Youngstock.

Youngstock

Calf health investigations – from dry cow management all the way through to weaning and first service.

• Using the Wean Clean principles developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison we carry out calf lung ultrasound scoring to monitor pneumonia levels and to monitor treatment success.  

• Environment assessment and design – ventilation, humidity and temperature monitoring.

• Nutritional audit of milk feeding protocols. Looking into milk powder feeding levels and the weaning process onto hard feed. Are your calves clearing between 1-2Kg a head of high protein cake prior to weaning?

• As part of your annual herd health plan, we go into detail on the grazing plan for your youngstock. It’s all too easy to chuck heifers out and forget about them until the autumn but for them to calve down at 24 months and reach their 1st lactation potential we don’t want to see any growth checks during this period.

• With a drive to reduce anthelmintic use and to preserve soil health and fertility by protecting our dung beetle population we are trying to reduce our dependence on Ivermectin based wormers. Having a clear grazing plan is key to minimise wormer usage.

• Working alongside our Vet Tech we collate calf weights and colostrum bloods providing on going monitoring and early intervention surveillance.