It was great to see so many of you at the North Somerset Show, the stand was busy all day, and we really enjoyed offering you some refreshments, the hats went down well too! The winners of our brain teaser were Brenda Wear of Butcombe and Trina Lock of Blagdon, close runners up were The Janes family, Ian & Lucy Marshall & family and James & Rachel Hardwidge. Well done to you all, Clare certainly had you all thinking laterally this year.
You may have heard of the Animal Health & Welfare Pathway (AHWP) by now, I have certainly been banging the drum for a while! I have a few updates that may be useful. I cannot urge you strongly enough to get registered. While all other grants are on hold, this money is still available.
The Beef and Dairy funding is focused on BVD control and will become our national eradication plan over the next few years. Indeed, it has been proposed and will now be consulted on before a likely implementation in the summer of 2027. At this point it is likely to be a mandatory scheme, the thought would be that we have had a few years to get the disease sorted with funding before we are made to do this. England lags well behind the rest of GB & NI in having a national eradication scheme. Where we find BVD on farm the funding available for each ‘follow-up’ is £1714 for a dairy farm or £837 for a beef herd.
The way in which the pathway works is now simpler and wider reaching. Once registered your single reference number allows you to access all areas of the pathway. Initially a review must be completed which is paid for on submission of the summary form supplied by us, this then allows a follow-up to be completed within the next 10 months after the review. Before the cycle starts again and you can complete another review etc etc. You are also now able to claim for multiple species concurrently so potentially you could complete reviews and follow-ups for each of Dairy, Beef, Sheep and Pigs subject to the minimum stock being on the holding. This is obviously a great opportunity to tie up your Herd/Flock health plan for your Red Tractor requirements or simply to allow the issuing of a VAN number, and fully funded! It is expected that the Capital grants scheme will return later this year and we are told that completion of an AHWP review will give you points to aid your grant application. The AHWP has always been a bit of a no brainer but it is now, more than ever. Even if you are doing Checs accreditation you just as well register and get the funding for the testing. All you need is a CPH and an SBI number. If you don’t have an SBI as you don’t claim SFP or SFI etc you can simply ask the RPA for one. Please get in touch if you need any further information.
With turnout of youngstock now underway, attention turns to how best to control for parasites in first grazing season (FGS) calves, which are the cohort that are most vulnerable to parasites due to their lack of exposure. The main parasites to consider now will be Ostertagia and Cooperia (roundworms) causing parasitic gastroenteritis, and Dictyocaulus lungworm. FGS calves should ideally go onto “low risk” pasture that has not been grazed by calves or youngstock in the previous grazing season. Where this is not possible, calves will encounter remaining overwintered larvae from last autumn, and may need a strategic worm dose to minimise further build-up of roundworm larvae on the pasture. Vaccination is the most effective form of control for lungworm, and should be done before turnout. Pasture grazed by youngstock the previous grazing season is considered to be higher risk for roundworms, particularly where there has been evidence of high worm burdens. FGS calves going onto such contaminated pasture may need a strategic wormer dose 2 – 3 weeks after turnout. Calves going onto lower risk pastures should be monitored with faecal worm egg counts (FWEC) for roundworms. We should also check for lungworm larvae where farms are known to have a presence of lungworm. These faecal tests can be done on a representative sample of 10 – 12 calves. Individual tests may also be done for particular animals of concern. These tests are recommended at regular intervals throughout the grazing season.