Portland House Farm Animal Vets

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Portland House Farm Animal Vets

A dedicated team of farm animal vets providing the highest standard of care for our clients.
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29/06/2024

**Summer Newsletter** 🐄 🐑

20/06/2024

Portland House are all set for day 2 at the Lincolnshire show🐄
Make sure to head down to have a chat!

19/06/2024

We are all set up at the show, so please pop by and have a chat with a refreshment. We are next to JCB. 🐄 🐑

13/06/2024

Make sure to let us know if you’re attending our next farmer’s meeting so we can get your pies ordered🍽️

09/05/2024

Get yourselves signed up for our next farmer’s meeting🐏

12/04/2024

*Arlington way overnight closures*

The A638 Arlington way will be closed from 22nd April-6th May from 20:00-06:00. This will mean there will not be access from chapel gate onto Churchgate.
To access the practice please drive down Amcott way west and enter the Churchgate car park and then through to the practice. This is a one way system so to leave the practice you will have to drive down Churchgate then Chapelgate then ask the wardens on the A638 to let you through.
For clients coming to the practice with trailers over 2m please go to the home bargains car park and we will see the animal in the trailer, as you will not be able to get through the churchgate car park.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

30/03/2024

*April visit fees changes* 🐣 🐰

15/03/2024

Great to see a good turn out at last night's BVD talk.
Please give the practice a call if you would like to take advantage of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway to test your cattle for BVD.

08/03/2024

🐑 Subsidised Aborted or Barren Ewe Screening Available 🐑
MSD are once again partially funding blood testing for Enzootic Abortion in Ewes and Toxoplasma. For just £35 + VAT we can blood sample 6-8 unvaccinated aborted or barren ewes that are brought into the practice/Vet Drugs To Go for testing.

For more information or to book please contact the office (01777 703663).

08/02/2024

**Farmer’s BVD meeting** 🐄 🐮

Please join us for an evening discussing BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea) with Boehringer.
Pie and chip dinner supplied!! 🥧 🍟

Please see flyer below for further details.

08/02/2024

🐑Lambing Meeting🐑

Thanks to all that attended our lambing meeting last month! On of our vets, Juliet, lead a seminar on preparations to be done prior to lambing, some common conditions seen and various ways lambs can get stuck during labour. We then had a pracitcal demonstration with our lambing simulator to get some lambs out of some sticky situations!
Farmers of all ranges of experience attended and all learnt something.

Ensure to keep up to date with our newsletter to hear about future meetings🐑🐄🐷

22/12/2023

Our quarterly farm newsletter is now ready

19/12/2023

Please see our Christmas opening hours below🎄

19/12/2023

*LAMBING MEETING*

Join us for our first lambing meeting on 26th of January 2024 at 12:30pm!
We will be looking at the following topics;
- Lambing shed preparation
- Colostrum management
- Common procedures
- Dystocia (difficulty during birth) management and practical!

The cost of the course will be £30 and light refreshments will be provided🎂

We only have a limited number of 10 spaces so please contact the office to let us know if you want to sign up! 🐑

07/12/2023

🐑⭐️Lambing Club 2024⭐️🐑

With the shortest day only a couple of weeks away we're starting to look ahead to lambing time. Our annual Lambing Club will be returning for its 18th year from 1st January 2024. For Lambing Club members all lambings, caesareans and prolapses seen at the practice will be at a heavily discounted price.

For more information or to sign up please speak to one of the farm vets.

07/11/2023

*New Vet Attestation Forms*
From 13th December it will be a requirement that all animals going to market and direct to slaughter have a valid health attestation from the vets. This is to comply with new EU law to allow for products of animal origin to be exported to the EU as some part of all slaughtered animals will be exported.

For Red Tractor Assured farms you provide your membership number as you already have an annual visit to discuss health and biosecurity as part of the assurance.

For non Red Tractor Assured farms you will need a form filled in by a vet to get a unique number which will then be valid for a year. This will involve a visit to look at the stock and discuss health and biosecurity. The Government Health and Welfare Review visits will cover the vet attestation. Please contact the practice to organise this in advance of the December deadline.

24/10/2023

*Mineral’s Meeting*

Come and join us for an evening talk from Agrimin discussing Cattle and Sheep minerals. Pie and chip dinner will also be provided. 🥧 🐄 🐑

Contact the practice via Email or Telephone to reserve your spot and food. Further details below!

12/10/2023

Our Autumn Newsletter

29/09/2023

Great to see a good turn out yesterday afternoon for the TB discussion yesterday.
We have vets trained to do the FREE TB advise visits where we spend a couple of hours walking around farm with you and discussing where your biggest risks are and what you could do about it.

Give us a call at the practice to organise your visit.

07/09/2023

Join us at our next Farmers meeting where we will be joined by Sarah Tomlinson from TBAS/Kingshay and Daisy Haigh from the NFU to discuss all things bovine TB.

