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X L V E T S N E W S
AUTUMN 2010 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
4
The practice has always had a very strong
interest in farm animal work and currently
has over 250 farms registered that are served
by our six large animal vets. We have a
very proactive approach to farm work with
over half our dairy farms having regular
fertility/herd health visits and we use Interherd
and Herd Companion to give these visits
added value and focus. We encourage
active herd health planning and have
recently been working with some of our
farms for the Advantage West Midlands
Herd Health Planning Project. We also
regularly hold well attended farmer meetings
and have recently held meetings as part of
the NADIS training programme for the East
Midlands. We have a high profile within
the local agricultural community and are
the show vets for two well supported local
shows. Our team of large animal vets has
a very good mix of experience and youthful
enthusiasm and we strongly encourage farm
animal CPD with regular attendance
of BCVA.
PAWS also has a very strong small animal
side with a team of very experienced small
animal vets working in our large and
extensively equipped premises. We offer
a high quality first opinion service with a
strong emphasis on preventative health care
throughout the whole of the pet's life. We also
carry out equine work and our large animal
vets are happy to deal with the full range of
equine first opinion work that can be carried
out 'in the field', whilst encouraging referral
to local specialist equine practices when the
need arises.
PAWS is committed to providing the highest
level of service to our clients and we enjoy
our position at the heart of our local
agricultural community. We understand that
our future depends on the prosperity of our
clients and our good reputation in the area.
We therefore share XLVets' commitment to
excellence in practice and the future of the
UK livestock industry.
PAWS Veterinary Health Centre is a 12 vet mixed practice based in the
market town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire. We are split about 50%
large animal and 50% small animal and serve an area within a radius
of about 25 miles from Nuneaton, covering mainly North Warwickshire
and South Leicestershire.
PAWS Veterinary Health Centre,
Warwick
V E T E R I N A R Y H E A L T H C E N T R E
Clover Cell Check offers dairy farmers a
simple approach to management of milk
quality and helps control both cell counts
and clinical mastitis.
Clover Cell Check is a good example of
how information generated on farm can
be processed and reported back to busy
farmers to help them make faster and more
effective decisions. Lots of farm events,
including cow movements, births, deaths and
other performance criteria are now
captured and presented in large data
systems that can be shared with your key
farm advisers. When it comes to giving
better health advice, XLVet member practices
now have access to cutting edge data
processing tools like Clover Cell Check.
Bill May, of the large Shropshire based
dairy practice, Lambert, Leonard & May,
believes that better access to farm data has
significantly improved his ability to advise
his farm clients. ‘It's not just that herds are
getting larger, it is also practically impossible
to get a sense of how trends are changing
on any one farm enterprise over time. Tools
like Clover Cell Check have meant that small
changes in response to any suggestions we
might make can be immediately monitored to
assess the benefits.’
To illustrate this point Bill described how he
was keen to persuade a large farm, with a
significant cell count problem, to segregate
his herd. ‘Managing a large herd in groups
according to the cows cell counts is never
popular when there other priorities such as
feeding groups, yield groups and breeding
groups to be considered. However, in this
case, cell counts and clinical mastitis were
getting way out of control; despite installing
a state of the art backflush system. ‘I was
convinced that we needed to segregate the
Clover Cell Check
herd to make progress and it was only by
monitoring herd performance in close detail
through Clover Cell Check that I was able
to demonstrate the instant response to
splitting the herd.’
XLVets have negotiated open access to
the online Clover Cell Check tool for all
their member practices so that no dairy
farmer need miss out on the opportunity to
significantly simplify their herd management.
Farmer benefits of the Clover reports include
clear listings of cows that need attention
every month and much better evidence of
herd performance in comparison with other
herds served by the same practice.
‘Farmers are very keen to check how
they are doing in comparison with their
neighbours. It's often the first page of the
report that they look at!’ says Bill May.
Farmers who want to learn more about
how Clover Cell Check could help their
farm management should contact their
local XLVets practice.
DairyCo has updated its information booklet
Milk Quality - Avoiding Antibiotic Failure. The
booklet now gives the latest information on
what to do to avoid antibiotic failure, including
a procedure for farmers to use should they
suspect contamination of milk, tips on
identifying treated animals and the recording
of treatments. The booklet is suitable for
including in the Farm Assurance folder on-farm,
and helps all those involved in the milking
process understand the 'why and how' of
avoiding antibiotics getting into the food chain.
Download at www.dairyco.org.uk or call
02476 478702 to order a copy.
MILK QUALITY - AVOIDING ANTIBIOTIC FAILURE