As I write this, we are in the midst of a busy few weeks of Spring lambing and calving. It’s been great to get on farm and see some immaculate calving pens, highly organised lambing sheds and keenly motivated teams. Hopefully things have mostly gone well, but there have been some challenges and difficulties and […]
Tag Archives: Beef
Reduce stress when TB Testing
Six month testing is in full swing and each test seems to come around so quickly. TB testing can be stressful for both the cattle, and everyone involved. You don’t have to have new high tech handling systems for the test to run smoothly and safely. I have not yet seen a perfect handling system […]
Bovine TB – roll out of the PCR test (yes the same style test used to test humans for Covid!)
We have had long-awaited news from APHA that they will begin their rollout of using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, in place of standard culture when confirming a TB diagnosis from lesions at slaughter. This should be a step forward in reducing the time taken for a decision to be made on any further […]
The Medicine Hub is here – an update for beef and sheep farms
UK farming has been a world leader in reducing antibiotic use – yet we have struggled to prove this progress in our ruminant sectors. Now we have the Medicine Hub for beef, sheep and dairy. While we know from our own records at Synergy that our beef cattle and sheep clients are generally low users […]
Suckler Calf Mortality – time to investigate?
A study looking in to the risk factors associated with beef calf mortality found the following:- Dystocia (difficult birth), small birth weight and older parity of the mother increased the risk of mortality in calves <1 month old. In calves 1 – 5 months old, being the offspring of a heifer was associated with significantly […]
Control of Johne’s Disease in the Beef Suckler Herd
Johne’s disease, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium sub-species paratuberculosis, or MAP for short, is characterised by a long incubation period before irreversible diarrhoea and terminal weight loss. Infection can occur at any age but is most common via the faeco-oral route within the first hours, days or weeks of life, although clinical signs are […]
Calf Castrates
Last year, Team Sheep focused their attention on how tailing and castrating lambs affects the animals involved; and looked at scenarios where the procedure had been improved or avoided. The meetings definitely changed my attitude, and I got to wondering why we don’t all take the same approach with calves. It’s not uncommon to see […]
Cattle Freeze Branding
Recently I have been developing my skills in Freeze branding. Here I share a few thoughts on the process and some key facts which help explain the method we use to provide permanent ID on cattle. Freeze branding uses copper alloy irons chilled in a solution of dry ice (frozen C02) and an alcohol solution […]
Vaccination Time for Cattle
For most, Spring is the busiest time of the year. Traditionally herds would vaccinate their cows before turnout, but all year round housed cattle tend to have the majority of vaccine now as well. It is important an individual vaccination programme is in place for your farm so that not only the correct timing, dose […]
Flies and Icebergs – what do they have in common?
What have the flies you see buzzing around your animals and icebergs got in common? The answer, the greatest danger comes from what lies beneath! Just like the tip of an iceberg only 15% of your farm fly population can actually be seen, the remaining 85% is hidden away as eggs, maggots and pupae waiting […]