East Newsletter - April 2015

National Strengths Local Service

Regional NewsIn the Eastern region, Westpoint has seen quite a few changes in the past few months, but continues to focus on profitability for all clients, many of whom are finding the markets against them. Following opening of the Daventry practice in September, Jessica Swiestowska has settled in, providing farmers of Northants with a committed farm animal veterinary service. Also development of the Lavenham practice has allowed vets Ben Crowter and Gus Paixao to join and provide a dedicated service to Suffolk and north Essex. This means the team based at Chelmsford have more time, and less miles to cover, allowing greater focus on Essex farms. It also means that there will always be a separate vet on call for each area. The two offices will continue to work in close partnership and support each other at times of need, as is the case for all teams in the region! We are also proud to announce that Molly McKay and her team at Norfolk Farm Vets have decided to join

too! Remember we have this great team of foot-trimmers who can arrange one-offs as well as regular visits for beef or dairy.

The vets have been balancing the work in hand with furthering their knowledge bases and broadening their experiences. A number of the team have attended courses, including the annual BCVA (British Cattle Veterinary Association) congress. Peter Aitken has been

westpoint veterinary group

We have been holding a number of meetings, including the current series of Health4life events. Johne’s disease in November was followed with BVD in Feburary, and those that

forces with Westpoint. This will strengthen the Eastern region even more, giving us a presence in Norfolk with an excellent reputation, and exposure to new ideas and fresh expertise.

Ian Roper provided consultancy in Jordan

AI Training CourseHost Farm: Benfleet, Essex

AI Trainer: Ian Roper

Dates: 11th, 12th & 22nd May

To book your place please email events@westpoint.co.uk. Places are limited and will be given on a first come first served basis.

attended found these to be very valuable. Keep an eye out for further invitations through your letter box and inbox! Not forgetting some excellent small-group workshops have been held across the region, covering gut parasites in sheep, management at grazing, beef fertility, and respiratory disease in cattle.

We had a stand at the Smithfield show, manned by Chris Hulbert (Paraprofessional Services Manager) and Jessica Swiestowska, this was a great opportunity to catch upwith some of our own clients and chat to a few new faces

providing nutritional advice to farms in Estonia and Ian Roper carried out some consultancy in Jordan. In their spare time (should there be any!) many of our vets are also studying for further qualifications. Ian Roper and Jessica Swiestowska are working towards the CertAVP (post graduate Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice) and Tonia Simms is grafting away at the DBR (Diploma in Bovine Reproduction).

Following the TB breakdown in Hertfordshire in the summer, we are pleased to say that no further cases have been detected, with most farms in the radial testing zone now having passed the first check test. However TB testing may never be the same again, and we are all waiting to see what effect the recent tender for administration of TB testing will have on the industry in the near future.

Calving is in full swing and a busy time of year for all of us. Planning the calving season from the start of the breeding season to make it as stress free as possible is really beneficial. The best producers remain ready for problems to protect the investment of the forthcoming calf crop.

Having a very well defined breeding season allows a great advantage at calving time in that it will define the beginning and end of the calving season. From a health, production and management point of view, the shorter the period (60-90 days) the better.

When the calving season kicks in, be prepared and have everything you need to assist with a calving. This should include a head rope, lubricant, arm length plastic gloves, calving ropes, bucket, water, a torch if it’s dark, a calving aid and your vet’s telephone number on your mobile phone! It may also be useful to have a colostrum supplement, clean jug and oesophageal feeder or bottle. It is really very important to know what the normal calving process and the visual signs associated with each is.

Stage 1... Stage 1 is the presentation of the water bag and the breaking of the bag, releasing fluid to lubricate the birth canal. This stage will normally take between 2 to 6 hours, heifers taking longer than cows. Stage 2... Stage 2 is presentation of the calf, with normal presentation resulting in the appearance of two feet and a nose. In a normal presentation the soles of the feet are pointing down. Hooves pointing up indicates a backwards presentation. Stage 2 is complete when the calf hits the ground and can take a few minutes to an hour. In the normal birthing process there should be progress evident every 15 to 20 minutes. When heifers experience difficult calvings, the number of abdominal contractions often decreases significantly after 2 hours of intense labour. This is a clear sign of fatigue and should be taken into account when determining the appropriate time for intervention in first-calf heifers.

