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1 MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS AND THEIR FAMILIES Find us on

2 Welcome to this month s bumper Christmas issue. We hope you enjoy this issue and we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our clients a Happy and Prosperous Festive Season. Pp3-4 Pp5 Pp6-7 Pp8-10 Pp10 Pp11 Pp12 Pp13 Pp14 Pp15 Pp16 In focus - Vaccinating against leptospirosis and vaccine offer In your vet s wellies for a day! Sheep news Spotlight on...the Grabham Family of Homelea Success at the SW Farmer Awards for Penbode clients Penbode Dairy Fertility Club membership Johne s meeting review and MilkSure Have you met our VetTechs? Christmas opening times Dates for your diary and the Penbode Bude RFC client event Double Discount Early Bird Offer! Congratulations to Sharon Claydon - winner of last month s caption competition with: That beard is toast when it s my turn to clip and TB Test Andy! Our cover photo shows ZBeckaveans Bridie 4 being shown by dedicated young handler Bea Hooper (10 years old) at the recent Cornish Winter Fair. Bradworthy Camelford Holsworthy Stratton farm@penbodevets.co.uk Find us on

3 Our second in a series of articles focusing on the importance of vaccination. Leptospirosis is a vital disease to control for all beef and dairy herds. It causes a whole host of problems: Abortions Abortions, stillbirths and the birth of weak calves can all be caused by infection of the dam with Leptospirosis. Abortions can happen many months after the dam has been infected! Infertility Leptospirosis can persistently infect a cow s uterus. This reduces the conception rate and increases the likelihood of early embryonic death, significantly affecting your farm s profitability. Milk-drop Acutely infected cattle suffer from a sudden milk drop, along with a flaccid udder. Milk is often colostrum-like and has a high somatic cell count. Milk Leptospirosis can cause bovine abortions production returns in 5-6 days, but late lactation cows may become dry altogether, and cows infected in early lactation will never achieve the peak yield they would have been expected to attain. Lepto infects humans If working in close proximity with infected cattle, humans can contract Leptospirosis. It most often causes a flu-like illness, involving fever, headaches and muscle pain. It can also more rarely cause liver and kidney failure, leading to death. Parlour hygiene is vital

4 How is it spread? Leptospirosis can be found in the kidneys and uterus of a cow. Infection is therefore mainly spread via contact with infected urine (Careful in the parlour!) and infected cleansings. Some cattle only shed the Lepto bacteria for a short time, whereas others may shed intermittently for the rest of their life. Overall, transmission between cattle is greatest when grazing, between June and October. How to control it If your herd is naïve to Leptospirosis, then the greatest risk factors for introducing it are: Buying in stock of unknown disease status Using a bull of unknown disease status Grazing near waterways Grazing sheep However, given the huge prevalence of Leptospirosis in our dairy and beef herds, preventing exposure is near impossible. Vaccination is key Vaccinating cattle hugely reduces the shedding of the Leptospirosis bacteria, significantly reducing the likelihood of naïve cattle becoming infected and reducing the likelihood of abortions, infertility and milk drop. Remember vaccination of cattle is crucial not just for their own health, it is also vital to reduce the likelihood of farm staff becoming infected! For advice regarding Leptospirosis vaccination, as well as to find out about the great deals currently on offer, speak to your Penbode vet.

5 Anything you re not so fond of? TB testing in the rain, and cold, and snow, and hail Name: Sarah Phillpot Age: 26 Hometown: I m a local girl. I ve moved all the way from Sheepwash to Gidcott! How do you usually start your day? I m a night owl and struggle getting up in the morning; I normally hit snooze on the alarm about 5 times! But a hearty bowl of porridge and a decent cup of tea gets me going. What does a typical day involve? Routine visits, TB Testing, sheep work. Although I spend a lot of time with dairy clients, I also enjoy working with sheep; producing sheep health and flock plans, parasite plans, carrying out vasectomies and blood testing. When With Andy and Peggy I m not being a vet I m a keen baker, gardener and dog walker. What are your favourite aspects of the job? I enjoy having a good laugh with my clients and colleagues. Although I like cows, I do enjoy working with sheep and plan to own some of my own one day. What do you do in your spare time? I really enjoy baking cakes, flapjacks, biscuits, "tiddy pasties" and making chutneys and jams, especially when it's with produce from my own garden (or local hedgerows). I also enjoy hiking on Dartmoor and the South West Coast Path with my dogs and my husband. What do you listen to in the car? I have quite a random taste in music - retro 80s and 90s music (Adam Ant, Bananarama), country, folk, odd bit of Metallica due to my Uni friends(!), but generally spend most days listening to Radio 2 in the car. What are your next holiday plans? Driving the North Coast 500 (Scottish Highlands) in our converted transit van next May with the dogs. What is your greatest achievement? Not managing to wreck my husband Dom s car at the first Nissan X-Trail owner meeting to be held in the UK on Dartmoor! My first proper time offroading behind the wheel! Off-roading with husband Dom Any life lessons you ve learned since working at Penbode? A decent cup of tea (water first, milk last) and a chat with a friend can sort out most of life s problems or at least make them more manageable! Describe yourself in three words. Easy going, dog-loving baker Oli s Next pride issue and we joy will be interviewing Bradworthy Farm Vet Matt Evans

6 Our sheep team are looking forward to a busy lambing season. Here are some useful tips, offers and courses for our sheep clients. Are you ready for lambing? Sheep farmers out there should be aware of what to do to ensure a healthy crop of newborn lambs. Feeding for Profit Three-quarters of foetal lamb growth happens in the last six weeks of pregnancy and the final two weeks are key for udder development. Ewes have to be in the right body condition throughout this time; getting it wrong will cause low birth weight lambs and poor quality colostrum, both of which lead to poor survival rates. Many pre-lambing diseases such as vaginal prolapse and twin-lamb disease are related to poor nutrition. Ewes in good body condition over the final six weeks have the lowest lamb losses so feed them right until lambing. Vaccination have they had their jabs? Clostridial diseases and Pasteurella are the most common causes of death in growing lambs. Lamb losses to these diseases can be greatly reduced by vaccinating the ewes in advance so that antibody levels have time to rise in the colostrum. The best time to boost the ewe is usually between four and six weeks before lambing. If replacement ewes have been bought in, it may be best to give them a full primary course (two jabs, four weeks apart; so start eight weeks pre-lambing) to make sure they have immunity to pass on to their lambs through colostrum. When things go wrong abortions Isolate and mark aborting sheep and clean and disinfect the area. Don t mother lambs on to these individuals. If more than 2% of your flock are aborting, contact your vet to investigate. Put freshly aborted lambs (with their placenta) into separate bags and identify the aborting ewes for blood sampling. Remember to book your FLOCK PRESCRIPTION CHECK for only 20* (inc. FREE VISIT) if you haven t had one in the last six months. Or upgrade to include FLOCK HEALTH PLAN for just 50*. Contact our sheep team if you need to discuss your flock health plans or if you have any concerns about your imminent lambing season. *ex VAT

7 Penbode Lambing Kit - Only 35!* (RRP 50!) Get yourself prepared for lambing with our lambing kit and tracker Contents: 100 arm length gloves 10% iodine solution 500ml A lamb stomach tube 2 litres Penbode Keto Aid Calciject 6 Lambing snare 15 lamb jackets 500ml lube Selection of needles and syringes Lambing out of hours service Lambing bays are available at all four Penbode practices. Normal out of hours surgery attendance fees and lambing fees apply. Alternatively, in case of emergency, we can visit you. Normal out of hours visit fees apply. *ex VAT Lambing courses 2018 All 2018 lambing courses will be held at Penbode Holsworthy. Call Penbode Stratton on to book your course Date Time Event Cost 3 Feb 18 9:30-11:30 Young Person s Lambing course Morning course with content created especially for U18s # 25* 5 Feb 18 9:30-15:00 7 Feb 18 9:30-11:30 FarmSkills Accredited lambing course Topics will include care of the pregnant ewe, causes of abortion, managing flock nutrition, prevention of common problems and guidance on tricky presentations. Smallholder s Lambing course Morning course with content created especially for smallholders 75* (includes lunch) 35* # minimum age 14 years old. Parents will need to complete a consent form. Please ask when you book and we can send you one. * ex. VAT

8 The 220 pedigree Holsteins which make up the Kenham herd are some of the most placid and gentle animals our vets have to care for, and Ken Grabham thinks this is partially down to the family s investment in three Lely robotic milkers five years ago. Tell us about your decision to invest in robotic milkers. Ken: About five years ago our old parlour was looking pretty tired. We decided to look around at the options and visited a robotic milking parlour in Wales. We were so impressed, not only with how quiet and content the cows were there, but also how easy it was to run, that we decided to invest in three Lely robotic milkers. A cow in one of their three robotic milkers Stuart: It took Lely about a week to install but it was quite straightforward to operate. The cows are remarkably intelligent and have learnt how to queue up to use the machines. Even some young heifers can pick it up quite quickly. How has it affected your day? Stuart: Just because we don t have to stand in a milking parlour for four hours twice a day, doesn t mean to say we don t come and check on the cows. Ken: If anything we spend more quality time with them, rather than rushing them through the parlour now. Our land really isn t suited for grazing, and so keeping the cows indoors and giving them the option of being milked when they re ready means our cows are less stressed.

9 What is your favourite part of farming? Mark: We try to do all our own work and put very little out to contractors. In fact we ve just bought a new self-propelled forager for silaging. Ken: I love it when Spring arrives, when the grass is growing and we can look ahead to a new year. Ken, Mark and Stuart Grabham with a Lely robot Stuart: I enjoy working with the cows and calvings. We have our own pedigree Holstein bulls and calf down about 20 a month. What roles do you each play in running the farm? Ken: We are a true self-sufficient partnership. Sheila (Ken s wife) does the paperwork, Stuart looks after the robots and the cows, Mark does the tractor work and foot trimming and I do pretty much everything else, from calves to building. What changes do you see happening in the dairy industry in the near future? Ken: We ve got farming in the blood and I m pleased the boys want to continue. We have had some challenges what with the volatile milk prices, but I think the key challenge of the future will be issues over antibiotic usage. We have been working with Tamsin (Harris- Bryant) on introducing Imrestor (an immune boosting injection) and that s seeing some good results so we will use that again. Hopefully this will help to cut down on antibiotics. We also know we need to do more vaccinating. Mark: We currently employ one stockman, but it s going to be difficult to find people prepared to work on the farm for the long hours, in all weathers, for the money! The robotic scraper at work in the cow shed Stuart: I m lucky enough to be joining Tamsin on a trip to Indianapolis (US) in January to learn about how they overcome the challenges of managing large herds. It ll be cold - but worth it, as I ll be able to see what they do over there and maybe bring back what I ve learned there.

10 You are members of the Penbode Dairy Fertility Club (DFC) - what benefits do you see from that membership? Kenham Roumare Pamela - daughter of one of the Grabham s award winning pedigree Holsteins ( not as pretty as her mother says Ken). Ken: We see Tamsin at least once a month. These regular visits mean there s a real consistency to the care and attention our herd receives. We ve been able to take advantage of new innovations (such as Imrestor) and have been able to save money on medicines each month. We were delighted to hear that quite a few Penbode Farm clients weren t only nominated for awards at the recent SW Farmer Awards, but even went on to win! Step forward Jenni and Andrew Guy of Julian s Farm, West Putford for winning the Innovation Award and Nancy Dart of The Beeches, Holsworthy who received an Outstanding Achievement Award recognising her impressive commitment, love and passion in all things family and farm and for her fabulous contributions to the community and environmental considerations. The Guy family at the awards night Nancy Dart receiving her award

11 Each member of Penbode Farm Vets Dairy Fertility Club receives: Regular routine visits and a closer working relationship between the vet and farmer + Discounted visit fee for pre-arranged fertility work + Our top 50 selling drugs at internet prices + Reduced hourly rate for routine fertility work + Analysis of milk recording data and completion of your annual Herd Health Plan review Interested? Does this sound like something your farm would benefit from? Contact one of the Farm Directors to discuss.

12 21, 22 and 23 November Vicki and Kate, getting ready for the interactive phase! We were delighted to be joined by over 80 farmers and families, representing nearly 50 farms for the three evenings of Johne s supper talks (co-hosted by AHDB) held in Holsworthy, Hallworthy and Bradworthy. We see Johne s disease becoming increasingly important, with more emphasis placed on its control by your milk buyers. Guests enjoyed great food, great presentations and excellent discussions about the best methods of preventing and managing the disease, and how to meet your milk buyer s requirements. Attendees will now have an NMR Risk Assessment in preparation for their Johne s Control Plans to be issued in the New Year. Please ensure your vet has access to your Johne s testing results. We can then create a bespoke Johne s Control Plan for your farm in time for the February 2018 submission deadline. Even AHDB s Kate Harris joined in! We are looking for expressions of interest from dairy farmers who have not yet attended a MilkSure meeting and who would be interested in participating. This is a course being promoted by our milk buyers which aims to reduce the risks of medicine residues entering the bulk tank. If you are interested, please contact Andy Stokes (Bradworthy), Lauren Medland (Stratton) or Tamsin Harris-Bryant (Holsworthy).

