Paragon Farm Newsletter November 2018

ISSUE 64 Autumn / Winter 2018

Livestock www.paragonvet.com

NEWS

Inside this issue: Staff News Lameness control in sheep

BSE in Scotland BVD Trap Neuter Return (TNR) ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

Autumn / Winter 2018

Staff news Annie Kerr We welcome Annie Kerr to the practice. She is farmers daughter originally from Lincolnshire who joins us after working for a year in mixed practice west Cumbria. She is a keen netball player in her spare time playing in a local league in Carlisle.

Interesting fact: she survived cycling down death road in Bolivia a few years ago.

Caroline Abbott As many of you will be aware we recently had Caroline depart us. Caroline was with us for over 3 years and made a fantastic contribution to the team here at Paragon. She plans to go travelling in the near future and we wish her all the best for the future.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Shona and husband Jon on the safe arrival of Katie Violet. Born on Thursday 25th October weighing 7lb 10.5oz’s.

LIVESTOCK NEWS

Autumn / Winter 2018

Lameness control in sheep: improving next year’s productivity now

By Charlie Bradshaw Winter is a key risk period for lameness in sheep. It is important that ewes are pro-actively protected and treated for lameness over the winter. This is because any lame ewes at lambing time will not only perform poorly but will spread disease to other ewes as stocking densities are often higher at this time. This also means that infection pressure is higher for growing lambs – resulting in more lameness problems and reduced growth rates.

The five point plan is an effective proven method on which to base a lameness control plan: Cull: Repeat offenders or ewes with misshapen or chronically diseased feet.

Avoid: Hot spots for infection are muddy wet areas such as around feed troughs/ gateways; improving drainage and use of hydrated lime can improve these.

Treat: Any lame sheep should be treated as soon as possible (ideally within 3 days). It is important to make a record of the ewe and which foot was affected. Prompt treatment is essential in reducing level of infection. Any treated animals should be removed from the main flock to limit spread of infection. Importantly foot trimming is not recommended as part of a treatment protocol.

Quarantine: Lameness is very easily bought in particularly if stock is purchased through a market. Either new strains of footrot or CODD can be devastating if introduced to a flock. Isolation should be for a minimum of 28days with careful inspection and treatment of any lame animals in this time.

Vaccinate: Footvax is an effective aid in the control of lameness and should be used where possible in flock with high known levels of lameness.

A lameness plan is specific to your farm and the risk periods/factors associated.

Identifying the specific cause of lameness is important as different control methods and treatments are more applicable to different causes.

The cost benefit of having a lameness control plan in place is proven with some suggesting between £6 and £15 increased income per ewe put to the ram as a results of a greater rearing percentage, faster lamb growth rates and therefore faster finishing rates.

If you want to discuss this with us further please phone us or come along to our sheep lameness meeting, kindly sponsored by MSD, on 26th November at Stoneybeck Inn, Penrith.

LIVESTOCK NEWS

Autumn / Winter 2018

BSE In Scotland

By Anne Abbs As many people may have read in the news, there has been a recent case of a cow diagnosed with BSE. The animal concerned was 5 years old and has been removed from the farm along with cohorts (other animals born at the same time), none of the carcases entered the human food chain.

So, you thought that we had finished with all that and the current BSE controls had eradicated the problem from the national herd? There are a number of possible explanations for the occurrence of BSE in this animal – 1.

The BSE outbreak was caused by bone meal in the diet. Control measures in the food chain should have completely eliminated this risk. There was some concern when these controls were initially implemented that there could have been old bags of feed on some farms that could still contain affected material, but these should have long since been eaten or disposed of. This is the reason that cohorts are destroyed as they have probably been in contact with the same feeds. Access to bone meal in other forms is a remote possibility. This therefore seems a very unlikely source of infection.

2.

BSE can be passed from cow to calf (vertical transmission). As the affected animal was 5 years old it is likely that several generations have occurred since the last likely infection point. It is unlikely that BSE has not been picked up in this line of cattle before now.

3.

Spongiform encephalopathies can occur spontaneously in a population. CJD in humans is known to have a sporadic background level (90-100 cases a year in the UK). These are unrelated to BSE; the last currently known case of variant CJD died in 2011. It is very likely that cattle also have a similar sporadic form of BSE. Although this was apparently unknown before the outbreak in the 1980s and 90s, it was probably misdiagnosed as brain tumours, abscesses, weird forms of staggers, listeriosis and other brain malfunctions! No doubt epidemiological studies are being undertaken on the current case but, until proven otherwise, this is the most likely cause in this animal.

LIVESTOCK NEWS

Autumn / Winter 2018

BVD Stamp It Out Initiative

By Jemma Reed The RDPE and DEFRA have made available £5.7 million of funding to raise the profile of BVD control amongst cattle keepers in England. The project has the aim of engaging 50% of the breeding herd (both dairy and beef) in England in BVD control over the next 2.5 years.

This project is free to cattle farmers in England regardless of current BVD status. It is open to all whether you are testing, vaccinating or doing nothing at all.

Vet time is funded through the project so there is no charge to farmers to be involved in this.

What does involvement entail? 

An initial group meeting to discuss the project and BVD control.



Followed by a 1 to 1 farm visit and check test. There is a testing budget for all involved. Initially there is access to a check test up to a value of £61.80 of testing which can include blood, milk and tag and test, if active infection is found then a further budget up to £440 is available to go on a ‘PI’ hunt.



A second 1 to 1 farm visit to discuss results and draw up a BVD action/control plan.



