As the days shorten and a new flush of growth appears in our fields, it’s easy to think the grazing season is winding down. However, for many UK livestock farmers, autumn brings a heightened risk of a serious and often fatal condition: grass staggers. Also known as hypomagnesaemia or grass tetany, this magnesium deficiency can strike cattle and ewes without warning, making it crucial to be prepared.
For sheep farmers, the summer months mean one thing: the dreaded flystrike. This can be a devastating condition, causing immense suffering to the sheep and significant economic losses for farmers.
It is essential to understand the causes of flystrike. More importantly, knowing how to prevent and treat it is crucial for maintaining a healthy flock during the warmer months.
“In 2022 with the drought and food shortage, we were expecting the worst, but we had a phenomenal year with fertility” says Warwick Gill.
Running 1,500 Suffolk Mules and Texel Mule ewes in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire the first 250 lamb early in February and the remainder 1,250 lamb outdoors in April. The area as a whole is generally low in Iodine.
Body condition scoring (BCS) is a simple, cheap highly effective important management tool to assess a ewe’s body reserves. Monitoring the flocks BCS at key points in the reproductive cycle will help maximise lamb survival, reduce metabolic disease risk and produce high quality and plentiful colostrum and milk
Lambs are born with an immunological disadvantage due to immunoglobulins being unable to be passed through the placenta to the lamb during pregnancy, making them particularly vulnerable to diseases. During the first two hours of life the gut is 20-30% efficient at absorbing IgGs, but the capability of the gut declines to 0% after 24 hours. Consequently, it is crucial that lambs receive colostrum soon after birth in order to absorb sufficient antibodies to reduce the risk of disease and mortality.
For sheep, constant management of fluke is necessary because there is often no break in the grazing cycle. So, with no product persistent against fluke, a sheep treated one day can pick up infection the next if they are grazing infected pasture.
Sheep scab is an allergic dermatitis which is caused by the mite Psoroptes ovis. It is a highly contagious condition as the mites live and feed on the skin and so they are easily spread onto in contact sheep.
Preparation is key, make sure you know when to shear and have all the equipment you need to complete a successful shearing.
Meet Dyfrig Bowen, and his partner Lyndsey, at Pengelli Farm in Cardigan. Their system comprises 40 head of Pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cows and 900 Aberfield-Cross ewes. They also buy in a further 1,500 store lambs and sell their finished lambs direct to slaughter. Around 180 ewes are lambed indoors early on and then the rest are lambed outside in April.
Wynnstay has a strong team of RAMAs, fully trained and legally qualified to advise, prescribe and supply certain veterinary medicines. In this issue of Farm Focus, we meet Tony Morris, Animal Health Sales Specialist in Worcester and surrounding counties. Tony tells us how getting fully involved in customers’ farms is key to understanding their needs.
