Animal Health News

A new spate of H5N1 outbreaks has been confirmed in Suffolk – near Redgrave and Elmswell.

The cost of calf pneumonia is considerable on UK farms, with well-known implications for rearing costs, profitability and lifetime yield. While vaccination is key to control plans, live intranasal vaccines can offer enhanced protection and bridge the immunity gap in the first few months of life.

RABDF has welcomed news that the government will fund annual vet visits and grants to improve livestock health and welfare.

Taking place from 2nd – 9th February, the event celebrates the progress made since the launch of the GB Calf Strategy and has seen a range of experts offering guidance to improve calf performance.

Calf scour is significant when it comes to the future health and performance of every herd, but controlling it can be a challenge. Virbac experts take a comprehensive look at the causes and multifactorial approaches to control.

Calves are an expensive commodity nowadays, and to successfully rear healthy calves, prevention of disease is a better financial bet than firefighting clinical outbreaks and attempting expensive treatment. Boosting of gut health and the general immune system, together with avoidance of calf scour and calf pneumonia is of paramount importance to avoid a negative financial impact.

Having an effective cleaning and disinfection programme is essential in modern calf house management, to reduce the risk of disease. Evans Vanodine provides advice on a controlled disinfection programme.

After the first human case of H5 avian flu was detected in the UK, Farmers Guide spoke to virologist Dr Phillip Gould about this rare species jump, and what farmers should be aware of as H5N1 cases escalate in UK birds.

New cases of H5N1 have been confirmed in Lincolnshire, Cumbria and Berkshire so far this month, as well as a number of new confirmed cases over Christmas and New Year.

With risk of tick-borne diseases changing as new seasonal and geographical patterns emerge, Ruminant Health and Welfare (RH&W) has brought together a new online resource to help farmers and vets to tackle these diseases.

Farmers planning to turn sheep and cattle onto fodder beet this winter are being encouraged to vaccinate stock against clostridial diseases before giving them access to the crop.

With 80% of Johne’s disease infections occurring within the first month of life, the growing threat of Johne’s in the UK is encouraging significant numbers of dairy farmers to offer bespoke colostrum replacements to newborn calves.