North-Charlotte Debbaut
As I write this, temperatures have dropped and it has finally stopped raining, long may it last! For me this means I get a chance to tidy my van, as on rainy days things quickly get thrown in the back after a visit, which is not beneficial to van organisation! On a similar note, we have all been digging through medicine cabinets on farm, as Milksure Top Up Training has become due. Coughing calves and aborting ewes have filled my diary as well. These visits always peak at this time of year, however that doesn’t mean we should see pneumonia and abortions as normal or inevitable. Plenty can be done to investigate and prevent/reduce these issues for future seasons, please speak to your vet if you would like to tackle these issues.
West-Caroline Perry
As February commences, I hope it brings us all a respite from the rain. Very few of us have dry waterproof coats left. I can recommend those electric welly warmers for drying out boots, but it does come with a certain aroma…
Despite all this water, on farm water troughs have been my talking point this month. How clean is the water source? (Our laboratory services offer water quality testing). What is the placement of them – can animals reach them? Are there enough for the number of animals? Is there crowding/bullying around troughs? And the big one – can you and do you clean them out? If you put a pint glass in and pulled the water out – would you drink it yourself?? (Don’t try this at home). Consider an upgrade or some new additions before the summer begins.
Currently I’m working on material for our online Farm Training site: www.synergyfarmtraining.com. This exciting development is already allowing us to reach more farmers with online courses to provide necessary training. It’s not always easy to get off farm for courses, so these webinars will complement our in-person training.
East-Olly White
I wanted to start my first contribution to the Synergy newsletter by saying a big hello to all the clients that I have not met yet during my first 3 months, and I look forward to meeting more of you throughout the year!
Winter made a fierce reappearance in January with severe flooding before the ice arrived and with that we saw disease outbreaks from the immune suppression from stress, particularly in housed calves. My own dairy herd saw the re-emergence of Winter dysentery, a disease caused by a Coronavirus, that is characterized by widespread diarrhoea and mild respiratory signs. Luckily, despite the marked milk drop, diarrhoea and intense coughing (making milking a real treat), winter dysentery is self-limiting and with a bit of TLC all cows made a full recovery in a week!
Hopefully soon the weather will have settled and we will be well into the start of spring lambing/calving.
Central-Andre Northey
During wintertime achieving optimal daily weight gains in youngstock can be a challenging task, as the conversion of feed energy into desired growth is under increased pressure caused by colder weather. Understandably, this affects newborn animals more than older ones. For exactly this reason, in dairy calves we often see “calf jackets” being put on for the first days of life where exposure to lower ambient temperatures can’t be avoided. The benefits are obvious.
In weaned youngstock who have already been outdoors, undetected parasites can also hold back weight gain. Potential burdens should be checked via dung or blood samples. The damage caused by an undiscovered worm or liver fluke infestation on animals’ growth and general health can be huge. A conversation with your vet about managing these challenges is always worthwhile.
