Vet viewpoint: regional round-up of key veterinary issues
Howard Kennock, Wensum Valley Vets, Norfolk
A high proportion of respiratory disease in cattle occurs within one month of housing and usually sees autumn-born calves more severely affected. Interaction between viruses and bacteria result in severe illness.
Prevention is always better than a cure and with that in mind, good management along with proper housing is key. Calves should receive plenty of colostrum and stressful events such as weaning, castration and housing should not be carried out together. Also avoid mixing different ages of stock to prevent disease being transferred to the younger animals with low immunity. And adequate ventilation without being draughty is important to ensure any droplets carrying viruses or bacteria are not allowed to build up and cause disease.
Many vaccines are available and can be used to help protect susceptible animals. They should be used in combination with good management.
John Cammack, Glenthorne Veterinary Group
Now is the time to plan your post-housing cattle parasite treatments.
All youngstock benefit from an avermectin-type wormer treatment, which will remove inhibited worms (the cause of winter dysentery) as well as providing lice and mange control. The long-acting products are unnecessary, as the cattle will not be picking up any worms inside.
In fluke areas, treat all cattle a few weeks post-housing with a flukicide as well. If using a flukicide that only kills adults, a second treatment eight weeks later is advisable to remove any remaining flukes. This will also help reduce pasture contamination when the cattle are turned out in the spring. Flukicide resistance does occur, but testing is complex. It is best done once the cows are housed.
Matthew Berriman Rosevean Veterinary Practice, Cornwall
We diagnosed our first case of Schmallenberg virus in the practice about a month ago. The affected herd had a number of cows with severe milk drop and scour lasting about a week. Since the initial diagnosis, bulk milk tests on a number of herds in the practice have all indicated exposure to the virus. We suspect most herds and flocks across the area have been infected, but will have to wait until the spring to see if there is any increase in the number of abnormal calves and lambs born.
Many herds have suffered poor conception rates due to suboptimal energy intakes through the summer due to weather conditions. Other reasons include: BVD outbreaks, infertile bulls and even a broken semen flask. Fertility can be affected by many factors on the farm and attention to detail key to getting as many cows as possible in-calf.
Graham Tibbot, Castle Vets, County Durham
With winter approaching and many farms short on feed, it is worth pregnancy scanning ewes. There are several advantages to this: ewes with singles should not require supplementary feeding unless body condition scores are low; those carrying multiple lambs can be managed separately to prevent twin lamb disease and any barren ewes can be sold fat. A barren ewe rate of more than 5% warrants investigation; blood can be tested for trace element deficiency or infectious disease.
Farmers lambing early should be aware of abortion. Any ewe aborting should be isolated until discharges have stopped as well as removing afterbirth and lambs from the pasture to prevent spread of infection. If more than 2% of ewes abort, you should consult your vet as leaving an abortion problem unchecked may result in increased losses the following year. Reliable vaccines are available to prevent toxoplasma and enzootic abortion (EAE).