06/09/2023

***Farm Prescriptions***

As of 1st September 2023 the rules and regulations on how we prescribe drugs across all species have tightened up. Whilst this mostly affects how we prescribe small animal medications, it does give us a good opportunity to improve prescribing relations between vets and farmers.
We have previously required at least an annual visit before prescribing, however we should be going further and have more detailed health and preventative plan in place to ensure we have a good working knowledge of your farm and can provide the best possible advice to you. For many of you this will already be the case but for those of you who have less regular vet visits or require something off license we may require more information, and possibly a visit, before prescribing through Vet Drugs to Go/Vermuyden or via Retford.

This is also a good opportunity to remind everyone about the free Animal Health and Welfare Pathway visits available which funds a visit, plus either BVD or worm Faecal Egg testing, to discuss health and welfare on farm.

18/08/2023

Meeting details for the rearranged sheep meeting, please contact the practice to book your place.

We will also have some exiting news to announce at the meeting....watch this space!

08/08/2023

🐑 Change of date for the sheep meeting🐑

Due to the sun finally coming out and everyone now being super busy on the combines we have decided to postpone the sheep meeting this Thursday to Thursday 5th September. New meeting details to follow in due course.

03/08/2023

We're proudly supporting Here are some of our vets out and about on their visits and at home 🐑🐄

31/07/2023

** Post Movement TB Testing Reminder **

A reminder to farms in the annual TB testing parts of the Edge Area that all cattle arriving on from 1st August must be TB tested 60-120 days after arrival if they have been purchased from either the High Risk area, the 6 monthly testing Edge area or Wales and you cannot move those animals off farm to another holding until they have been tested, although some exceptions do apply.

You need to organise the test privately, as you would do for pre movements, but a statutory test can count if the timings work. A reminder letter will be sent by APHA initially before being phased out.

There are some exemptions to requirements, please check the APHA website for more details if you think these might apply.

27/07/2023

⭐️ More Accurate In House FECs⭐️

We've been excitedly waiting to get this new piece of kit for our lab and its finally up and running 🤩

Our new worm egg counting machine gives us more accurate worm egg counts than we'd get from even sending it away to the lab and in less than 15 minutes! Its counts down to

21/07/2023

STUDY SEEKS UK FARMERS’ FEEDBACK ON IMPACTS OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS

The Farming Community Network (FCN) is carrying out new research into the impacts of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) on UK farmers' health and wellbeing.

The survey is expected to take only 10 minutes to fill out and the results will help FCN understand how farmers and farm families perceive the threat of bTB and help them support those at risk or affected by a TB breakdown.

The survey will be available to complete until mid-August and is available via the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3HG5YFG

Please take 10 minutes to complete this survey and help support FCN.

For more information please follow this link:
Farming Community Network (fcn.org.uk)

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

18/07/2023

Thank you to everyone who made it down to our Beef Fertility meeting today!
Run by CEVA, this talk looked at some of the key factors that influence a beef herd’s fertility and some of the strategies and tools available to help improve it🐄
At Portland House we offer; Bull fertility assessments, synchronisation protocols and routine fertility visits to ensure you’re getting the most out of your herd💪🏻
If you’re interested in maximising your fertility on farm be sure to give us a ring or book in for a visit to discuss further!

18/07/2023

We have a busy schedule of Farmers meetings this summer and into the autumn. Please give the office a call or email us to book your place. We're also keen to hear your suggestions for future topics.

29/06/2023

We’re excited to be relaunching our farmer’s meetings! Our first one will be regarding Beef fertility, please see details below🐄

Address

53 Churchgate, Retford, Notts
East Retford
DN226PA

Telephone

+441777703663

Website

http://portlandhousevetgroup.co.uk/

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Videos

Did you know that a common ingredient of slug baits is metaldehyde, which is highly toxic to ruminants? It's sometimes combined with molasses which enhances its palatability. Slug pellets should never be used near where cattle are grazing and care should also be taken if re-using the tubs the pellets came in, as trace elements may remain. Signs of slug bait ingestion include excess salivation, anxiety, tremors and an unsteady gait which can lead to convulsions. Ingestion can be fatal, so call your vet immediately if you observe any of these signs in cattle.

Day-to-day life can be stressful and tiring, especially for farmers! We thought we'd share a little joke with you to brighten your day... Why do cows have hooves instead of feet? Because they lactose!

We all know there's little to no rest for our farmers, that being said, we hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and have an enjoyable and, dare we say relaxing, Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas from all of us, to all of you!

Did you know, the average lameness case costs £2.20 per day the cow is lame? (from Willshire and Bell, 2009). We recommend regularly mobility scoring all animals which will enable you to catch early signs of lameness, and act quickly to prevent deterioration. Based on a 0-3 scale, the scoring works as follows: 0 - Good Mobility, no lameness. 1 - Imperfect Mobility, Mild lameness but limb not identifiable. 2 - Impared Mobility, A cow with lameness and the limb CAN be identified. 3 - Severly Impared Mobility, a cow with identified lameness which is slower than the herd. 0-1 is deemed as acceptable mobility, a score of 2 would suggest the animal would beneft from treatment and a score of 3 should be treated as a matter of urgency. If you're concerned about any lameness in your animals, speak to your vet to discuss treatment options.

