Achieving Excellence in Health and Productivity
PARAGON VETERINARY GROUP
ISSUE 40
Livestock NEWS
SEPTEMBER 2013
Are you using anti-inflammatories as often as you should be in your herd? An animal's health and well-being is vital for top performance and this is why non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Metacam can be helpful when it comes to complementing treatments of some diseases. NSAIDs can help to make the animal feel better: they offer pain relief, have anti-inflammatory properties and reduce a high temperature. Some long acting NSAIDs like Metacam do this for up to three days in cattle. In addition some NSAID's have anti-endotoxic properties which combat toxaemia sometimes associated with diseases such as mastitis. Metacam 20mg/ml is licensed for use in pneumonia, scour, mastitis and now also has the first indication of any NSAID for the treatment of pain, specifically for the relief of post-operative pain following dehorning in calves. Inflammation and pain associated with these conditions have been shown to not only impact on the welfare of the animal, but also on their recovery and subsequent performance and longevity in the herd. Alongside appropriate therapy for the underlying cause e.g. antibiotics and oral rehydration therapy,
Metacam can aid a faster recovery and return to production as well as potentially increasing subsequent productive life. In studies these effects have been seen in calves with pneumonia where significantly more weight was gained when Metacam was administered alongside other appropriate therapy. In scouring calves behaviour assessment showed a beneficial effect on calf well-being and feeding behaviour, as well as greater body weight gain. For disbudding calves, it is a legal requirement to use local anaesthetic but this only lasts an hour or so at most. The pain of disbudding has been shown to last 44 hours. Using Metacam alongside local anaesthetic provides effective pain relief for this period resulting in significantly improved welfare and its associated benefits. A recent study demonstrating the economic benefit of treating mild to moderate cases of mastitis with Metacam alongside antibiotics has shown the significant production benefit that can be made by combating inflammation; both somatic cell counts and culling rates were significantly reduced.
Ask your vet for more information...
PARAGON VETERINARY GROUP
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Contact us: PARAGON VETERINARY GROUP CALDEW VETERINARY HOSPITAL Carlisle House, Townhead Road, Dalston, Carlisle
Tel: (01228) 710208 vets@paragonvet.com TOWNHEAD VETERINARY CENTRE Townhead Veterinary Centre, Newbiggin, Stainton, Penrith, Cumbria CA11 0HT
Tel: (01768) 483789 townhead@paragonvet.com PARAGON ET The Mart, Tyne Green, Hexham, Northumberland NE46 3SG
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LIVESTOCK NEWS
Paragon Veterinary Group Invites you to a meeting to discuss
Transition Cow Management and Periparturient disease including ketosis Wednesday 25th September 2013 7.00-7.30pm At The Crown, Broadfield, Southwaite RSVP to Cheryl Watson on 01228 710208 or cheryl.watson@paragonvet.com
Red Tractor Assurance for Dairy Farms From the beginning of October 2013 the Red Tractor Assurance (RTA) Dairy Scheme will require farmers to seek veterinary involvement in annual reviews of Herd Health and Performance. The minimum scheme requirements are that annually vets:1. Review health and performance information collected by you on Lameness, Mastitis and Culling/Mortalities. Other information (fertility, metabolic disease) is encouraged.
SEPTEMBER 2013
Lancashire and Cumbria bTB Eradication Group Anne says: I attended a recent meeting at Junction 36 Auction Mart to set up the above group. There were farmers, livestock auctioneers, NFU, AHVLA and veterinary representatives gathered together with the aim of discussing how to keep our counties in the Low Risk Area. The current DEFRA strategy is to maintain an 'edge area' separating low and high TB risk zones. There are a number of enhanced strategies being put into place within the Edge Area in an attempt to reduce the spread of TB.
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Immediate testing of livestock within 3km of a breakdown. More investigation of land use and outlying fields is taking place so the affected area will not be a straight 3km circle but can be quite extensive.
Lancashire and Cumbria are currently in a position that would enable us to be declared TB free in the reasonably near future, but faced with the ever-creeping threat it does not pay to be complacent. Discussions centred on voluntary or even compulsory measures that could be taken to maintain our status. This included risk based trading (given enhanced information from auctioneers etc), biosecurity of approved finishing units and even a complete ban on cattle crossing the Manchester Ship Canal (very popular with the meeting!!). Further meetings are planned although no date is yet set, but if you want to discuss any burning issues or bright ideas, please let me know!
More use of gamma interferon blood testing. This picks up animals earlier in the infection cycle but may produce more false positives. Removal of all CTS links that span different TB risk areas (even if these currently have no expiry date). Enhanced surveillance of badger RTA carcases to determine any level of infection and to advise any possible vaccination strategy.
2. Inspect a sample of livestock (milking and dry cows, calves, youngstock). 3. Discuss and recommend actions where appropriate.
Dairy calf rearing practical workshop
Bearing this in mind we would ask that you do leave enough time for us to carry out these requirements, which will mean a visit to the farm and that you will need to provide records of lameness, mastitis and culling/mortality so that we are able to make the review and subsequent declaration. As always we advise that an on-going active health plan, constantly measuring and reviewing herd performance is important and will make signing off the annual health plan and review much simpler. We have templates from RTA if that would be helpful. Please have a word with one of the vets if you need any further information.
Tuesday 10th September 2013 10am-3pm ● ● ● ● ●
Colostrum management Housing Feeding Weaning & growth rates Vaccination
At Mellguards Farm, Southwaite (by kind permission of Richard Fisher)
Lunch provided £50 + VAT
CONTACT US ON 01228 710208 TO BOOK A PLACE!