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FARMERS WEEKLY AWARDS
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LVets' Mark Burnell, vet and director of Synergy Farm Health in
Dorset, was awarded Livestock Advisor of the Year in the Farmers
Weekly 2010 Awards. Mark has been working in veterinary practice
for the past 26 years. He is one of the founding directors of Synergy
Farm Health, formed by bringing together the two veterinary practices:
Southfield Veterinary Centre and Kingfisher Veterinary Practice.
Adapting veterinary advice and
support to ever-changing herd
situations
Farmers Weekly Livestock Advisor of the Year 2010
Mark Burnell
Synergy Farm Health
5
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
Amongst Mark's clients are dairy farmer Tim
Cox and his son Simon of Northbrook Farm,
near Dorchester. Mark has been providing
veterinary advice and support on the farm
since 1991. He has also instigated herd health
planning initiatives, including the protocols for
controlling infectious diseases, lameness
scoring, fertility and mastitis monitoring.
Last November, Tim invested in two DeLaval
automatic milking machines for the 120-cow
herd which averages yields of 10,700
litres/year.
Mark Burnell explains: ‘Heavy yielding cows
need milking more often. So automatic milking
systems reduce the stress and also encourage
more milk to be produced.
‘However, this new combination of straw
yards and robotic milkers flags up a new
set of challenges for us: the control of mastitis
and reducing lameness will now need
fresh attention.
‘With the old milking parlour, keeping mastitis
under control had been achieved by checking
the milking routine protocol was followed,
and using Dairyco's risk assessment plan
and the monthly NMR milk records which
identified problem cows so appropriate
action could be taken.
‘Now, Tim has a system which automatically
collects a lot of useful data, and we need to
review the records and look at the disease
pattern afresh. For example, when in the
lactation are mastitis problems occurring
?
We need to pinpoint the problem again
so we can act.
‘We also need to repeat the risk assessment,
as it's a different set of conditions.’
The whole herd has recently been locomotion
scored, and the main types of foot lesions
identified. Now Mark and Tim can address
the problem areas.
Tim Cox
Cow waiting to be milked
Mark Burnell
Veterinary Surgeon
Mark Burnell
XLVets Practice
Synergy Farm Health,
Evershot, Dorset