Parkside Vets - Farms and Smallholders

31/10/2025

🎃 Happy Halloween from your vet team

Why did the sheep cross the field on Halloween night?
To escape the ghostly baa-ing from the old barn…"

🎃 Stay safe out there — even the flock’s feeling spooky tonight!

28/10/2025

🐄 Winter Housing = Prime Time for Parasite Control 🐛

As cattle head indoors for winter, it’s the ideal time to tackle parasites. Housing offers a strategic window to treat for:

✅ Worms
✅ Liver fluke
✅ Lice and mites

With animals off pasture, the risk of re-infection drops — giving treatments a better chance to work and helping reduce the overall parasite burden in your herd.

💪 The benefits? Improved growth, better feed efficiency, and stronger herd health heading into spring.

🔬 REMEMBER: test before you treat. Faecal egg counts and fluke tests help ensure you're using the right product at the right time — and help protect against resistance.

28/10/2025

24/10/2025

**⚠️ Acorn Alert: Protect Your Livestock This Autumn 🍂🐑🐄**

Acorns may seem harmless, but they can be *highly toxic* to sheep, cattle, goats, and even alpacas — especially during a mast year like this one.

**Why the risk is high now**
🌳 Oak trees are dropping large numbers of acorns
🌬️ Stormy weather brings them down fast
🌾 Sparse grazing = hungry stock more likely to nibble

**What to watch for:**
- Sudden deaths in the field
- Dullness, loss of appetite
- Constipation followed by black or bloody diarrhoea
- Excessive thirst, urination, or signs of kidney failure

**Prevention tips:**
✅ Fence off oak trees where possible
✅ Check pastures daily for fallen acorns
✅ Offer extra forage to reduce temptation
✅ Act fast — early vet intervention is critical

Treatment is limited once damage is done. If you suspect acorn poisoning, call your vet immediately 01382 811111. ❗

22/10/2025

21/10/2025

🚜 New Breeding Bulls & Rams? Quarantine First! 🐂🐏
Bringing new stock home is exciting — but don’t skip the quarantine.
✅ Keep separate for 3–4 weeks
✅ Test & treat for key diseases and parasites
✅ Disinfect trailers & gear
✅ Check feet, teeth, testicles & body condition
✅ Match feeding to avoid digestive upset
Quarantine protects your herd and your investment. Need help with a plan? Get in touch! Phone 01382 811111

20/10/2025

Our experienced team of large animal vets are available 24/7, 365 days per year, meaning that whenever you might need us, you will always see a familiar face who is experienced in dealing with cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas and much more!

We can always be reached on 01382 811111 - during out-of-hours your call will be passed to a call handling service who will contact the on-call vet on your behalf.

17/10/2025

🐮 CALF PNEUMONIA 🐮

As we head towards the colder months, it is definitely time to consider measures that can be put into place to reduce the risk of calf pneumonia - which can cause significant losses and disease within a herd.

Prevention strategies include:
🐮 Vaccinations targeting specific viruses and bacteria which commonly cause pneumonia including IBR, BRSV, Pasteurella and PI3 (the vaccination recommendations are farm-specific)
🐮 Improving ventilation and airflow within housing spaces
🐮 Avoiding mixing calves of different ages
🐮 Minimising stress
🐮 Isolating any sick animals immediately to reduce the risk of spread to the rest of the group

Common signs of pneumonia to look out for:
🐂 High temperature of over 39.5°C
🐃 Nasal discharge
🐂 Coughing
🐃 Dullness, inappetence, separation from the group
🐂 Increased breathing rate
🐃 Increased breathing effort

If you would like to discuss prevention strategies for your farm, please contact our team on 01382 811111.

07/10/2025

"A horn too close, a risky bend,
So we gave this lad a careful mend.
Now he’s lopsided, yes it’s true,
But he sees the world in a clearer view! "🐑👀

This handsome Valais Blacknose had a horn growing at an awkward angle, pressing close to his eye and putting it at risk. After a careful trim, he’s now a little lopsided — but he can see much more clearly, and his eye is safe from harm.

03/10/2025

Case Spotlight – Hernia Repair

Back in April two of our vets, Nicola and Andrea, performed a hernia repair on this wee calf. His owner had noticed a large swelling at his navel, on palpation it was not found to be hard like navel ill but rather it seemed to disappear! Umbilical hernias can vary in size and severity but do carry risks of complications if left untreated – the main one being parts of the gut coming through the hernia and their blood supply becoming compromised, this is obviously very serious for the animal and could be fatal.

The surgery was performed on farm, using intravenous medications to provide anaesthesia and pain relief, with antibiotics given for a few days post-op to reduce the risk of infection. The hernia defect was repaired in a sterile manner. Within minutes of finishing the surgery the wee man was up on his feet posing for a photo, a couple weeks later was able to be put out to the hill and to this day is doing well. We got a photo update in August and pleased to report he’s doing well!

30/09/2025

Pneumonia

With the nights drawing in and summer saying farewell, it’s getting to that time of year again where we must start looking forward to housing and the trouble that can come with it! Pneumonia is a major issue in youngstock, both from a welfare/health point of view but also economically. With subclinical cases causing more losses than you might realise, and permanent damage causing lasting effects, pneumonia is definitely something worth trying to prevent!

Vaccinations can play a huge role in this – there are lots of different options so give us a call and we can chat through what might be most useful for your individual herd. Remember we want to vaccinate before periods of stress, so the immune system is primed and ready.

That being said, it is essential we don’t try to use vaccines as an alternative to good husbandry practices – the vaccines can only do so much! Good ventilation, minimising stress, ensuring clean dry housing, good colostrum management, reduced mixing of different groups, all go a long way in managing this multifactorial disease.

As always, our dedicated team of large animal vets are here to help, so please give us a call on 01382 811111 if you have any questions!

15/09/2025

CPD Adventures for Shannon!

Last week, Shannon—one of large animal vets—headed down to Birmingham for some Continued Professional Development (CPD).

As part of the RCVS requirements, vets must complete at least 35 hours of CPD each year to keep their skills sharp and their knowledge up to date.

While there, Shannon encountered a couple of rather unusual coos… not quite the kind she’s used to seeing around our Parkside clients 👀🐮

We’re proud of our team’s commitment to lifelong learning and delivering the best care to all creatures—great and small.