A final group meeting to discuss the findings and share thoughts.

If you are interested and would like to enrol on this scheme please either contact myself or one of the farm vets to get started.

The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas

Foot Rot / Foul in the Foot study reminder We have been asked to collect bacterial cultures from foot rot / “fouls” cases in cattle. Where cases are appropriate, meet the criteria and are selected for sampling, the client will be reimbursed £25 for their contribution.

Please ask one of the vets for more information.

LIVESTOCK NEWS

Autumn / Winter 2018

SAC - ON THE HOOF Dumfries Veterinary Services - Bitesize local updates Where Are We With Liver Fluke This Year?

2018 is proving to be a difficult year for fluke forecasting!

The graph below shows that, for the Scotland West Met. Office region, the number of days with 1mm or more of rain this summer is similar to 2015 which was an average risk year for liver fluke.

However the pattern of rainfall was different this year with June and July being dry – more like 2013 and 2014 which were low risk liver fluke years. Early summer will have been unfavourable for both Galba truncatula and the environmental stages of Fasciola hepatica, except in the very wettest areas of fields.

Scotland West number of wet days (≥1mm rain) June to September

Some things to consider are as follows: · We have post mortemed numerous ill thriven lambs recently and none have had any evidence of liver fluke infection – just massive worm burdens. · During September we detected liver fluke eggs in a small number of lamb faecal samples as we do every year. This probably reflects infection picked up much earlier in the year. · We are still finding plenty of liver fluke eggs in samples submitted from older age groups indicating that pasture contamination has continued throughout the summer. · Submissions of lamb blood samples (from SW Scotland and NW England) for F. hepatica antibody testing have often been completely negative or returned only one or two positives suggesting low fluke challenge on these farms up until now.

Overall the fluke risk seems likely to be low to average for Dumfries and Galloway.

Based on previous years following drier summers there are fewer acute fluke deaths with diagnoses peaking in December, rather than late October.

Potential ways forward are as follows: · Collect samples to check whether or not animals close to finishing need to be treated this autumn. The area they are grazing should also be taken into account. · The blood Fascioloa hepatica ELISA or faecal coproantigen ELISA tests are very useful in this regard. Antibodies can be detected in serum from 2 weeks after infection with liver fluke and coproantigen can be detected 6-8 weeks after infection.

LIVESTOCK NEWS

Autumn / Winter 2018 · Consider treating with closantel or nitroxynil instead of triclabendazole in lower risk situations, to help reduce the risk of inducing triclabendazole resistance. · Investigate deaths later in the year promptly, particularly on farms that used flukicides as early as September. · Always consider that farm and indeed field specific conditions can be very variable so advice for individual farms needs to be considered.

For more detailed information on liver fluke Heather Stevenson has written a technical note providing up to date information for both vets and farmers. This note can be downloaded from the link below: http://www.sruc.ac.uk/downloads/file/3135/tn677_treatment_and_control_of_liver_fluke

Oak Tree Animals’ Charity – Trap Neuter Return (TNR) Do you have a problem with feral or farm cats? Are the numbers spiralling? Do you believe the overpopulation is negatively affecting their health and wellbeing?

Oak Tree Animals’ Charity’s Trap Neuter Return programme (TNR) for feral cats can help.

TNR stabilises the population of feral and farm cats, by preventing further breeding. It also helps control disease in each population – helping to keep all cats in an area healthy. Through TNR, feral cats can live the rest of their lives content and well, without adding to the homeless cat population.

After 8 weeks of age, studies show that feral kittens are not able to cope with an indoor lifestyle and it causes significant detriment to their welfare. Oak Tree therefore follow guidance from International Cat Care and the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes and do not try to rehome feral cats older than 8 weeks to prevent unnecessary stress and suffering to the cat.

How it works: Before the trapping date, typically 7 to 10 days prior, we visit the location the cats are living and establish a once daily feeding regime to acclimatise the cats to our presence.

They quickly learn the time of day and location they are fed, and that going into a wire mesh ‘dummy trap’ is not scary. On the day of the trapping the ‘dummy trap’ is replaced with humane traps, whereby the door shuts behind the cat upon entering to get their food. Cats are collected and taken to the vets where we neuter, vaccinate and treat for flea and worms where needed. The following day Oak Tree Animals’ Charity will return and release your cats to continue their lives.

TNR is paid for and carried out by Oak Tree Animals’ Charity. They do not charge for the service but they always would welcome donations. It costs Oak Tree between £40 and £90 to neuter each cat in time, petrol, equipment and vet costs.

If you would like to find out more about TNR, or think you need Oak Tree Animals’ Charity’s help with a feral or farm cat colony, please contact them on 01228 560082, ext.228/230.

LIVESTOCK NEWS

Upcoming events Sheep Meeting - Lameness Control in Sheep: Monday 26th November, 7pm.

The Stoneybeck Inn, Bowscar, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 8RP

Farmers Christmas Supper & Drinks: Lowther Castle Inn,

The Bridge End Inn,

Hackthorpe

Dalston

Tuesday 11th December

Tuesday 18th December

7pm onwards

7pm onwards

Please RSVP to Jane/Emily on 01768 483789 or 01228 710208

Contact us: Paragon Veterinary Group

Townhead Veterinary Centre

Carlisle House, Townhead Road Dalston, Carlisle, CA5 7JF Tel: (01228) 710208 vets@paragonvet.com

Newbiggin, Stainton, Penrith, CA11 0HT Tel: (01768) 483789 townhead@paragonvet.com