Calf diarrhoea is a greater problem in housed cattle compared to those being born outside. Vaccination against some of the major causes of scour can be given in the period prior to calving, which causes the dam to produce antibodies. These antibodies, provided in the colostrum, help protect the calf from developing disease. The timing of vaccination of the dam will depend on when cows or heifers will be expected to calve and the type of vaccine being used. It is good practice to have the herd pregnancy diagnosed. For the scour vaccine to be effective the calf needs to absorb sufficient antibodies from the colostrum. The general guide is that the calf should receive 10% of bodyweight as colostrum within six hours of birth. In subsequent days, although the antibodies are not being absorbed, there is still some protection to the gut against pathogens such as E.coli K99, Rotavirus and Coronavirus. speak to us to know more about calf scour and vaccinating against it.

There are many different bacteria and viruses which can cause calf pneumonia. For the spring calving suckler herd, the greatest risk of pneumonia is post weaning and at housing. The timing of weaning and housing is affected by the age of the calf and body condition score of the cow. Calving early in the spring allows calves to be weaned and vaccinated in advance of housing. All vaccines need a period of time between administering the product and antibodies developing. Other factors to consider are whether the vaccine requires one or two doses before full immunity is provided. The number of vaccines required can depend on the age of the calves being vaccinated. If you would like more information on calf pneumonia or vaccinatons, call the practice or speak with your vet.

What you should do if you suspect OPA in your flock. If you have animals that you suspect are suffering from OPA, you should isolate them from the flock and contact us immediately. We would always recommend a post mortem examination of the lungs in order to confirm the diagnosis. OPA doesn’t seem to be picky when it comes to breeds. There is no strong evidence that any breed is more, or less, susceptible. OPA is commonly introduced into new flocks through the purchase of apparently healthy animals that are carrying the virus. Tests to detect OPA in sheep, before they develop clinical signs of OPA, are a focus of ongoing research. Ultrasound scanning can identify early OPA in sheep before any signs of disease begin to show and whilst the animal is still of some cull value. Unfortunately, ultrasound doesn’t give a definitive negative result for individual animals. Although OPA was first described almost 200 years ago, methods for controlling the disease are limited. In recent years, great progress has been made in understanding how the virus triggers the growth of the cancer in the lung and research is advancing in the area of early detection. If you have any questions or have concerns that you may have OPA in your flock, give us a call.

Do you score the cleanliness of your cows? We appreciate keeping cows spotless is quite the task, but there are reasons why trying to keep them as clean as possible is advantageous. It reduces the risk of lameness, dermatitis, mastitis and poor milk quality. Areas to pay particular attention to are flank and tail, hind legs, udder and hooves. Implementing systems such as foot baths, scratching posts and udder cleaning will help to increase the cows cleanliness and allow you to spot any problems quickly. Speak to your vet for more information and advice.

Don't forget, the clock go back tonight... Which means normal folk will get a lie in but we'll see you farmers up bright and early!

The fertility of your dairy cows can have a big impact on the success of your farm. What if returns to oestrus was delayed by 22 days, and there was a 50% reduction in getting pregnant from the first AI? All are consequences of ketosis! Ask your vets for a review today.

Did you know, there are many more clinical signs for Sheep Scab than simply itching? See a list of signs below and contact your vet if you're concerned about your flock.

We're talking all things colostrum hygiene, starting with how to collect colostrum correctly! If you have any concerns or would like any advice, call your vet today!

Heading into Autumn means cases of Sheep Scab could begin to rise. If you suspect any of your sheep may be suffering, contact our vets today and we'll be happy to help!

There are various treatment methods for Mastitis which you can discuss with your vet anytime! Call us today if you think you may need treatment on your farm.

You'll hear us say it time and time again: prevention is better than cure! To finish our series of information on IBR, we highlight the importance of vaccinating, regularly testing animals for disease and a quick reminder that quarantining new animals is extremely important! Give us a call today if you would like more information or if you suspect your herd may be vulnerable to IBR.

Next in our series of information about IBR is treatment, and whilst there is no specific treatment, there are many ways in which your vet can help. Of course if you have any concerns or would like any further information on IBR, please call the practice!

Did you know that certain fields can create a higher risk for cows contracting Mastitis? If your fields have ponds or are close to large bodies of water then your cattle may more susceptible. Speak to your vet today if you have any concerns about Mastitis in your herd.

We started talking about Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis last week, but do you know the symptoms of this disease? If you're concerned about your cattle at all, don't hesitate to contact your vet.

IBR - Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis. Keep an eye out for more information on this disease, but for now, here's a quick introduction. If you'd like more information on IBR, speak to your vet who will be more than happy to help!