Stage 3...Stage 3 is the expulsion of the foetal membranes, which should occur within 6 hours after the calf is born.

A Brief Walk Through Calving Jon Mouncey BVetMed DBR MRCVS

Calving is in full swing and a busy time of year for all of us. Planning the calving season from the start of the breeding season to make it as stress free as possible is really beneficial. The best producers remain ready for problems to protect the investment of the forthcoming calf crop.

Stage 3 - The expulsion of the foetal membranes

If assistance is needed we need to ensure that we are clean, careful and well lubricated before inserting our hand in the birth canal. Lubricant should be applied liberally to all surfaces of the birth canal and calf. An investigation into reasons why the cow or heifer has not calved alone should now be made. By far the most common type of dystocia in domesticated dairy cattle is oversized calves.

Stage 2 - In a normal presentation the soles of the feet are pointing down

The two primary determinants of calf oversize are, in order of importance, calf birth weight and maternal pelvic size; with these two factors accounting for 50% and 5-10% of the variance in calving difficulties, respectively. Malpresented calves have a 2 times higher risk of calving difficulties and a 5 times higher risk of still birth.

Monitoring your calf crop throughout their development up to weaning is critical within any cattle enterprise. Diarrhoea or “scours” can have a significant impact on the growth period up to weaning, and can cause severe problems including weak and dead calves. Scours can be easily treated when detected early in the disease process. There are now a number of rapid calfside tests that can be done on farm to assist in diagnoses related to scours and remember oral rehydration therapy is extremely effective and has revolutionised survival rates of calves with scour. It is also important to remember that those calves, which are recumbent and unable to stand, will require veterinary intervention and intravenous fluid therapy.

Apply the calving ropes to each of the legs with the first loop placed above the pastern joint and then half hitched between the hoof and the pastern joint; this minimises the chance of injury to the calf during traction. It is useful to “walk” the calf through the birth canal by pulling on one leg and then the other, or by ensuring one leg is slightly in front of the other when pulling. When the calf’s stomach crosses the internal edge of the pelvis the umbilical cord will likely rupture or break, removing the calf’s ability to receive oxygen from the placenta. This is critical if the calf is coming backwards, as with the calf’s head still within the birth canal fluid will be drawn into the lungs as the calf attempts to take its first breaths. Timing is critical in this instance. Immediately after delivery of the calf, it is important to examine the cow or heifer to determine the presence of a second calf in case of multiple births (twin or triplet). Early intervention has the potential to prevent stillbirth, but also has the potential for dam injury due to lack of soft tissue dilation.

Producers should understand their limitations in assisting in the delivery and not attempt assistance when unsure. Calving aids should only be used to assist the cow when she is straining and should only require one hand on the jack handle.

After calving make sure the calf nurses soon after birth. A calf should drink 10% of its body weight within the first 6 hours of life. This can be a challenge if the cow has had a difficult or protracted calving, is down post calving or has had a caesarean section. This colostrum feed is essential to the calf’s survival. In these instances the cow should be hand milked for her colostrum, or a commercially available colostrum substitute should be used. If the calf is weak it should be dried and provided with a heat source. Usually a vigorous calf will need no assistance if the cow cleans the calf and nurses it quickly. A good sign to watch for is that the calf can sit with its head up within 10 minutes of being born.

Calving backwards with both hind feet present

Abnormal calf birthing positions most commonly present as calving backwards with both hind feet present, front leg back and full breech (legs forward), in that order.

