As well as ensuring your horse has general good health it is important to maintaining hoof health, but external applications are also important. Follow top five tips to maintaining healthy moisture levels, to aid hoof integrity and strength.
1. Introducing a regular trimming routine will help avoid excessive drying around the bottom of hoof wall.
2. It’s recommended to maintain natural hoof moisture levels to use hoof dressings that contain pine tar. Where the dressing covers the coronary band it is recommended to massage the area regularly to stimulate hoof growth.
3. When the weather has been dry over a prolonged period use a water based moisturizer and apply daily to the hooves.
4. Apply a regular application containing zinc and sulphate, for bacterial conditions of the sole and frog. A liquid application is easy to work into grooves and cracks for maximum efficacy.
5. If you are looking for a more natural choice, essential oil of eucalyptus contains antibacterial properties. This will help maintain clean, healthy hooves and soles, whatever the weather.
Source: Kate Hore RNutr(Animal) . Snr Nutritionist at NAF - 'Healthy Hooves' 2018
We are facing unprecedented times, and farming along with other industries are having to ensure their businesses are as well positioned as they can be to manage the impact our withdrawal from the EU in whatever form that might be, will have. The engine room and lifeblood of any farm is the soil, an element that has the potential to impact greatly on farm profitability. Knowing the fertility of your soils is key in determining the most efficient and cost-effective choices that should be made when using both fertilisers and manures.
Irfon Jenkins, along with his brother Eurig and father Aeron farm 94 hectares, milking 400 and supplying First Milk. All replacement heifers are reared, and Friesian bulls/Belgian blue calves are sold at 8-16 days depending on breed. This year the family have experienced tremendous calf health.
The preweaning stage is the perfect opportunity to programme heifers for much greater mammary mass, fostering the ability to produce and secrete more milk in the future. In fact, over 1,500 genes within the functional tissue of the mammary gland can be influenced.
Introducing the new Wynngold HEIFERPRO Milk Powder! With advancements in the field of genetics, we now have the ability to selectively breed based on animal productivity, efficiency, longevity and even carbon footprint. These developments are encouraging producers to be as selective with their calf milk formula as they are with their breeding, matching the correct amino acid intake and balance to the growth and performance requirements of their calves.
Falling temperatures mean that calves will have less energy available for growth and for immune function. To maintain targeted performance, they will require additional feed and management.
As a country, the UK prides itself as having one of the highest welfare standards where all of the basic needs of farmed animals are met. Over the last few years, production has increased which has included the installation of new parlours, adult cow housing and slurry storage. All this is to meet the demand of the consumer, but often, one thing that has remained the same is calf housing.
