Twin Lamb Disease (Pregnancy Toxaemia)

Clyde Vet News

Farm Animal Newsletter March 2018

Calf Scour Vaccines

With the spring calving season almost

upon us it’ll soon be time to think about

vaccinating your cows to protect their

calves against scour. We now have two

products available for vaccinating calves;

Bovigen and Rotavec. Both vaccines should

be used between 12 and 3 weeks before

calving is expected. Speak to one of our

vets about which product is best for you.

Protection of calves depends on the physi-

cal presence of colostrum antibodies (from

vaccinated cows) within the gut for the

duration of the first 2 - 3 weeks of life until

calves develop their own immunity. Check

out our article on colostrum management

on page 4 to refresh your memory of the

most up to date advice on colostrum.

Clyde Vets Training

We ran a very successful lambing course at

the practice in February with 30 attendees.

Neil Laing and Tom Crawshaw took a two

hour course covering the basics of lambing

and neonatal lamb care. Thanks to every-

one who attended and supported the

course.

Dates For Your Diary:

22nd March:

Foot trimming course at Bonnyhill Farm,

Bonnybridge (fully subscribed)

4th April:

Milksure: Avoiding antibiotic residues in

the bulk milk tank at CVG Lanark

If there is any more interest in any of

our courses then please let us know and

we can plan some more in the future

With the bulk of lambing fast approaching it is time to

turn our attention to some common conditions affect-

ing ewes around this busy time and ways we can ap-

proach treating these conditions.

Twin lamb disease is one of the most common things

we see in the run up to lambing time and can be treat-

ed if identified at an early stage. Essentially these ewes

have very low blood glucose due to severe energy

shortage. Ewes can be down, circling, head pressing

have tremors and appear blind with clinical signs get-

ting progressively worse over 48hours. It can look

similar to Listeriosis but will not respond to antibiotics.

Ewes will often be twin or triplet bearing and older

ewes tend be more affected. They are usually thin if

you run your hand down their back, although over fat

ewes can also suffer with the condition as they are

unable to eat as much as a lean ewe. It is important to

ensure ewes are on good quality forage and that twins

and triplets receive supplementary feeding to meet

the demands of the extra lambs.

It might be worth considering body scoring your ewes

to assess if they are likely to need additional feeding

on the run up to lambing. Optimal BCS at lambing is

between 2.5-3/5. If animals are overly fat during this

time, it is more likely that additional feeding will in-

crease chances of difficult lambings and twin lamb

disease. If ewes are thin, then twin lamb disease is also

likely to occur and can result in the death of the ewe.

Speak to one of the vets if you would like to know

more on body condition scoring your flock.

Pre lambing blood samples or metabolic profiles, can

be used 3 - 4 weeks prior to the start of lambing to

identify if you have any energy problems in the flock,

samples are taken from 5 ewes in each group of sin-

gles, twins and triplets. The diet can be modified if

these bloods identify any issues. Ewes can be treated

with oral propylene glycol daily and under the skin

injections of Calciject No6. Vets can also administer

multivitamins and IV injection of glucose.

Hypocalcaemia – ‘Milk Fever’

Typically seen 3-4 weeks before lambing (As opposed

to cows where we usually see milk fever after calving).

It is caused by a lack of calcium in the blood needed for

muscles to work and signs can develop rapidly over 2-6

hours. Similarly to twin lamb disease, hypocalcaemia

can be seen when ewes are brought down from hill

grazing onto improved pastures, at housing or if ewes

are stressed. A dead ewe may be the first sign you

have a problem with either condition. It is important to

have these post-mortem examined by the vet. Others

may be down or reluctant to come forward for feed-

ing.

If caught early, response to treatment can be very

rewarding. IV injections of calcium by the vet will give

the ewe the best and quickest chance of survival. Al-

ternatively, under the skin injections of Calciject No6. is

the common on farm treatment, this will work but

take up to 4 hours to have an effect. Appropriate min-

erals should be included in any ration.

Don’t forget your clostridial vaccine boosters before

lambing too!

P.1 Twin Lamb Disease P.2 Pre-Turnout Care For Cattle P.3 Clyde Folk P.4 Ordering Medicines

INSIDE

THIS

ISSUE!!

Looking outside as I write this, I can see almost a foot of snow

drifting outside the window and the some of the staff are mak-

ing snow angels. Turnout seems like a world away as the ‘Beast

from the East’ rages at our doorstep. However, with a bit of luck

it won’t be too far away so it’s time to start thinking about pre-

paring your cattle for the summer.

