DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 2010

FARM FIRST DECEMBER NEWS LETTER

Pneumonia Treatments
As you are aware this is a high-risk time of year cattle for pneumonia in cattle. Several vaccines are available to prevent pneumonia, but it is too late for vaccination when the animals are already ill.
The treatment for pneumonia is usually 2-fold: an anti-inflammatory/painkiller and an antibiotic. The anti-inflammatory/painkiller reduces pain and inflammation, lowers the temperature and reduces the damage done to the lungs. It makes the animal feel a bit better, so it keeps eating and drinking, enabling a speedy recovery. The antibiotic acts against the bacteria involved.
The anti-inflammatories that we use in the practice are Flunixin and Metacam. Flunixin can be given daily for up to 5 days, whereas Metacam is given as a single subcutaneous (or intravenous) injection that works for 2-3 days.
The following table gives details of the most commonly used treatments. Please speak to one of the vets for advice on using the products to treat pneumonia in your herd, and on how to prevent the problem in future years.
Product Cost Cost per 150kg calf Duration of action
Antibiotic Alamycin LA £14.26/100ml £ 2.14 2 days
Shotaflor
(“Nuflor”) £39.36/100ml £ 7.88 (2 doses i.m. or 1 dose s.c.) 4 days
Draxxin £172.89/50ml £12.97 9 to 14 days
Antibiotic and Anti-inflammatory Resflor £73.17/100ml £14.63 (1 dose s.c.) 4 days (antibiotic)
2 days (anti-inflammatory)
Anti-inflammatory Flunixin £19.28/50ml £ 2.57 1 day
Metacam £56.90/50ml £ 4.27 2-3 days


Enzootic abortion
If you have been unable to vaccinate ewes against Enzootic Abortion this year, a single dose of Alamycin LA (1ml/10 kg intramuscular) given 4-6 weeks before lambing will help to minimise losses. Sometimes a repeat treatment is required closer to lambing.
Please note that discounts are available on pay-at-time purchases of drugs like Alamycin LA(this also applies to drugs listed above in the pneumonia treatment section). Larger purchases attract bigger discounts but please give us notice if you require larger quantities so that we can make sure we have sufficient in stock.

TB Testing
This is a request from Debbie, our administrator responsible for organising your TB-tests:
Please be aware that TB-tests are usually fully booked 2-3 weeks ahead, and at busy times it can be as much as four weeks. So if you want your TB test done by a certain date (e.g. because you are taking animals to a sale), or on a particular date, then contact Debbie as far in advance as possible, so that we will be able to accommodate you.
Also Animal Health are currently doing all the short-interval(60 day) tests themselves and we can only agree to do a short-interval test when a BT4 (Animal Health release paper) has been sent to us. Please bear this in mind when booking tests and talking to our staff. We understand it can be a very frustrating not to be able to book your test in, but when we have the necessary paperwork from Animal Health we will do our very best to accommodate you.
Thank you very much for your cooperation!

Caesarean Section in Cattle
Farmers are often pessimistic about Caesarean Sections in cattle; however, if the decision to deliver a calf by caesarean is made promptly, it should save the life of both the cow and the calf and is therefore a viable option.
The outcome of a caesarean section depends on the length of time that the cow has been calving, whether the foetus is alive or dead, any infection which is present, whether the cow is able to stand for the operation, the cleanliness and sterility of the environment that the operation is to take place in, whether the cow has had previous operations and whether the uterus can be exteriorised.
If the decision to operate is delayed, the foetus becomes stressed and gets weaker; the level of uterine infection increases and the cow becomes exhausted and depressed. These factors together equate to a higher likelihood of a poor outcome i.e. a dead calf, a dead cow or both.
Once the decision to operate has been made it is important that the cow is adequately restrained, that the caesarean section takes place in a clean and dry environment. There should be adequate lighting and plenty of clean, warm water. Do not bed the area with straw just before the operation as it will create dust, which might cause infection in the cow. Every effort should be made to keep the operation as sterile as possible but it does not exclude the need for antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Obviously the course of antibiotics should be completed and anti-inflammatories should be used to help minimise swelling and pain, thereby helping the animal’s appetite and demeanour to return to normal as quickly as possible.

Bleeding Calf Syndrome/ Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia
You might have heard about an entirely new disease in calves called Bleeding Calf Syndrome (official term: Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia). It affects calves between two days and four weeks old, it equally affects bull and heifer calves and there is no effect of breed or type of farm. There seem to be three different forms of this disease: calves found dead and diagnosed at post-mortem, calves that die on the day that they are seen ill (most typical form) and calves that die within three to four days of showing signs. Affected calves that are alive have a temperature, a dull appearance and have signs of bleeding from various points on the skin. These points can be on the head, the back and on the legs and originate from injections, fly bites or ear tags. Usually the faeces is blood-stained. Interestingly, not many cases have been reported in Wales and it is unclear if there are not many cases in Wales or if there are cases in Wales but these are not recognised or reported. Therefore if you have any suspected cases please contact the surgery.

Christmas and New Year
It is early December now but we would like to let you know we are closing early on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (1 pm). With the Bank Holidays following Christmas and New Year please make sure that you place any drug orders in advance so that we can provide you with the drugs required and still have drugs in stock as well.


Merry Christmas and a Happy (and profitable) New Year!