This week I conducted an annual herd health plan review with vets at Faxbridge veterinary clinic Clonakilty. This is the fourth one completed since 2013. Each year the visit gets shorter as its a review of the previous years plan and anything new that cropped up.

Make an appointment with your vet as a separate call. One of the most important things to do when completing it is get off the farm or at the very least get away from the farmyard. Go to the vets office or your own kitchen to complete it. This removes distractions that could occur if the plan was to be devised in conjunction with a call to a sick animal.

We began by going through any standout health issues from 2015. Two calves had died. One with a liver issue and the other due to pneumonia on a very exposed hill when strong northerly winds hit and shelter was scarce. Rumen fluke affected animals on a wetter out farm again in the autumn and we went through various options in regards to dealing with this. A completely different liver and rumen fluke treatment plan is used for the different land blocks.

The plan for 2016 also includes more use of dung samples in an effort to reduce the amount of wormers used. The vet said that "There is resistance to wormers as it is and this is occurring because a lot of wormers are used when not needed. You're better off to take a dung sample and do a worm egg count prior to worming"

It is now routine here to do an annual blood analysis. This began independently of the heath plan but now forms a core part of it. Three animals from the home block and three that were on the rented ground had blood samples taken in early December when they were all back in one yard. They were randomly picked, in this case the first three out the door from each group. This is done to check for any mineral issues mainly and also for any signs of damage on their livers. Iodine levels were normal as were most other minerals. Magnesium levels were on the lower scale of normal so this is an area that is being addressed with precalving minerals. A run through of the vaccination program was also looked at. It was decided that as leptospirosis was not an issue the vaccine would not be introduced. The advice on BVD was to continue until the disease was eradicated nationally.

Health plans are an advantage to both farmer and vet as they reduce emergency cases and workload especially in spring at calving time.

Listen below as Cork-based Irish Farmers Journal contributor Tommy Moyles goes through his herd health plan with his vet: