Articles

In December Jamie N. Henningson of Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory published a useful note in ‘Bovine Veterinarian’ on cases of apparent overfeeding of minerals.  His general observations are equally relevant to UK livestock farmers.

On a recent farm visit the subject of moving cattle on store diets based on silage onto ad-lib cereals without causing acidosis and other issues was discussed.

My interest in drinking water follows on from the increased level of pneumonia this autumn, presumably due to the wide fluctuations in temperature. 

Changing the time of feeding has been shown to have an effect on the time of day cows will calve.

While pneumonia is a common occurrence, there are steps which can be taken to minimise the risk.

Milk fever is the common term used for the signs seen in cattle when blood calcium levels are low, also known as hypocalcaemia. 

Timing of lungworm can be unpredictable so it is difficult to know when to target worming treatments.  If outbreaks are not caught early, significant lung damage and secondary bacterial infection can occur and deaths are not uncommon.

If using long-acting wormers in calves at grass over the summer, it is worth knowing how long the products persist for. 

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is reminding animal transporters that the process for renewal of type 1 transporter authorisations has changed and authorisations are no longer renewed automatically.

The financial value of cattle slurry (based on current N, P & K fertiliser straight prices) will be around £30 per load this spring.  That is around £3,500/250,000 gallons or 20 x 600kg bags of fertiliser, free!