OCTOBER NEWS LETTER 2010

FARM FIRST NEWSLETTER October 2010
Neosporosis Testing Programme
Neospora is the most commonly diagnosed cause of abortion in dairy and beef cows. Infected cows may either abort or give birth to infected calves which, when pregnant in later life, may also abort. A recent study has shown the extent of the risk. 460 heifers from 18 farms were blood-sampled at around 6 months old (7.2% were positive) and their subsequent breeding performance assessed. Positive heifers were 3-5 times more likely to abort and 2-3 times more likely not to fail to conceive. The authors considered that the main risk of infection was from an infected dam, although some heifers do get infected during their lives from contaminated dog faeces.
A testing programme for neosporosis has recently been launched by the VLA as part of its ‘Herdsure Cattle Improvement Service’. Blood samples are taken during pregnancy or from calves under 2 weeks of age. Two negative tests are required for the animal to be officially deemed free of infection. If you’ve had neospora diagnosed as a cause of abortion on your farm and would like to find out more about registering with Herdsure please contact us.
Grass Staggers
Just a quick reminder to be on the lookout for signs of grass staggers in cows as autumn approaches, especially if there has been a sudden turn in the weather. Cows cannot store magnesium, so need it on a daily basis, so it is vital that buckets or other sources of magnesium do not run out at this time of year. It’s worth having a bottle of Magniject 9 on the farm to give under the skin to any animal showing typical signs of the disease. If given in the early stages of the disease before symptoms progress, (while the animal is still standing) most cows will make a full recovery.
Toxic (E-Coli) Mastitis
In the past month or so we have seen a significant number of cows with toxic mastitis. The disease has a rapid onset and, despite appropriate treatment, often results in death. Clinical signs are a watery liquid in the affected quarter and the cow may be scouring. They will often be cold to touch, sunken-eyed and wobbly or recumbent. Aggressive, immediate treatment is needed to give any chance of recovery and treatment usually involves intravenous fluids, oral fluids, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and oxytocin to assist in regular stripping out of the affected quarter.
As the bacteria which cause toxic mastitis are almost always environmental in origin, careful attention to husbandry especially in the dry and calving period should reduce the incidence of the disease. Factors which should be considered include:
• Post milk dipping and try to prevent access to lying areas for 30 minutes post milking, to allow time for the teat orifice to close.
• Ensure cubicles are regularly cleaned and freshly bedded, and that passageways are scraped at least twice a day to reduce contamination of teats from splashing. The use of drying agents in the cubicles e.g. lime, will also be of benefit.
• Clean, Dry, Cool: Attention to drainage and ventilation to reduce humidity, General cleanliness and prevention of overcrowding. Especially important in the calving pen, which should be cleaned and disinfected and freshly bedded between calvings.
• Hygienic administration of dry cow tubes using pre-dip and surgical spirit to clean the teat, and the use of a teat sealant e.g. Orbeseal to minimise entry of environmental bacteria.
VLA Post Mortem Service
The post mortem service provided by the VLA at Carmarthen, Langford and Luddington has proved very useful to many of our clients in recent years. We have been informed that some changes to this service will be in effect from 1st October, 2010. If you wish to take an animal to one of these labs for a PM, you must speak to one of our vets first to discuss the case. We will have to talk to the Duty Vet at the VLA who will decide whether they will carry out the PM at the rate subsidised by DEFRA. This will depend on whether they consider the carcass to be the most suitable way to make a diagnosis. If you just turn up at the lab, the examination may be carried out at full economic cost, which is considerably more expensive. In addition, there will also be a charge for disposal of all carcases which are examined, which until now has been absorbed in to the cost of the PM. This means that a ewe/ram PM will cost £67.10, a calf will cost £94 and a cow will cost £240. These are the subsidised prices and include the examination, all subsequent tests and carcass disposal.
If you have any queries about this or any disease problem that you wish to investigate please contact one of the vets at the surgery.
Ordering of drugs

Please give the practice ample notice (ideally two days) when you would like to place a big order of drugs, so that we have enough time to order the drugs from our wholesaler if needed. Even if you are just picking up a bottle of antibiotic or two’ the girls in the office would appreciate a phone call so they can get it ready for you. This is even more important if you don’t know exactly what you want; they can then speak to a vet to sort which treatment you need or the vet can ring you. Its also useful if you tell us if you want to pay at the time for the discount.

Usk Show
Thanks to everyone who came to visit us at the stand and congratulations to Mr Thomas, Penrhiw Farm, Trelewis, who won the competition and collects £25 in Waitrose shopping vouchers.

Meeting on Fluke and Worm Control
We are holding a meeting on Fluke and Worm Control in Sheep and Cattle at the King of Prussia on Wednesday 27th October at 7 pm. The meeting is sponsored by Norbrook . To give us some idea of numbers please contact the office on 01873 840167 if you wish to attend.