February 2011

PRACTICE NEWS

January has again seen less pneumonia than recent years although individual problems are still being seen. We have been busier than normal over the last few weeks catching up on the backlog of work that accumulated during the wintry weather late last year. This has been exacerbated by the reversal of policy by Animal Health regarding TB testing as we have now received instructions to carry out a number of tests that we believed the department were planning to carry out themselves. A significant number of herds have now carried out BVD screening and the results continue to be encouraging. We now have results for over 50 herds with several more pending. We strongly recommend acting now rather than waiting till compulsory testing in the autumn. Over the next few weeks we will be running courses on calving, neonatal calf care and lambing. Please contact the surgery for dates/details.

BULL SALES

Many of you will soon be returning from Perth with new bulls. A period in isolation whilst the health status is checked out can save a lot of problems later on. Most bulls will arrive with health declarations but if not then blood sampling is indicated. Some breed societies insist on animals being BVD ‘safe’ but it is always worth checking. Similarly with Johne’s Disease, where, although there are not a huge number of herds with monitored free status, there are many herds now practising a control programme. One further word of caution, always check the TB status of the area a prospective purchase is coming from. We currently still have farms under TB restrictions as a consequence of purchasing stock from areas of higher TB incidence. Animals originating from south of the border are subject to a pre-movement test followed by a post movement test (to be paid for by the farmer) if they are from or have ever been resident, in a higher incidence area. One point of interest however is that bulls originating from Scotland (low TB area) are not subject to further testing if purchased at a sale in England. We don’t particularly enjoy TB testing but suspect you enjoy it even less!

CALVING MANAGEMENT

It won’t be long till early calving is underway so now is the time to start thinking about disease prevention in newborn calves. Colostrum of adequate quality and quantity (at least 2 litres) before 6 hours of age remains the most important factor for preventing scour. Care should also be paid to stocking rates and quality of bedding. Cow nutrition should also be carefully controlled to ensure an even condition score throughout the group at calving. If you have experienced problems with stillbirths or ‘dopey’ calves you may have had problems with Iodine or Vit E/Selenium deficiency. Those herds which calve down in February and March should consider screening now as blood results can take several weeks to become available. Correction is easy and relatively inexpensive. Vaccination to guard against scour caused by three of the main infectious causes should be done 3 to 12 weeks prior to calving with a single shot of Rotavec Corona. This has proved extremely successful in most instances. There are competitor vaccines available but these require double injections in most circumstances. In the last year or two we have seen an increase in calf scour attributable to Cryptosporidium. As there is now a recognized treatment, Halocur, available correct diagnosis is important to determine the best treatment option. PRE-LAMBING VACCINE Ewes on the Heptavac P system should receive a booster dose 2-6 weeks pre lambing. Gimmers who have not been given an initial double dose of vaccine should receive 2 doses 4-6 weeks apart. The first dose primes the animal against clostridial & pneumonia bacteria but it requires the second dose to raise antibody levels high enough to provide protection and transfer this to the colostrum. If the sheep are thin, low in trace elements or carrying a worm or fluke burden their ability to respond to vaccination is reduced. We can monitor this by taking blood from 6 ewes for energy, trace element or fluke levels and dung samples for fluke & worm eggs. Forage can also be checked by SAC who can then advise on the concentrate feeding levels required. Those of you signed up for the LMC Animal Health & Welfare Programme may be able to recoup the cost of analysis. To ensure supply of vaccine we recommend advance ordering. Supplies will be ordered now and invoiced when collected.

ABORTION CONTROL If your flock is not protected against Toxoplasma due to unavailability of the vaccine last year you can take the following precautions to reduce the risk. Feedbins should be covered to prevent cats from gaining access to feed. Deccox can be added to ewe feed on prescription to reduce multiplication and spread of the parasite. All ewes that abort must be isolated from the rest of the flock and the foetus and placenta sent to the lab for examination. Aborted ewes should be marked for future blood sampling. Because of the zoonotic risk pregnant women should not handle ewes or contaminated clothing at lambing time.

LICE Many flocks have seen itching problems and the main causes are biting and chewing lice. Treatments include pour-on Crovect or Dysect, Coopers Spot-on or OP dip. None of these treatments are usually 100% effective at this time of year in long fleeces and should always be followed by a flock treatment after clipping. Remember to check for scab in any itchy sheep.

COLOSTRUM Colostrum is essential for the survival and good health of the lamb. Lamaid is a full feed for a new born lamb. It mimics ewe colostrum in nutritional composition and is based on high quality bovine colostrum with all the protein being skim milk protein. It is easy to mix and can be kept warm in a flask for 24 hours if required. Lamaid is available in 10, 20 & 40 lamb feeds and individual sachets of 25g each to make 150ml of liquid feed. This season we intend bulk buying Lamaid again and therefore offer a 10% discount to those ordering colostrum this month.

LAMBING COURSE We hope to run a lambing course later this month. Contact the surgery for details.