After meeting hundreds of farmers I got some great animal health questions. It’s fair to say the general consensus was that 2019 has been a healthy year, but it was not without its problems. Here are 10 of the most common health questions from Ploughing 2019.

What's the best jab for a lame sheep with footrot?

Footrot can be easily treated, meaning lots of antibiotics will work against it. I prefer to try and prevent it with vaccination and footbathing, but getting it under control using long-acting antibiotics works well as a treatment. Always mark the treated sheep. In a control programme, three strikes in a year and they should be culled.

I got a lot of enquires about specific antibiotic treatments and doses, but to the frustration of some, I always tell people that this is their own vet’s role and I always push for prevention.

Nearly every farmer I met I talked about the value of using anti-inflammatories in treatment regimes.

How do I stop my calves getting crypto next year?

One farmer had a suckler herd of 40 cows and lost five calves with severe scour last year. The danger this year is that some of the crypto oocysts survived over the winter. Firstly, he needs to clean out all calving pens and water drinkers. Power hose day one, steam clean day two and on day three, use strong hydrogen peroxide and foaming agent to cover and disinfect the whole shed.

Then he needs to improve the diet of dry cows to boost colostrum quality, invest in more straw bedding and get calves out faster if possible.

Finally, his vet suggested Halocur next year and I agree. Although it may be difficult, he must ensure calves get this on a full stomach daily for seven days and may have to restrict suckling in the morning to ensure this happens.

What’s the best vaccine for pneumonia for bought-in store cattle over-wintering?

Another farmer seemed to be having terrible issues with pneumonia with bought- in cattle for the last three years. When I explained that going to the mart and mixing several groups of animals creates stress and massively increases the risk of pneumonia spreading and shedding, it was like a light bulb went off in his head. The housing sounded OK, but he was mixing so many different animals that he seemed to be having possible issues with mycoplasma pneumonia.

Cattle were presenting with pneumonias that responded poorly to lots of different injections and also were getting lame.

My advice was lengthy, but it involved a full rethink of sourcing and moving animals, as well as protocols for cattle arriving. Intranasal vaccines to all healthy cattle with IBR, and RSV 24 hours after arrival was also suggested.

How do I deal with an outbreak of Neospora related abortions?

This dairy farmer had Neospora confirmed as a cause of abortion and was wondering what he could treat his cows with. I told him there was no treatment, but he needed to work with his vet to blood test all breeding animals. Unfortunately, he will have to repeat these blood tests on young stock and cows next year. He also needs to carefully mark any cows that were empty or aborted, as they are now potential carriers and should be bred to beef. Cows can become Neospora carriers and abort again, or birth healthy calves that are themselves Neospora carriers.

Why are my lambs dying with watery mouths?

I was presented with an unusual case of 10% of lambs dying 24 to 48 hours after birth with what sounded like watery mouth septicaemia. I recommended that the farmer continue working with his vet, give all lambing pens a thorough cleaning and work on colostrum quality (with a focus on ewe nutrition pre-lambing) this year. The flock also seemed to be relying on oral antibiotics for the control of watery mouth for the last seven years, and there also seemed to be an overuse of colostrum replacers.

What is the best scour tablet for suckler calves?

This farmer was finding it harder to get antibiotic tablets to treat scouring suckler calves. I explained that they are of no use and should not be used for scouring calves. Instead, I gave him some options around good fluid therapies and gelling agents. My advice to farmers is to stop using oral antibiotic tablets to treat viral and cryptosporidium scours.

Should I put in automatic milk feeders for calves?

Three different farmers asked me my opinion on this. Previous research has found that they are labour intensive. In my opinion, if you can afford them, they make complete financial sense, and from a calf health perspective, I love them. Yes, you feed more milk in the first eight weeks, but I personally think this is a good thing.

Where I have seen problems is when they are positioned or placed in the wrong area with poor drainage, as hygiene around them is critical. Don’t overload them with calves or have more than 25 calves per unit.

Why are my cows coughing when they were dosed twice in the last six weeks?

The most frequent question I encountered was around cows coughing. The thing that concerned me the most was the amount of Ivermectin dosing being used. It is now very cheap to buy and is potentially being over used as a result. Some cases sounded like lungworm, others more like viral or bacterial infections. In these cases I suggest lung washes to confirm lungworm and also look at viruses and bacteria.

Do you have any homemade remedies for keeping flies away from cattle?

Yes I have one and here it is: I use eucalyptus oil, about 25ml neat, on the back of female animals, combined with Stockholm tar on the udder. It can irritate at first, but does not burn the skin. However, if diluting, you will need polysorbate to get it to dissolve.

With that said, I’m also a strong advocate for fly spot-ons, as well as fly traps being put out in early June to slow down breeding.

What do we do with all these dairy calves in spring 2020?

A lot of farmers raised this issue, some who were looking for advice and some who are concerned about markets. The key thing is we have a challenge around the numbers of these calves and finding markets. My key message to farmers is that every calf counts. Mind each calf as well as the next while they are on your farm. Your business and our industry depends on it. Every farm should ensure capacity around housing, bedding and feeding for young calves next spring

This is a sample of the questions I got over the three days of Ploughing. For me, animal health could be a limiting factor on some farms over the next 10 years and we must push for prevention more than ever.