Projects, Research and Talks

NADIS - Central England Health Planning Project

National Animal Disease Information Service was formed over 10yrs ago to monitor diseases in cattle, sheep and pigs. It currently consists of 54 vet practices and 6 UK Veterinary Colleges.

We are heading up the Central England Group of Veterinary Practices involved in the NADIS Cattle Health Initiative. We are currently collecting herd information from all our cattle clients with regards to disease status, which is kept confidential. The data will be used to allow us to compare disease status across the all herds in our area and nationally, allowing us to monitor levels of disease and better plan individual farms herd health plans.

In addition as part of the DEFRA funded scheme we are undertaking Farm Health Planning Projects on 10 farms in East Anglia; 6 Beef farms and 4 Dairies. Each farm is undertaking a DEFRA funded Farm Health Planning project in an attempt to improve the health and welfare of the stock on their unit and hence the productivity and profitability of the farm.

Dairies involved:
J.F. Temple & Son who are focusing on the cost and benefits of rubber matting and routine foot trimming in an attempt to reduce lameness
F.S. Dann & Son who are concentrating on data entry for record keeping and herd management in an attempt to improve herd management on a day to day basis
Pointen Bros. who have previously not had routine fertility visits – showing the benefits of knowing fertility status of the cows and reducing calving index.
J.S. Heaton who have introduced routine fertility visits as an aid to reduce calving intervals and improve yield.

Beef Farmers involved:
Beckhithe Farms Ltd who have introduced routine bull fertility analysis in an attempt to maximise pregnancy rates on their 1000 cow suckler unit
Paul Dunthorne who has introduced routine fertility analysis on his 600+ cow suckler unit in an attempt to look at the cost and benefits of removing barren cows rather than maintaining them on farm over the winter at cost to the farm
West Newton Farm. They have never previously had a health plan for the farm. Introducing the benefits of active health planning with a focus on calf pneumonia.
Grove Farm Partnership who are looking at the cost benefits of improving the genetics of their herd using artificial insemination in an attempt to get the perfect store animal.
Foulden Latimer Estates Ltd who have introduced detailed month to month herd management with ourselves in an attempt to improve overall profitability of the unit.
Erpingham House Farm who are doing two randomised trials; they are trialling Rotavec Corona vaccine in a group of cows to see if this reduces the incidence of scours on farm and they are trialling Rispoval Intranasal in a group of calves to see whether this improves growth rates in these animals.

We held a quiz a last year at the Norfolk Show to introduce the concept of Farm Health Planning and in the spring we are planning to hold 2 open meetings, 1 dairy and 1 beef, for all farmers in East Anglia to allow the farms to talk about the projects they have been involved in and whether they feel they have benefited their farming enterprise by increasing productivity and profits.

Norfolk and Suffolk BVD Eradication Scheme

There has been much discussion over BVD recently. This endemic viral disease of cattle is common in the UK and causes significant losses. Herds with BVD suffer infertility and reproductive disorders. Their health is poor, with problems as pneumonia and scour. Severe disease such as mucosal disease is not uncommon. The disease may be insidious and protracted; you get used to living with the problem in the herd, to the point where you don’t realise how badly it affects you until it is gone.

Norfolk and Suffolk have been chosen to lead a pioneering new project to eradicate BVD Virus. The scheme, set up by Prof. Joe Browlie of the Royal Veterinary College, will hopefully be the start of future plans to eradicate this disease nationwide.

The programme involves screening for the presence of disease within herds, and then setting up bespoke practical biosecurity and control programmes in the form of a health plan for BVD. The programme can be tailored to any farm and any situation. Where total biosecurity cannot be achieved by such measures as preventing contact with other stock, vaccination may provide an alternative.

There is a £30 membership fee for the scheme, we then come and take the appropriate samples which are sent to the Scottish Agricultural College where the testing is partly subsidized. The aim is obviously to attain BVD Free Status and all the advantages that come with this; increased health and production and increased value of stock for sale. We have already enrolled a large number of farms on the scheme and are hoping that this proportion will grow. Please get in touch for more details.

Talks & Presentations

We run a number of talks and courses along with regular farmer meetings. These have covered a broad spectrum of topics and species and have included; the benefits of pregnancy diagnosis, worm control strategies, practical kidding and goat health, animal handling for stock on wetlands, prescriptions – are they worth the hassle? and safe injection techniques. We run the regular farmer meetings as a practice but have also given talks and courses for the North Norfolk Livestock Club and The Training Association. Talks planned for the future are always advertised on our newsletter so keep your eye out.