Farm Newsletter - May 2017 ***MEETING DATE*** 7th June 2017, The Bell Inn, Chittlehampton - 7:30PM Reducing Antibiotic Usage on Farm As mentioned in last months newsletter we will be hosting a meeting to discuss antibiotic usage on farm. I am sure you are all aware, antibiotic usage on farm is under increasing scrutiny and there is increasing pressure to reduce usage in all areas of both human and animal medicine. We firmly believe there is a place for responsible use of antibiotics on farm but in order to retain this we need to be proactive in reducing usage on farm where possible. In this meeting the farm team will join forces to discuss responsible use of antibiotics in all areas of farm practice focusing on key areas where usage can be reduced or tailored to the most appropriate cases. We will discuss treatment protocols, use of alternatives or management practices to reduce antibiotic usage and key drugs to be reserved for tricky cases. The date is now confirmed so if you are interested in joining us for what is sure to be an interesting and lively discussion, please contact the surgery to book a place. Sainsbury's Visits We are currently busy booking in the herd health visits for the Sainsbury's cheese contract farms if we have not yet spoken to you please give us a call and we will book you in. Farm data should have been submitted by now but if you are having problems and would like help please get in touch.
Control and Prevention of Milk Fever Milk fever is an age old disease of both dairy and beef cows but is becoming an ever increasing problem in dairy cows due to increasing yields. We have also been seeing more mineral problems in beef herd this spring particularly those that have been on little or no supplementary feed through the winter. With spring turnout in full swing I thought a timely reminder of its management would be useful particularly for dry cows housed at grass through the summer. It is estimated that between 4 9 % of the UK herd is affected; targets are to maintain levels at less than 5% but it should be of concern (and require veterinary advice) if levels are above 10%. Milk fever is often referred to as a gateway disease as it can open the flood gates for other diseases in freshly calved cows mastitis, retained cleansings and ketosis to name just a few. Milk fever is an easy disease to treat with calcium administered in the vein - the key is to provide treatment early. This article will focus on preventing milk fever as this is always much better than cure. There are a number of ways to prevent milk fever: Calcium restriction This option is difficult as we need to provide less than 20g calcium per day and unless you provide a diet of just straw (not good for energy levels!), any forage will contain more than 20g calcium per day. Magnesium chloride supplementation This is an easy option and very effective in most instances. Adding magnesium chloride in the water is easy but it can taste bitter so the water troughs must be the only source of water as cows will preferentially drink from any other source without mag chloride. Targeted calcium supplementation near calving This is also a simple option with older cows (e.g. 3 rd lactation upwards) being supplemented with calcium evidence shows oral supplementation in the form of a drench or bolus has a much better preventative effect than calcium injections under the skin. Full or partial DCAB diets. DCAB is a term used by nutritionists to rank the mineral content of the forages to assess how likely they are to cause milk fever. To explain in a nutshell, there is an equation made between the sodium, potassium, chloride and sulphur content of each feed to give it a DCAB value (the more negative the value, the better for milk fever prevention). As far as conserved forages go, maize and whole crop silages are the best forages to feed to dry cows to help reduce milk fever whereas grass silage is one of the worst.
Your nutritionist should be able to analyse your forages to assess how good or bad the DCAB value is. With concentrates, the best ones to feed are rape, soya and brewers grains. It should be noted that full DCAB diets need urine phs to be monitored. What do you do in the face of a milk fever outbreak? In an ideal world, dry cows would be housed in the last 3 weeks of pregnancy to allow maximum control of their diet as grass can be very variable in calcium content. The graph above shows how calcium levels will rise as the summer progresses which means the maximum risk period is the late summer/autumn grazing time. However, milk fever can be controlled at grass the aim is to reduce the DCAB of the diet as much as possible and this can be done by reducing the amount of potassium in the diet (one of the main drivers for milk fever). To achieve this, keep grazing tight and buffer feed with low potassium forages. Low potassium forages are those which are more fibrous with no potash or slurry spread on them (straight nitrogen fertiliser is fine). Supplementing with dry cow minerals is essential and ensure these have good magnesium, vitamin E and selenium levels. If grazing levels prove difficult to manage and you cannot house your dry cows, supplement at risk cows with an oral calcium product. For more information or advice on milk fever control or treatment, please speak to a member of the farm team. Livestock Movement Rules As most of you will be aware APHA are phasing in new movement rules in an a effort to simplify recording. Sole occupancy authorities will no longer be valid and instead you will need to either merge CPHs or apply for either a temporary land association or a temporary CPH for land that you rent/ use on a temporary basis. You will be contacted by APHA if you have not been already informing you of what you need to do particularly if you have a SOA, in the mean time you can continue to use them. If you have any questions regarding TLA s or tcph applications, please speak to a member of the farm team.
