North – Graeme McPherson
December saw some serious flooding. It has been a month of diversions and vets being picked up by Land Rovers or tractors in order to get to farms. The wet weather brought significant challenges with farmers loosing hay and silage to flooding and some having houses flooded – including our own receptionist Tess King! The wet and windy weather made keeping calves dry a challenge. Calves that are fed well are usually pretty resilient to cold temperatures, provided they remain dry. If calves are wet or kept in a wet environment, I am afraid it is impossible to keep them healthy. There are a number of reasons for this. Moisture causes a significant compounding of cold stress for the calf – diminishing disease resistance, but bacteria and viruses also love a damp environment. So, despite the challenges, it is worth investing time and money in keeping calves dry. There are some simple and cheap things that can be done – such as cleaning out and fixing gutters! Anyway, I am really hoping that January brings an end to the big wet!
East – Nim Panesar
It’s been a chilly December week as I write this from our office in Lower Woodford trying to defrost my fingers after a day of TB testing. We have had a busy winter period – welcoming our new vet Olly, plenty of new clients and a flurry of winter beef and sheep meetings. Thanks to all that were able to attend and we hope you enjoyed the quiz formats, and most importantly, the dinners! We look forward to meeting those of you who have recently joined us, either at future meetings or out on farm.
Recent clinical work has involved health planning and data analysis from the November PD sessions on the Salisbury plain. It will be interesting to see what 2024 has in store for us with milk prices set to rise in the New Year, and incoming disease threats from Bluetongue virus and Avian Influenza plus the usual uncertainties about the weather and impact on forage yields and quality.
We hope you have a happy and successful 2024!
West – Tom Cook
Thanks to all clients in the west who supported our Dairy discussion groups held in November; a full room at both venues ensured some good discussion between farmers and vets.
I wonder what your personal and work New Year’s resolutions are? I have previously swum in the sea once every month and plan this January to cycle my kids to school at least once a week. This journey is a couple of miles up a hill which becomes quite arduous when towing about 30kg! Workwise it is always a balance between fitting in the necessary jobs of each day, and planning and prevention work.
I hope you all managed to have some well earned time off over the Christmas period and can look forward to the days getting longer, and hopefully a short winter!!
Central – Josie Burridge
Happy New Year! Firstly I would like to say that I hope you have all had a wonderful festive period filled with ample amounts of food and drink.
It’s been a busy four months since returning from maternity leave in September. There is plenty of TB testing at this time of year but fortunately this is balanced with routines and emergency work. We’ve definitely seen an increase in pneumonia cases, with this incredibly changeable weather. Winters are certainly getting more difficult to manage year on year. If you are currently struggling with a pneumonia outbreak then please get in touch as there are things we can do to help limit the impact, whether that be through vaccination, treatment or management changes. We are here to help!
