Synergy have recently taken on some additional teaching for final year vet students at the Royal Veterinary College. One of the beef focussed sessions involves a farm walk and general discussion on beef enterprises, followed by some exercises looking at common scenarios we see on farm as beef vets. These scenarios are all based around real cases, and I would hazard a guess that some of you have experienced similar frustrating episodes. The first scenario involves a poor PD session, with a high barren rate and a spread of ages in the pregnancies. Knowing where to start your investigation can be challenging- the cows, the bull, infectious disease, nutrition etc. could all be looked at or money spent on lab tests. Using your data and a detailed look at the problem e.g. the spread of pregnancy stages or vaccination status can show you where to begin. The second scenario is about some poor-conditioned cows with no apparent illness except very loose dung – any guesses!?
And finally, a look at an uneven group of calves. The temporary solution for sale is often batching them according to size: adding the poor-doing calves to a much younger group makes everything instantly look better. But it often hides a problem that is making the system less productive than it might be. In this case, the mix of an extended calving period, infectious disease and lack of feed space for smaller calves resulted in poor growth rates and competition for resources. Even with just one or two calves being obviously affected, there will be opportunity to fix underlying problems and see those weights at sale increasing.
Teaching the students how to approach these cases has shown how a logical approach can minimise the time, effort and money used in reaching a diagnosis and therefore a solution. It’s a reminder that a poor PD session or poor group of calves does not always require hugely expensive investigations or management changes in order to improve things.
Written By Tom Warboys, Veterinary Surgeon