13 Megan Brooking and Lisa Honey are Suitably Qualified Persons (SQPs) and VetTechs who are able to carry out a variety of essential on farm services which can deliver the same high quality you would expect from Penbode Farm Vets but at a cheaper price. Megan Brooking Lisa Honey What Penbode Farm VetTechs can do for your herd. Mobility scoring We recommend that this is done at least monthly. VetTechs can assess your herd s level of lameness on the 0-3 scale. The results are fed back to your routine vet and to your Farm Assurance scheme. 25 for the first 50 cattle. 15 for each 50 thereafter Vaccinate Provided that the vaccine has been bought from Penbode, our VetTechs are able to vaccinate livestock. 15 per hour. Disbud calves A vet as well as one of our VetTechs will attend in order to carry out the disbudding unaided, thereby freeing up the farmer s time for other (more important) tasks. 5 per calf of <8 weeks for a minimum of 10 calves plus medicines. The following services are available for 30 per hour and no call out fee. Body condition scoring We recommend that this is done monthly. We look at cows at the key points of their lactation cycle (drying off, pre-calving, peak yield) on the 1-5 scale, so as to monitor how well the cow s diet is meeting her needs. Teat scoring Should be carried out quarterly. We can assess the impact of your milking parlour on your cow s teats, as an aid to reducing mastitis and somatic cell count (SCC). The results are fed back to your routine vet. Tail clipping To improve cow hygiene and cleanliness. Often done at housing but should be done at least twice a year. Blood sample VetTechs can monitor for any infectious disease. Health schemes require annual blood sample of stock enrolled in the scheme. Note: A lab fee is attached to analysis of samples. Milk sample We can take a milk sample for bacterial culture to inform treatment decisions for clinical cases and high cell count cases, and for QScout to inform drying off decisions. Note: A lab fee is attached to analysis of samples. Weigh calves VetTechs can measure calves and take blood samples for assessment of transfer of colostrum as part of the XL Vets Calf Tracker Scheme.

14 Penbode Farm Vets Christmas Opening Hours Date Friday 22 December Saturday 23 December Sunday 24 December Monday 25 December Tuesday 26 December Wednesday 27 December Thursday 28 December Friday 29 December Saturday 30 December Sunday 31 December Monday 1 January Opening hours Normal opening hours 8am - 6pm Normal Saturday hours 8:30am - 1:00pm From 1:00pm normal emergency service Normal emergency service Normal emergency service Normal emergency service Normal opening hours 8am - 6pm Normal Saturday hours 8:30am - 1:00pm From 1:00pm normal emergency service Normal emergency service Normal emergency service

15 Contact your local branch or see the website ( or Facebook for more details. Date Time Event Venue 6 Jan 1:30pm 30 Jan 31 Jan 1 Feb 3 Feb 5 Feb 7 Feb 6 Feb 7 Feb 7pm 9:30-11:30 9:30-15:00 9:30-11:30 7pm 3rd Annual Penbode Hog Roast and Bude RFC Match DAIRY Fertility talks Includes topics on increasing pregnancy rate, heifer synchronisation and embryo implantation. LAMBING COURSES (see sheep pages for details) BEEF Fertility talks Includes topics on bull fertility, tighter calving patterns and embryo implantation Bude RFC, Bencoolen Meadow Ground, Bude Holsworthy Golf Club Wilsey Down, Hallworthy Bradworthy Inn Penbode Farm Vets, Holsworthy Holsworthy Golf Club Wilsey Down, Hallworthy When: Saturday 6 January 2018 What time: Where: Gates open and hog roast 1:30pm Bude RFC, Bencoolen Meadow Ground, Bude EX23 8QG Who s playing: Bude v. Honiton RFC - KO 2:30pm All clients and their families are invited. This is always a popular event and spaces are limited! Call your local Penbode practice to book your tickets. Bradworthy Camelford Holsworthy Stratton

16 Bovela BVD, Bovilis BVD and Rispoval IBR vaccines. Call your local practice and order by 31 December 2017 for an extra 10% off!! And if you are a DD client this is on top of your existing 10% discount...a whopping 20% off your 2018 vaccinations! *Cash or DD price. VAT not included. Prices valid until 31/12/2017