Livestock Matters - Spring 2018

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE... 1 1 LIVESTOCK MATTERS Richard Spencer’s Mansell Farm near Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire is a mixed farm. Half the ground is down to arable crops, and the rest, grassland. Here he runs a 75-cow suckler herd made up of Beef Shorthorn cross Belgian Blue cows and around 20 pedigree Beef Shorthorns. Bulls are run with the cows for only nine weeks, and the herd calves down in two short blocks, in spring and autumn. Richard explains: “Having two calving blocks helps spread the workload and helps ensure a year round supply of finished cattle to meet my supermarket contract. It does also mean there’s some scope for cows to slip six months into the other block if needed.” Richard had a herd health plan that was reviewed annually with his vet Sam. But with the farm bounded by other arable farms, and a closed herd which was in good health, Richard did not see the need for any vaccination programmes. Empty cows “Richard is building his herd and increasing numbers, so fertility is extremely important and is closely monitored,” says Sam. In the October of 2016, Sam made one of his routine fertility visits in advance of the March calving block. But out of 34 cows, he found 15 of them were ‘empty’. This wasn’t the only issue: two cows which had scanned as PD-positive three months earlier, had since aborted. POOR FERT I L I TY Veterinary surgeon Sam Potter XLVets practice Hook Norton Veterinary Group Sam Potter, Hook Nor ton Veterinar y Group Investigation into poor fertility prompts two new vaccination programmes After vet Sam Potter of Hook Norton Veterinary Group found almost half the cows ‘empty’ on a routine PD visit to Richard Spencer’s suckler herd, investigations led to the adoption of vaccination programmes for leptospirosis and BVD. Richard Spencer’s herd calves down in two short blocks

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