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February
2004 Newsletter |
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Lame Lambs You may already know
Streptococcus dysgalactia as a cause of mastitis
and poor milk production in dairy cows. More recently it has been recognised
as a major cause of arthritis in newborn lambs. Septic arthritis is a growing
problem on some farms. The infection is thought to get established in the
first two weeks of life, some animals have not shown any signs of the
infection until six weeks of age. This is a bacterium found on normal skin
that somehow gets established in the blood stream of young animals. It is
thought that in very young animals the infection gets a foot hold from
infecting the navel. There is some evidence to suggest that in some older lambs ear tagging may help the infection to get
established. The reason why blood born infections end up in the joints is
that the capillaries are very small here so bacteria get trapped within the
structure of the joint and cannot escape. Early Treatments Septic arthritis is
not easy to treat, in theory it should respond to high levels of penicillin
type antibiotics, Synulox is the one we use if you
can manage to give it every day. The problem is that it is not just a case of
clearing the infection, as soon as there is swelling
the inflammation is sufficient to cause permanent damage. Some lambs that
have been slow to take sufficient colostrum are more
likely to succumb, but it is not always easy to ensure that this happens with
every lamb. Even when you are able to dress every navel within two hours of
birth you will get some lame lambs. I still think it is a good idea to give antibiotics
to every lamb as soon as you can after birth. This is primarily designed to
stop watery mouth and other enteric infections. Depending on the drug you use
you can also get help to prevent septic arthritis as well. Toxic Mastitis This month we have
had problems with severe cases of E Coli mastitis
in dairy cows. It is not unusual to get some cows with watery mastitis
especially in the first two weeks after calving. As this is an organism
common in the environment cows with teat damage and those that milk out
quickly are particularly prone to the problem. Fortunately not all cases of
this sort of mastitis are severe and most respond readily to treatments both
into the quarter and into the cow. Things to watch out for in a severe case
are cows that are reluctant to eat or have a tendency to lye down more than
you would expect. Any swelling or a darkening of the quarter is not a good
sign and these cases are better treated with intravenous drugs. Even with
aggressive treatments it is not always possible to save the quarter. Factors
that help to stop this infection getting established apart from careful teat
dipping is to try and ensure the cows are not able to go and lye down for at
least half an hour after milking. In the past I have noticed that a cold
spell of winter weather helps to control E Coli
mastitis, hopefully it will help again this year. Cattle Audit You may have had a
letter from the Cattle Movements Service concerning an audit of the cattle
that they have registered as being on your farm. For the past four months or
so I have used a password to download details of the stock on farms to help
with Tuberculin Testing. This has worked well, but it has been quite evident
that nobody has been looking at the data at BCMS to keep it up to date. On
most farms there are some animals recorded, sometimes several hundred animals,
that are no longer alive. These are often calves or
cows that have died on the farm or went on the Fallen Stock Scheme. It appears
that a lot of the cows that were taken on the Welfare Disposal Scheme during
the Foot and Mouth crisis are still according to the Cattle Movements Service
happily growing older on your farms as nobody thought to take them off the data
base. System Programming I am surprised in a
way that the system has not been programmed to alert its operators of any
anomalies. Twice now I have come across fit cows with a registered age of
thirty four, both of these seem to have been born in nineteen ninety instead
of nineteen seventy. It is difficult to understand why the system does not
have the capability of scanning for these abnormal ages so that they can be
investigated. Sometimes we have come across whole groups of store cattle on a farm that are not on the records even though all of the passports
are correct. Occasionally there have been reports of two animals in different
parts of the country with the same ear number. It is difficult to understand
why these anomalies are not detected and sorted out while the animals are
still on the premises. Missing Letters To further add to the
confusion the ear numbers of some cows that have had an audit of ear tags
have been changed on the data base. Older animals with an ear number ending
in a letter rather than a number have been altered and some zeros have
disappeared from the official records even though they are still on the ear
tag and passport. This has caused us a problem because we cannot find the
animal numbers when we search for them in our computer and it also makes it
more difficult when we write up tests as we have to put the missing letters
and zeros back onto the forms again. It would seem that even if you have
recently had an audit there will still be some dead cows recorded as living
on your farm. It has not put an end to all of those. Fallen Stock Scheme Several people have
asked me in the past two weeks if I have any information about when the new
Fallen Stock Scheme is going to start. I am afraid that I have not been able
to find out anything definite and I understand the contractors are still negotiating
with DEFRA. Apparently the proposal is that the vehicles that come to collect
the fallen stock will only be able to visit one farm before returning to
unload. There is also a proposal that they will not be able to drive onto the
farm but load up from a building at the roadside or in the farm entrance. I
don’t think many of you are going to be happy about fallen stock being loaded
from such a public place. I cannot see that such strict bio security measures
are necessary unless we go through another national disease crisis. How it will Work The DEFRA website is
still displaying the same information I last found in September declaring
that it is hoped the scheme will be up and running early in 2004. They aim to
collect fallen stock within thirty hours of being notified. The ideal is that
carcasses will be stored in a building or container secure from interference
from wild life or farm dogs before collection. DEFRA state that they are
funding the scheme to the tune of eleven million pounds in the first year.
Hopefully there will be some firm information soon before the main part of
the lambing season gets under way. A New Face Emma is not working
so many hours now so there is a new face at the Minsterley
Surgery. Hilary Mansell who usually does the
Surgeries at Church Stretton is back with us again
after the birth of her daughter last year. Hilary will be helping out at the Minsterley Surgery on some mornings. |
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