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X LVETS NEWS
AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
4
David Mulligan
Parklands Veterinary Group
Over 70 farmers turned up to the farm near Stewartstown,
Co Tyrone, to listen to Parklands vets explain the different
issues associated with lameness in the dairy herd.
Vet Philip Abernethy opened the farm walk
explaining why Parklands organised the
walk and some of the key messages. He
said: ‘The intention is to prevent rather than
cure. We need to look at lameness in the
herd a bit like we look at mastitis. For
example, if you have digital dermatitis in
your herd, all you can do is control it - you
won’t get rid of it. The disease is spread by
new and chronic cases and you have to
talk about control rather than eradication.’
Philip explained that when you lift a cow’s
foot you are too late because the disease,
at that stage, is causing the cow
discomfort. He suggested you need a
lameness plan for your herd from the
calf stage right up to the milking cow
stage. When cows are indoors all year
round on slats and concrete, lameness
can be a big issue, as the Parklands
survey shows.
The six practical demonstration areas;
mobility scoring, practical foot bathing,
digital dermatitis, cattle accommodation,
foot trimming and pedometers gave
farmers the opportunity to listen to some
of the latest thoughts from vets on tackling
lameness on-farm.
NSA Sheep Event
Lameness in the dairy
herd farmwalk
This year, the NSA Sheep Event returned to
Malvern and the XLVets stand welcomed
visitors from far and wide onto the stand
with the promise of winning one of the now
well-known green buckets by taking one of
several educational tasks on offer.
With biosecurity a focus, the ‘Make your
farm your fortress’ campaign demonstrated
the importance of biosecurity measures to
keep disease off farm and out of flocks.
Farmers gained practical advice from the
many XLVets vets on the stand throughout
the day.
A huge thanks to all those
who were involved.
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John Grant, centre, with farm clients
Craig McAlister, right, with farm clients
Come and visit us on
XLVets stand 46