Cattle - Case studies: Vigilance and monitoring have helped to improve herd health and welfare
One of the Beef farms in the Farm Health Planning Project is Gattax Farm, near Redditch in Warwickshire. Here, beef farmer Richard Maundrell runs 100 spring-calving single suckler cows, mainly Blonde d’Aquitaine and Simmental crosses. All progeny are finished between 20 -26 months of age and sold deadweight.
XLVets’ Steve Borsberry from the 608 Vet Group in Solihull has been working together with Richard for a number of years, actively helping to improve herd health and welfare. He is keen to stress: “It’s all about health planning not health plans.We need to be vigilant and monitor the situation – and we also need to be able to react to the circumstances that present themselves.”
Closed herd
Richard built the herd up to its current number around nine years ago. So these days, apart from new bulls, it is a closed herd. However some of Richard’s land borders other livestock farms.
“When it comes to biosecurity, herds are only as clean as the closest neighbouring herd,” says Steve. “So as an insurance policy, all cattle are vaccinated against BVD and leptospirosis. We did see an improvement in fertility after this was first introduced. But whether to also vaccinate against IBR is still under consideration.”
Calf pneumonia is rarely a problem
A strategic worming programme is also in place for the youngstock, so calves do not need vaccinating against lungworm. However, Richard keeps a careful look-out for any calves that start coughing late in the season. Nor are calves vaccinated against pneumonia, Richard has buildings with good ventilation and, again, a watchful eye means it is rarely a problem.
Whilst herd health is well under control in a number of areas, there’s still scope to improve things further. By paying attention to detail, further improvements in health and management could be made which would ultimately result in improved profitability.
Focussing on the calving pattern
One key area to focus on now is the calving pattern. Over time, the calving period has extended to the point that some calves are born in the autumn. As a benchmark – just looking at the last two years of farm production figures – 80 calves had been born by April last year, but this year it has fallen to 75.
The resultant wide age range means that not all calves can be weaned at the same time. Eighteen months later this complicates calf selection for slaughter. In the short term, it means dams still suckling calves once indoors will require extra feed.
Dealing with pregnancies in young heifers
More seriously, and aside from the management hassles, the extended calving period has resulted in pregnancies occurring in very young heifers. This is not only potentially detrimental to their health and welfare, but requires additional veterinary intervention and treatment.
“Richard’s herd is not alone in having a problem with the stock bull getting both the cows and their young heifer calves in-calf. It stems from an earlier onset of puberty in heifers, thanks to breeding and hybrid vigour and the fact that the extended calving period means 5-month old calves are coming into season whilst in the same field as a bull.”
Three years ago this resulted in one calving death as the pregnancy was unknown and not monitored, plus Steve had to perform Caesareans on several other young heifers. So in the winter of 2005/6 all calves of 4-10 months of age were given an injection of prostaglandin to abort any possible embryos. Last winter, as an alternative, Steve PDed checked all the calves, found one pregnancy and aborted it.
So what exactly is the best solution, for both herd health and farm profitability? A tighter calving pattern, so that the stock bull can be removed from the herd before heifers reach puberty? What would this cost? How easy would it be to achieve?
Richard admits it’s the older cows in the herd that have slipped to autumn calving – should they be culled? Or let slip for 6 months to bring them back into spring calving pattern? And what’s the cost of doing this?
Stock bulls
Richard has three stock bulls – two Blondes and a Charolais - deliberately bought off-farm rather than through a sale. Richard explains:“We were able to assess these bulls under genuine farm conditions, especially their temperament. This is important for the health and safety of both humans and the animals themselves.”
Keeping Johne’s disease out
Steve adds:“Richard also knows the farms that these animals have come from and knows there is a good track record of health. This is especially important in keeping Johne’s disease out of his herd, because you can’t test whether an animal is infected or not. You may only find out three or four years later when the animal becomes ill and dies. But by then it will have been in contact with the whole herd spreading the disease.”
As part of the ongoing commitment to biosecurity, both bulls were vaccinated for leptospirosis and BVD on arrival at Gattax Farm.
Feeding the calves
Richard’s system is relatively extensive – calves are kept on the dams for the first summer, then in the winter, weaned and fed indoors and onto a store ration of grass and maize silage only. After a second summer of grazing, steers are finished on a maize silage based ration, and heifers on a maize/grass silage-based ration.
The body condition of cows is assessed at weaning in October/November. They are split into two groups, and silage is fed accordingly to bring them into the right fitness by Christmas. “I don’t want to be having to feed them up in late pregnancy as it only results in difficult calvings and large calves - which can be a bit dopey,” says Richard.
Richard takes a first cut of silage from 100 acres of his grassland and, along with 32 acres of maize, this is sufficient forage to feed his cattle through the winter. Providing the forthcoming maize harvest is successful, the bad summer weather should not have affected his feed plans. However, some livestock farmers may not be so fortunate this year.
Page last modified:
September 10, 2007
Page published:
September 10, 2007