Sheep News Optimising lamb growth rates Measuring how your flock is performing and comparing them to target key performance indicators (KPI) is crucial to find areas that can be improved upon in the next year. One such critical KPI is lamb 8 week weight which is a measure of your ewes performance during lactation. Up until 8 weeks of age, the majority of a lambs nutrition is derived from the ewe s milk. After 8 weeks, a switch occurs, and grass forms the major part of the lambs diet. Weighing lambs at 8 weeks of age provides a good indication of how well ewes have been lactating. Delaying weighing lambs until weaning (although weaning weights are also useful) means that the direct effect of the ewe s maternal ability has on early growth rates will be missed. The ewe s body condition and weight should be checked at the same time. If you just want to take a snapshot of your flock performance, then weigh 10% of a group of twin lambs. The mid-point of lambing should be used to calculate when the eight week weight should be taken, although if exact lambing dates are known the data will be more accurate. At the same time, identify and weigh a handful of the smallest lambs in the group. How many lambs do you have at 8 weeks that are less than 15kg bodyweight? Analysing the cause of these poor lambs can help to provide information for the future eg triplet lambs, lambs from ewes below target BCS, poor mothering ability etc The target growth weight for twin lambs pre- weaning is 300-350g/day, singles should grow faster, target >400g/day. Coccidiosis Lambs are most at risk of coccidiosis between about 4-12 weeks of age, especially artificially reared lambs that did not receive plenty of colostrum and lambs reared indoors. Coccidiosis can also occur in grazing lambs, and if it occurs at the same time as Nematodirus, severe gut damage can result. Symptoms of coccidiosis include rapid loss of weight and diarrhoea containing mucus and flecks of blood, causing staining of the perineum and tail. Affected lambs are very dull and lethargic, and often strain a lot, leading to rectal prolapse. If you think your lambs may have coccidiosis, we can check faeces samples from the affected group to identify the number of coccidian present. There are 15 different types of coccidia that may affect sheep, but there are only two that are recognised as causing disease in the UK. These "pathogenic" species are Eimeria ovinoidalis & Eimeria crandallis. If we identify a high coccidian count during faecal examination, we recommend that a sample is sent to a specialist laboratory for a speciation test, to identify if there are pathogenic strains of coccidia present, and in what proportion. This information is vital in planning a prophylactic control plan for coccidiosis. Picture courtesy of Nadis Treatment involves the administration of anticoccidial drenches. If pathogenic strains are present, prophylactic treatments will be re-
quired. The aim is to create a balance between exposure to the parasite so that immunity develops, and the prevention of severe gut damage that will lead to poor growth rates. High oocyst challenge Faeces in water or food troughs Dirty conditions High stocking density Older lambs previously in field Risk factors for coccidiosis Susceptible lambs 4-12 weeks old No previous exposure to that species of coccidia Stress eg cold, wet weather Poor nutrition Worms Parasitic Gastroenteritis PGE Teladorsagia..call it what you like, worms are still the most common cause of poor lamb growth rates in the UK. Without effective parasite control, lamb performance will be compromised. The risk for lambs is dependant upon pasture and weather conditions. Pasture management is a vital part of worm control in sheep. Top tips for worm control in your lambs this spring Follow good drenching technique weigh and dose for the heaviest, check and calibrate all your equipment, store medicines according to the manufacturers recommendations Understand and follow the SCOPS principles for worm control Check your wormers are working properly carry out drench checks every year. Use a break drench for lambs post weaning Quarantine treat ALL purchased stock Join our Market Vets Worm Egg Count monitoring scheme a cost effective way to check before you treat, to ensure that your lambs need drenching If you have any worming questions, or would like information on our sheep worm egg count monitoring scheme please speak to one of our farm vets. Scouring Lamb Survey Results Thank you to all of you who contributed to the national survey about scour in young lambs. I have included the results of our local data below. 69% of farms had seen cases of scour in lambs less than 3 weeks old, and scour was the most widespread disease on our farms. However, the incidence of scour on individual farms tended to be very low, with less than 5% of lambs affected on the majority of farms.
The survey also gave an insight into antibiotic usage on our farms, with the majority blanket treating all lambs at birth with antibiotics. The use of antibiotics is going to under close scrutiny in coming years, and the prophylactic treatment of lambs is an area where antibiotic use could be reduced. The farms in this survey who use targeted antibiotic treatments, had no greater incidence of neonatal disease than the blanket treaters. Correct ewe nutrition and good management in the lambing shed with attention to detail plays a large part in preventing infections such as watery mouth and joint ill in young lambs. We are planning to hold an antibiotic awareness meeting for all our farm clients in June, where we will discuss antibiotic usage in more detail. FLOCK CLUB MEMBERS Please can you submit your lambing data to me by Tuesday 9 th May so that I can prepare for our next meeting at the end of the month (date to be confirmed). We will be discussing aspects of lamb growth at our next meeting. www.marketvets.co.uk