6 Farming News
PRACTICE NOTES Paragon is a professional, caring and approachable veterinary practice. Its experienced and innovative teams provide compassionate clinical excellence at a personal level. It has centres in Dalston, Newbiggin and Carlisle, using vets working with farm animals, equine or pets. Both the Dalston and Newbiggin centres are Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons-inspected to ‘Tier 2’ status, and the practice has large-animal operating facilities and in-patient care. It also operates a cattle and sheep advanced breeding team covering the north of England and Scotland. As well as 10 farm vets, there are seven others working with pets and equine, alongside three qualified and three trainee nurses. Paragon is a founder member of XLVets, bringing the highest standards of knowledge and skill to its clients.
The Green Veterinary Surgery Skelton, Penrith CA11 9SQ Tel: 017684 84258
Paragon Veterinary Group Caldew Veterinary Hospital Carlisle house, Townhead Road, Dalston Tel: 01228 710208
Townhead Veterinary Centre Newbiggin, Penrith Tel: 01768 483789 www.paragonvet.com
Frame Swift & Partners
The Veterinary Centre, Penrith Tel: 01768 862454 Fax: 01768 867163
Belle Vue Vets Syke Park, Syke Road, Wigton. CA7 9NE 016973 42174. info@wigtonvets.co.uk www.wigtonvets.co.uk
The Capontree Veterinary Centre Greenhill, Brampton Tel: 016977 2318
Borders Business Park, Brampton Road, Longtown Tel: 01228 791245
4 Station Court, Haltwhistle Tel: 01434 320705 www.capontreevets.co.uk
Border Vets Livestock Services Unit 5, Sandilands Business Park, Townfoot, Longtown Tel: 01228 792999
Better flock profitability Farmers can use records to cut lamb losses over coming months
VETS’ TALK
By Shona Mouncey, of Paragon Veterinary Group
I
t’s hard to believe we’re back to the beginning of the flock calendar year with breeding currently underway or finished for some. Minimising the number of lambs lost throughout the year will have a positive impact on the income of any sheep enterprise, but where do you start? We can’t control the weather, but there are things we can do to try to improve the profitability of flocks. The starting point is identifying where the losses are occurring and this requires records. As a bare minimum any farm should know the number of ewes tupped, and the number of lambs which were sold or retained for breeding. With a lowland rearing target of 168 per cent, it is easy to work out if a farm is on track. If not, the year needs to be broken down so that the areas with the most losses can be targeted for improvement – with each lamb loss up to the point of lambing estimated to cost £20-25. Lamb losses occur: ■ 30 per cent from scanning to lambing; ■ 49 per cent in the first 48 hours of life; ■ 11 per cent in the next 12 days; ■ 10 per cent beyond 15 days post-lambing. Improving conception rate Selecting the correct animals to breed with is an important starting point to maximise the number of lambs conceived. Shortly after weaning, ewe MOTs should be carried out and animals with the following culled: ■ Poor dentition – they will struggle to maintain condition throughout the season; ■ Evidence of mastitis; ■ Two or more treatments for lameness; ■ Poor mothering ability or that had a prolapse or ring-womb at lambing; ■ Barren ewes. To remember which ewes these are will require some sort of recording system – EID, a notebook, tagging or whichever way suits you best. Ram selection and fertility
Minimum: Farms should at least know the number of ewes tupped, and the number of lambs which were sold or retained for breeding LEANNE BOLGER
TURN-OUT / WEANING If you know the number of lambs turned out and sold, you can work out your rearing percentage. A benchmark target would be to lose less than 2 per cent in this period. Common reasons for losses include: ■ Inadequate parasite control – worms, fluke and coccidiosis can be fatal and affect growth also needs to be considered to ensure rams are capable of serving the number of ewes required within a compact period. Physical exams should be done and semen testing can be carried out by your vet. Ewes and rams need to be in correct body condition score (BCS) at tupping. It takes six to eight weeks to gain 1 BCS off grass alone so timing is crucial. Scanning to lambing Scanning ewes is highly beneficial to identify barren sheep, to allow the ewes to be fed according to the number of lambs and to allow you to know if you are on target. This figure is important because it is useful to know if
rates significantly. Excluding acute fluke, these can all be monitored by the use of regular faecal egg counts (FECs). ■ Clostridial disease – lambs will only retain immunity from the ewe’s colostrum for the first few weeks of life, after which they require their own initial double course of vaccination. your losses are occurring due to actual lamb loses or lack of lambs being conceived in the first place. Thirty per cent of lamb losses occur in this period due to both infectious and non-infectious abortions. Two of the most common causes of infectious abortion include enzootic abortion and toxoplasmosis, which respectively account for 52 per cent and 25 per cent of infectious abortions. Both can be vaccinated against and diagnosed by blood sampling ewes or by carrying out post mortems of aborted lambs. Nutrition is key at this stage and ewes should not lose or gain more than 0.5 of a BCS before
lambing. This will minimise lambing difficulties and health issues such as twin lamb disease, and maximise colostrum quality and help ensure appropriate birth weights. First 48 hours This is when nearly half of all lamb losses occur. Ideally, as a minimum, record the number of lambs born dead and alive, and those which die before turn out/tailing. If known, keep a record of the reasons for the death too. Losses at this time can be minimised by: ■ Good staffing – one experienced lamber required for every 250 ewes lambed indoors; ■ Good hygiene – use gloves, wash your hands, dip navels in iodine and disinfect pens between ewes; ■ Ensuring you have enough space – one individual pen needed for every eight to 10 ewes. Ewes require 1.2-1.4 square metre during pregnancy and 2-2.2 square metres with lambs at foot. ■ Ensuring adequate colostrum intake – it needs to be 50ml per kilogramme of body weight in the first four to six hours, and 200ml per kilogramme of body weight in the first 24 hours.