Farm Assurance And Herd Health Flashcards
What is herd health
> herd health
- vets providing planned animal health and production management services to herds and flocks
- whole herd approach to vet care
- 1* objective Maintainance of animal production at most efficient level providing economic returns to animal owner
Most common disease affecting herd health?
- mastitis
- lameness
- fertility
- dystocia
- milk fever
- staggers
What is recorded on NMR
- milk quality data
- bulk milk SCC
- individual cow SCC
- individual cow milk yield, fat, protein
> once a month, interherd, samples collected uniform way analysed by central labs so can compare between farms
What do milk buyers look at?
- bulk milk SCC, components, bactoscan
- done at different labs using fresh milk so may not be same as NMR data
Most sensitive way of testing BSE
- PME
- slaughterhouse
What must be remembered when looking at data systems and outcomes
If you do not record a disease the incidence will be zero - if you aren’t looking for it specifically
Aim and current average mastitis and lameness numbers?
> mastitis - aim less 30/100/year - current average 40% > lameness - aim less 17/100/year - current average 25%
Give egs. of assured farm standards
- assured dairy farms
- assure British meat
- assured British pigs
- assured chicken production
- assured production
- assured combinable crops scheme
- farm assured Welsh livestock
- Northern Ireland farm quality assurance scheme
- quality meat Scotland
- Genesis quality assurance
> other scheme s - RSPCA freedom food s
- organic farms (soil association etc.)
Outline dairy co mobility scoring
0 OK
1 stiff, preventative foot care needed
2 lame, need Tx, find cause before Tx, as soon as practically possible
3 very lame, urgent attention, nursing, don’t walk far, soft bed, cull
> should not transport lame cows so shouldn’t be slaughtered technically, likely farmers to risk it anyway
What do farm assurance schemes assure?
- quality of product
- safety of product
- standard of husbandry on farm
- animal looked after : welfare
- environmental issues
- ethical payment staff etc
Outline feed and water standards for assurance schemes
- prescribes feed space (60-70cm)
- either have feed plan or regularly BCS
- 0-60 days after calving, 100d before and at dry off
- www.dairyco.org.uk for scoring system
- all cows or proportion of herd
How is animal health and welfare assured
- livestock health plan established and implemented new addition
- records of health and performance (kept, reviewed annually by a vet)
> cf. herd health planning visits q3/4w
Is the livestock health plan a useful document?
“Quite static doorstopper kinda document”
What does this even mean ..?
- must be accessible to ALL staff
- dairy, beef and sheep should be separate (though 50% beef in UK from lame diary cows)
What has to be recorded wrt health and performance?
> min - lameness - mastitis - mortality records - culling records and reasons for cull (excl mortality and TB) - medicine records (farmers rsponsibility not vets) - abattoir feedback > collate data on - lameness - mastitis - culling rate and reason - involuntary culls (exc TB) - calf mortality (0-24hrs d/t neospora, iodine deficiency etc; 1-42d d/t pneumonia, D+) > NOT NECESSARILY ACTED ON (yet)
What occours in the vet visit?
- review records and data
- inspect livestock
- identify key issues and advice to improve on these issues
- review medicine and abx purchase and use