Lungworm

There have been some fairly big outbreaks of lungworm on our

farms over the last few years. We’d like to help you prepare to

prevent Lungworm on your farm this summer. There are two op-

tions for lungworm prevention in cattle; Wormers and vaccina-

tion.

There are various different worming options available,

however, these products are also active against gut worms. One

of the main ways that resistance develops on farm is by treating

gut worms when there is no need to treat them. So vaccinating

for lungworm with Huskvac could potentially reduce this risk.

Lungworm In Purchased Bulls

We often see lungworm in stock bulls purchased at 1-2 years old.

Remember that most pedigree bulls have limited opportunities to

graze when they are young and so they are often naïve to lung-

worm, gut worms and fluke. Make sure you have a robust parasite

plan in place for your new bulls before the go grazing this sum-

mer.

If you have had problems with Lungworm in the last few

years, please give one of our vets a call to discuss whether

Huskvac could help you

Sudden Deaths and Clostridial Disease

Sudden death of animals at pasture is one of the most frustrat-

ing parts of livestock farming. However, a lot of these sudden

deaths are easily prevented by vaccinating against clostridial

disease. There are various vaccines available for sheep and cat-

tle and they represent good value for money. Cattle should re-

ceive two dose of vaccine 4 weeks apart prior to turnout the

first year and then an annual booster.

Pre-Turnout Preparation Of

Grazing Cattle

Huskvac

• Two doses are given 4 weeks apart prior to turnout

• In most cases re-vaccination is not required as the

animals are exposed to lungworm while grazing

• On farms where cattle are not likely to be exposed

to lungworm (extensive use of wormers/clean

grazing) they can have a yearly booster.

• Black disease: Damage to the liver by young migrating

liver fluke allowing infection leading to sudden death,

particularly in sheep.

• Blackleg: Infection of an injury such as bruising or cuts

leading to sudden death

• Malignant oedema: Sheep mainly, but also cattle and

goats. Infection of deep wounds such as dog bites, crow

attacks and lambing injuries leading to death after 1-2

days.

• "Swelled head": Specific type of malignant oedema in

rams. Extensive swelling of the head. Death after 48

hours, though some recover if treated early.

• Pulpy kidney: Young sheep, cattle and goats. Death is

extremely rapid, occuring in 2-3 hours in young ani-

mals. Usually seen as outbreaks in sheep, and the death

of just a couple of animals in other species.

• Tetanus: Pigs most susceptible, but cattle, sheep and

goats also affected. Common after castration, calving/

lambing, dog bites and shearing wounds.

wounds.

• Botulism: Most cases of botulism in cattle have been

associated with poultry litter spread onto pasture or

bird carcasses in silage. Clinical disease varies from

apparent sudden death to recovery after 14-21 days.

We have welcomed a new vet to our team in Stirling. Vicki

flew back from Australia to join our team and we caught up

with her to learn a bit more about her…

Why did you want to become a farm animal vet?

I grew up on a farm in Perthshire and was the only daughter

with two older brothers so spent my childhood feeding the

pet lambs, lambing sheep and looking after the sick calves

so it was pre-determined from a young age.

What other jobs have you had?

I've previously worked in mixed practice in Perthshire and

spent the last two years working around Australia. One of

the most interesting jobs I had in Australia was my rural

work for second year visa requirements. I spent 3 months

calving 700 Angus heifers in South Australia and arrived to

find they had no tags! A bit of a challenge but great fun!

What do you get up to in your spare time?

In my spare time I play shinty for a team in Fife, run to keep

fit and get back up to help out on the family farm.

What's Your Favourite piece of equipment in your car?

Favourite piece of equipment is my calving jack, and second

to that my caeser kit, whichever one gets me a live calf.!

Beer or Cider? Cider

Football or Rugby? Rugby

Shooting or Fishing? Shooting

Cats or Dogs? Dogs

Galaxy or Cadbury? Either!

CLYDE FOLK - ViCki Henderson

Protect Your BVD Status

We are still seeing cases of BVD on our farms despite the

efforts of Scotland to eradicate the disease. So why are

we still seeing Negative statuses being lost across the prac-

tice?

A number of farms with Negative statuses do not

vaccinate for BVD. So should they vaccinate for BVD if they

don’t have BVD on farm?

The answer is yes!!! A negative status means that your ani-

mals are potentially naïve to BVD. These herds are at risk of

being infected if they come into contact with cattle from

other farms or infected purchased animals (e.g. animals pur-

chased from outwith Scotland). If you can’t guarantee that

your cattle will not come into contact with neighbouring or

purchased cattle then vaccination is the only way to protect

your negative status. Remember to speak to one of our vets

about which vaccine to use on your farm and timing of the

vaccine prior to turnout.