If you are interested in a practical calving workshop as a refresher or for new members of staff at calving time, please contact Layla Rae in our Knowledge Transfer department on 01306 628086 or Layla.rae@farmiq.co.uk.

Top Tips for Calving!

Back legs - Joints bend alternative directions

Front legs - Joints bend the same direction

The hock and the elbow of the calf feel the same inside the cow. The front leg has two bendable joints, the fetlock and knee, before the elbow, both bend in the same direction.

Determining front from rear is easy if you take the time and count to two.

The rear leg only has the fetlock that bends before the hock, both bending in opposite directions.

Westpoint - ChelmsfordUnit 8 Whitbreads Business

Centre, Whitbreads Farm Lane, Chatham Green, Essex, CM3 3FE

Tel: 01306 628489

Grazing Dairy Cows Peter Aitken BVSc MACVSc MRCVS

www.westpointfarmvets.co.uk

Grazing of livestock is both a science and an art; there are a number of factors to consider when grazing livestock on pasture including available pasture mass, what sort is available, the quality of the pasture, access to the pasture and many more. At the end of the day we are trying to maximise the returns from what is essentially the cheapest feed source available!

To maximise returns from pasture we need to make sure that we are harvesting the maximum amount of the best quality (highest nutritive value) pasture that we can, an animal is cheaper to run than a tractor, especially with current diesel prices! This is achieved by making sure that pastures are capable of meeting the needs of the animal and that we know exactly (or as closely as possible) what we are likely to be feeding in terms of dry matter (DM) and energy (megajoules MJ).

It is therefore necessary to know how fast the grass is growing, i.e. how many kilograms (kg) of DM are growing per day per hectare; and also to know what area we have to graze and what our feed wedge is looking like, i.e. what covers (kgDM/Ha) are they going to go in at, what will they come out at (depending on pasture type this will vary but going in at around 2500kgDM/ha and coming out at 1500kgDM/ha is a good target for cows – shorter for sheep). Knowing these figures for the farm will enable us to determine approximate intakes and allow us to budget accordingly for any feed deficits that may occur over the grazing period or what we can do about any surpluses that may be available (to ensile or not to ensile…).

Knowing what you have available to you and how it can be used are key elements to feeding pasture, it’s not just as simple as putting the cows out and having a break from mucking out and bedding up while the weathers warm. Rising plate meters or sward sticks are a good place to start to enable you to get a handle on what is available in terms of kgDM/ha. It is then important to consider how you use that pasture; improper grazing could see some of that pasture wasted or alternatively could see it over grazed and then fail to recover as fast as it could have if you had taken the cows off that patch a few days earlier. Over grazing and removal of root reserve can significantly delay regrowth and therefore future grazing time/quality, whilst under grazing can see pastures heading and a loss of quality through senescence.

Getting grazing right takes time to get a handle on the pasture (its growth rates, heading dates etc.) together with the management of the land that is to be used for grazing to ensure we control what the animals have access to and therefore how it is grazed. This in turn demands a good knowledge of the farm and its potential. It may also require some infrastructure, in the forms of fences, either permanent or temporary, to allow you to graze it to its potential. If you think about potential returns, if grazed grass costs us 10p/kgDM then lifting harvest from the national average of 7T/ha to 10T/ha off 100ha equates to around £30,000 worth of feed, worth a thought?

As you can tell, grazing is not just the easy option; it takes a lot of thought and planning. Done right though it can save you money and provide an excellent source of relatively cheap feed!

Westpoint - Lavenham

Boyton Hall, Lindsey Road, Monks Eleigh, Suffolk,

IP7 7BB Tel: 01449 741642

Westpoint - Leighton Buzzard

Nutbeams, Home Farm, Northall, Dunstable,

LU6 2HD Tel: 01296 410021

Norfolk Farm Vets

30 Gayton Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk,

PE32 1BG Tel: 01485 609031

Westpoint - Daventry

Unit 2, Egerton Close, Drayton Fields, Daventry,

NN11 8PE Tel: 01327 872233