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Our thoughts on Calving Gates

As more clients are installing calving gates on their farms we thought it might be useful to share our thoughts on them….

QUICK-RELEASE YOKE – a yoke allows one person to safely and quickly calve a cow but it is vital it is a quick release design as a cow will choke to death within minutes if she becomes trapped in a yoke.


RUMP CHAIN – most setups have a chain that attaches behind the cow’s rump. It is a good idea to include some baler twine where the chain attaches to another gate / steel ring. If the cow goes down or sits on the chain, this can be easily cut.


POSITIONING – make sure there is enough room behind the cow to use a long calving jack. In addition, positioning the calving gate against another gate rather than a wall facilitates easier use of the calving jack.


CAESAREANS – most calving gates allow good access for the vet if a caesarean is needed, through either a separate smaller caesarean gate or using removable bars. We are big fans of these!


CALF ACCESS – the gate needs to be hung high enough to allow a calf to suckle even when there is a build-up of straw. Some gates are slanted at the bottom to facilitate calf access, others have a separate section that opens for this purpose.


If you would like to speak to a member of the Farm Team, please call 01772 861300

Mobility Scoring

Early identification and prompt treatment is one of the cornerstones of lameness control within the Healthy Feet Programme. Numerous studies have confirmed the benefits of early treatment and we would all accept that treating a lame cow sooner rather than later can only be a good thing.

However, treatment of these early onset cases of lameness is often delayed as other cows get prioritised at the foot trimming visit. For instance, chronic score 3 cows, acute score 3 cases and dry off trims generally make up the bulk of the cows presented to the foot trimmer, rather than the score 2 cows.

Early identification and prompt treatment often requires no extra capital investment and can make a huge difference to the number of lame cows in as little as 6 months.

There are also significant long term benefits as lameness leads to chronic bony changes in the hoof, which in turn predisposes cows to repeat lameness events in subsequent lactations.

Mobility scoring has often been seen as an unwelcome paperwork exercise imposed by outside agencies. On the other hand, we feel that monthly mobility scoring to generate treatment lists is extremely beneficial and can be a very cost effective way to tackle lameness in your herd.

We offer monthly mobility scoring through our Vet Tech service.

These visits often coincide with milking and the data is recorded through our on-farm software App.

We can then generate treatment lists for you or your foot trimmer. In addition, we can also add the results from the foot trimming records back into the software.

This allows us to monitor lameness levels, lesion prevalence and treatment success over time.

For more information about our Vet Tech Service, please call 01772 861300

BVD -STAMP IT OUT

A new initiative has been launched to help farmers in England tackle BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea).

It is currently estimated that BVD costs British farmers up to £60million/year, reducing productivity and profitability as a result of poor growth rates, poor health with increased pneumonia and diarrhoea, reduced fertility with higher rates of foetal death. Rigorous testing of the herd is vital to help eradicate the disease from the unit.

BVD FACT
The estimated cost of BVD is between £13 and £31 per cow in Great Britain.

The £5.7 million funding package from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) is managed by SAC consulting and is the largest BVD project launched in England. Farmers will be able to apply for free on farm health planning for BVD control. Keepers of breeding cattle will be eligible for the scheme, which will help to assess the BVD status of the herd and develop a control plan.

After attending the first meeting a one to one on farm visit will be undertaken to carry out a check test on the herd. If the results indicate active infection then a follow up visit will be arranged to develop a customised action plan which may include further testing (PI hunt). The overall aim will be to reduce, eliminate or prevent BVD within the herd.

Beef & Youngstock – Housing Considerations

We have experienced a drier summer than we are used to and this has posed different challenges. Worm burdens have been greatly reduced on pasture over the summer however if we get a heavy rainfall following this dry period there is likely to be mass emergence of worms onto pasture which may have severe consequences for our livestock if left untreated.

Exposure to lungworm may also have been reduced over the summer and so we would advise watching out for or listening to cattle to see if they are coughing over the next few months and treating if necessary. Lungworm can cause significant respiratory disease and death in cattle and should not be overlooked in any grazed stock. Where cattle have been grazed for extended periods the use of long acting anthelmintic bolus activity may have worn off and further treatment may be necessary.

Testing for Lungworm larvae can be done on a faecal sample however is slightly different to a normal worm egg count. If you would like to check grazed stock for Lungworm please submit a faecal sample stating that you require Lungworm testing.

Bringing in cattle from markets, other farms or common grazing can introduce new diseases to your own farm, including parasites such as liver fluke. Liver fluke is a common parasite that infects cattle, sheep and other domestic animals as well as wildlife such as deer and rabbits. Following several wet years monitoring, testing and treating for liver fluke early is also recommended during this year.

Resistance of liver fluke to treatments, in particular products containing triclabendazole (TCBZ), appears to be an increasing problem and one that needs managing on all livestock farms. It is important that care is taken to reduce selection pressure for resistance whenever possible by only using triclabendazole-containing products when no other options are suitable. Other medicines which contain the active ingredients, closantel, clorsulon, nitroxynil, oxyclozanide and albendazole are effective against adult flukes and some (nitroxynil and closantel) are effective against late immature stages between seven and eight weeks old.

If treating now or immediately on housing we would recommend using a Triclabendazole product but if cattle are housed for 7 weeks or more, one of the other products is often more suitable. Please speak to us about testing or when to treat.

Embryo Transfer

Embryo transfer- repeat breeder embryos (‘cow stoppers’)

What is a Problem Breeder Cow?
Cows that have had three or more services at regular (21-24 day) intervals and that are still not in calf.

What treatments can we use to treat problem breeders?
Problem Breeder Embryos – implanting a beef cross embryo 7 days after service in problem repeat breeder cows improved pregnancy rates by over 20% according to a recent UK study.

How does implanting an embryo help?
By implanting a second embryo into the cows’ uterus the strength of the hormonal signals within the cow are doubled and so the likelihood of the cow reabsorbing the embryo(s) is reduced.

What cows would make good Embryo Transfer candidates?

  • Cows should be cycling normally, showing regular heats every 21 – 24 days.
  • Cows should be vet-checked to make sure there is no uterine damage and no ovarian problems such as cystic ovaries.
  • Cows should be clean with no uterine discharge.
  • Ideally cows should be in reasonable body condition and good health. Chronically lame or high SCC cows are not ideal candidates!

What is the procedure?

  • Cow AI’d as normal. Arrange vet visit for 7 days later.
  • Cow examined prior to implanting the embryo.
  • We administer an epidural as this facilitates the procedure and should improve success rates.
  • Embryo implanted and cow scanned 5 weeks later to check if successful.

Maximising success rates in embryo transfer 
These are some suggestions when dealing with embryo recipients.

  • Maiden heifers make the best recipients: they have higher conception rates.
  • Cows can be used providing they have a good body condition score, and they are clean and cycling.
  • Embryos can be put in to heifers that were bulling 6, 7 or 8 days previously. The highest conception rates are likely to be achieved 7 days after a heat.
  • A good reference heat is vital to the success of the transfer.
  • Reference heats can be a natural observed heat or synchronised induced heats.
  • Included heats (i.e. Following a CIDR and prostaglandin programme) work equally well providing good heat detection is undertaken.
  • A wrong or inaccurate heat observation will mean no pregnancy as these recipients are not synchronised with the donor cow.
  • Avoid feeding changes to the recipient group for four to six weeks either side of transfers. Try to keep the diet consistent.
  • Knowing the trace element history of your farm is important.
  • Grass variation and grass silage variation can affect conception rates.