDICINE NEWS
At long last UBRO RED DRY COW is back in stock. This is a unique
product and there is nothing to really replace it. So if this is the dry
cow therapy we have been recommending for you to use, you can
get back on to it now.
MAMYZIN I am afraid is still out of stock and we have no date for its
return.
Jim McKinstry
* REMINDER * REMINDER * REMINDER * REMINDER *
Please could you check if any of our cool bags are waiting to be
returned to the surgery, as our stocks are low. If you could return
them to the practice, we can continue to provide this service for you
to transport your vaccines home at the correct temperature.
Thank you.
Lancaster Office
Tel: 01524 60006
Open 8:30am-5pm
Monday-Friday
9am—12noon Saturdays
CLOSED Sundays
Kendal Office
Tel: 015395 67899
Open 8:30am-5pm
Monday-Friday
9am—12noon Saturdays
CLOSED Sundays
Sedbergh Office
Tel: 015396 20335
Open 8:30am-5pm
Monday-Friday
CLOSED Saturdays
CLOSED Sundays
PLUS 24 hour emergency service 7 days a week