There appears no let-up in this wet weather, someone said to me during the drought last summer to be careful what you wish for! We have some personnel changes this month. We are really sad to be saying good bye to Liv after five years with us. She has developed into a very competent and popular member of the team; unfortunately our loss is the North’s gain as she heads back towards home, we wish her all the best for the future. We are pleased to announce a new vet arrival in Lucy Fews. Lucy grew up in Wrington, helping on a number of local farms. Since graduating four years ago she has been working in South Wales and we are chuffed she has chosen to move back home. I have no doubt you will all make her very welcome.
A good number of you have made use of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway over the past year. You may have read of some extra funding that has recently been announced. Beef Cattle reviews now receive £647 with a follow-on payment of £954. Dairy reviews receive £447 and follow-on £1844. For sheep the review is £574 and follow-on of £658. You are allowed to do multiple species and can do up to 3 reviews and follow on’s for each species.
We are happy to help you through the application process, once you find the correct web page it is pretty simple. You require your CPH, RPA Customer Reference Number and your SBI number. Once you put in all the information, you are given a Reference number, this number is used across the species for all components. Please do not delete the email with this number as it has the instructions of how to claim!
The Dairy and Beef components are centred about knowing your BVD status and working towards eradication. This funding is designed to help you get control in your herd before BVD control becomes a statutory requirement in law. This is likely to happen in the Autumn of next year. We do not know exactly how this law will function but this will be a compulsory component of keeping cattle. It is therefore vital that you know your status and can work towards freedom. I cannot urge you strongly enough to make use of this money now! For Dairy the starting point is a bulk milk sample that will unlock the first review payment and for beef it is 5 bloods from cattle aged 6-18 months; obviously best done prior to turn-out. If we find evidence of BVD then we are able to proceed with the full funding to help eradication, if not there is a lower follow-on payment that can be used for other diseases or a review of your biosecurity etc.
Sheep is less pressing but obviously there is still money available to look at worm control around wormer resistance. The follow-on money can be used for any area of sheep husbandry and health where you would like to focus.
To help you understand a little more about BVD and how the pathway works for both Cattle and Sheep, we are holding a meeting on 5th March at 7.00pm at the surgery. BVD is going to be something we need to get to grips with so I strongly encourage you to come along and learn a little more!
We have been having quite a few discussions regarding Blue Tongue vaccination this year. It is very much something we advocate as we believe we will see more Blue Tongue cases year on year. We are still awaiting the full re-vaccination instructions for cattle but it seems likely we will need to boost with a single jab annually. The primary course for un-vaccinated cattle remains the same with 2 jabs required in the first year. Sheep need a single dose of Bultavo and it seems likely that will be an annual requirement. I hope that helps with planning vaccinations prior to turn-out. Please don’t dismiss your other annual boosters, they remain just as vital to keeping your stock healthy.