A Successful Vaccination Programme

A successful vaccination pro-

gramme on farm is boring! In a

successful vaccination pro-

gramme, nothing happens. No

animals get sick, no animals die,

no animals lose their calves. All

very boring, but exactly what we

want to happen!

So if you’re considering stopping

a vaccination programme on your

farm then please speak to us

about it before you do because

we prefer boring to the wrong kind of excitement!

Why Is Colostrum Man-

agement So Important?

Calves are born without protective anti-bodies which provide immunity against disease. It is vital that the calf absorbs antibodies via high quality colostrum as soon as possible after birth. Colostrum is also rich in essential nutrients to pro-vide energy for growth.

As calves left to suckle their dam are much more likely to receive insufficient antibodies it is best practice to give colostrum by teat feeding with a nipple bottle or use a stomach tube if a calf is unable to suckle

Key tips to colostrum management

• Collect colostrum as soon as pos-sible after the cow has calved.

• Collect colostrum from cows of known health status eg. tested negative for Johnes disease.

• If there is a shortage of high quality colostrum then use only the high-est quality colostrum replacers

• Bacterial numbers in warm colos-trum can double every 20 minutes. Fresh colostrum should be fed to calves at 38°C within 1 hour of collection or stored and frozen appropriately

• Frozen colostrum should be thawed in a water bath and used within 30 minutes. Never use a microwave as this will destroy the antibodies!

• Antibody transfer can be checked with a blood test calves within one week of birth.

• Good hygiene is essential! Ensure the udder is clean, your hands are clean, the milking plant is clean, use clean buckets, clean calf-feeding equipment and maintain high standards of cleanliness in the calf’s pen.

Ordering Medicines Over The Counter

Hyndford Road

Lanark, ML11 9SZ

01555 660000

farm.animal@clydevetgroup.co.uk

www.clydevetgroup.co.uk/farm

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As we head towards the busiest time of year

for our staff and clients we wanted to help

you get the most convenient and efficient

experience that we can when you visit one of

our branches. Here are a few things that will

help our staff meet your needs:

Changes At Lanark

You may noticed that there are a few new faces who

have joined the well-kent faces that you are used to

being served by at Lanark. We are aiming to have a

reception team that is capable and comfortable

serving clients from all three of our departments. The

reason that we have decided to do this is so that if

the normal farm reception team are not available,

then we have someone at the desk who can help

you. As you can imagine, this has been a steep learn-

ing curve for a few of the reception team with little

experience of farming. We’d like to thank you all for

the patience that you have shown over the last year

as we have up-skilled our reception team. We’re very

lucky to have such a great client base and we aim to

continue to improve the service you receive when

you visit either of our branches.

Advising On Choice of Product

Some of you may not be aware that our receptionists

are not allowed to advise you on which product you

should use to treat your animals. There is one excep-

tion to this; Jennifer King at Lanark is a qualified SQP

(Suitably Qualified Person). This means that she can

advise you on certain product choices such as worm-

ers and parasite control. So what does this mean?

This means that if you are unsure about what the

best product for your animals is then the reception

team will have to ask one of our vets for guidance.

This will ensure that your animals get the highest

quality of care from experts in farm animal medicine.

Ordering Medicines In Advance

As you know, we’re all going to be pretty busy over

the next few months. It will help us speed up our

service and save you time if you are able to pre-order

your medicines before popping in to the practice. In

particular, most of our reception team take their

lunch break between 12pm and 2pm so things can

get pretty manic during those times.

Healthplans and Treatment Protocols

Our practice is regulated by the RCVS and the VMD

(Veterinary Medicines Directive) to ensure that we

meet industry standards when prescribing, supplying

and storing medicines. We are responsible for the

use of animal medicines on the farms under our care

and ensuring that our clients know how to use medi-

cines correctly and safely. As part of this there should

be a health plan agreed between us and our clients

that includes treatment protocols for that farm. This

means that we can ensure that the antibiotics we’re

prescribing are being used responsibly and that your

animals get the full benefit of a treatment course.

There are some antibiotics that you will not be able

to purchase over the counter without a health plan

stating that they are required on your farm.

If you’ve not managed to get a health

plan done yet please give one of our

vets a call to organise a meeting to

discuss your health plan.

Remember the 3 Q’s

Quantity- The recommendation is to give a

first feed of 10% of body weight eg. 40kg

calf should receive 4 litres of colostrum.

Quality– Test the quality of colostrum by

using a colostrometer.

Quickly- The calf’s ability to absorb antibod-

ies drops rapidly over the first few hours of

life . Calves should receive their first colos-

trum feed as soon as possible after birth.