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BEEF NUTR I T ION
Stillbirths and early calf losses
are
prevented by simple change of diet
Veterinary surgeon
Lee-Anne Oliver
XLVets practice
Scott Mitchell
Associates
Lost calves
At Beamwham Farm, near Hexham, Alan
Dent runs a herd of 80 suckler cows (Belgian
Blue crosses and Limousin crosses put to
Limousin bulls) and a flock of 700 sheep.
The calving season typically used to run from
December to January, and then from March
to May. Cows would be housed from
November until May, and fed grass silage
from the clamp.
In the calving season of 2012-2013, Alan’s
herd suffered a large number of stillbirths; 15
of the 77 calves were stillborn – representing
almost a fifth of the herd! And there were two
further deaths in very young calves which
had been dopey and slow to rise when born.
Alan says: ‘At first Lee-Anne thought this could
have been due to slow calvings. But I knew
there was a different problem as the water
bags just didn’t look right – they would be
brown and really watery.’
Dead calves were sent for post mortems and
laboratory testing. Alan says: ‘I was a bit
reluctant to do this as we’ve not had a lot of
success in the past. But we had to find what
was causing the problem…or sell the cows.’
As well as post mortems, Lee-Anne instigated
a number of other diagnostic tests to try
to identify the cause. But tests for BVD,
IBR and Neospora all came back negative.
Nor were any trace element deficiencies
detected.
The problems continued into the next winter.
In the 2013-2014 calving season, another
17 calves were lost – again through stillbirth
and early death.
Lee-Anne explains: ‘It was only when
we had two post mortems in a row
which showed the presence of
Bacillus
licheniformis
, that we realised this could
be the issue.’
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
7
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
Lee-Anne Oliver,
Scott Mitchell Associates
Northumberland beef suckler farmer Alan Dent had been experiencing high
numbers of stillbirths and calves born dopey and slow to suckle. The cause was
a mystery. But after lengthy investigations involving post mortems, diagnostic tests
and some literature research, his vet Lee-Anne Oliver of Scott Mitchell Associates
was able to track down the cause: a bacterium in the silage. A simple ration
change has resolved the problem
.
Bacterial count in silage is being monitored by Lee-Anne Oliver of Scott Mitchell Associates