The dry cold weather is a huge relief to many. The high humidity and chilling winds have contributed to some nasty pneumonia outbreaks. The air temperature can fluctuate vastly at this time of year from minus figures at night to 10+ ⁰C in the day. This can be enough of a stress on young calves to cause an outbreak of pneumonia. Ensure all calves are protected from cold chilling draughts and give plenty of dry clean bedding. Calf coats can help eliminate cold stress. Ensure sheds are adequately stocked to create enough heat to warm the shed and drive ventilation. Ventilation tubes are a great asset where natural ventilation is sub-optimal.
We had two successful meetings last month on BVD and Beef Calf Health. The take home messages included; identifying your BVD status and removing PI’s but consider vaccination as an insurance policy to prevent future incursions. Reduce stressors and optimise nutrition in calves to help grow healthy productive calves. Edna and I also attended a conference last month where we had a very informative evidence-based presentation on calf nutrition from calf expert Alex Bach. His key points were: Calves should be fed 900g of 25% protein milk powder per day in 6 litres, they should be offered a 20-22% Protein starter pellet with a low molasses content (35-45% starch) up till weaning. 2cm chopped straw aids rumen development and increases starter intake. Reduce the amount of milk gradually from up to 2 weeks pre-weaning and the frequency of milk feeding the week before. Aim to wean when consuming 2kg solid feed per day.
We have our meeting on Dairy Cow lameness in conjunction with Crediton Milling this Wednesday 6th December and a Red Tractor Medicine course the following Wednesday. Please call the surgery to book your place.
With lambing now approaching, many of you will be thinking about Clostridial vaccination with Heptavac P or similar. Please remember to give your new additions to the flock the full 2 dose course 4-6 weeks apart so full immunity is given. Please remember hygiene when vaccinating and clean and sterilise all equipment before dosing. Clostridial vaccination of sheep is one of the most cost-effective treatments that you can give to your flock and we would always recommend treatment of ewes 4-6 weeks pre-lambing as well as lambs over 3 weeks in high-risk flocks. For those who were unable to vaccinate last year due to supply issues please talk to us about your options.
Stock supply issues have been another recurrent theme this year, I feel that now with the exception of Pen & Strep we are moving to a better position going forward. It has certainly been a lot of work to keep stock on the shelves; I never thought I would be buying cat vaccines from Romania! The Heptavac supply seems to be better after a couple of dodgy seasons. We have a supply of small 25 dose packs currently. I would recommend purchasing enough for your second doses to make sure you have it when you need it. Pen & Strep is currently a fridge item, I have some Irish imported stock as Norbrook had production problems. This I am afraid is a Fridge item, we have also been told that when we are re-supplied with UK Pen & Strep from Norbrook this will also be a fridge item. I am told this is to help shelf life and reduce batch failure at the production plant. We should have this back in the New Year.
Many thanks for your continued custom and support over the past year, we all wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.