Buchan Vets Strichen

20/11/2024

🪱🐴As well as having a diagnostic-led, targeted worming programme for your horse, and only worming when you need to, did you know that there are several other things you can do to help control the worm burden of your horse?

• Regularly ‘poo pick’ paddocks (ideally daily but at least twice a week)
• Don’t harrow pastures
• Don’t use horse manure as a fertiliser on horse paddocks
• Don’t overstock pastures (ideally two acres or more for each horse)
• Graze paddocks with other livestock (sheep or cattle)
• Sub-divide grazing areas into smaller paddocks and graze on a rotational basis
• Rest paddocks for 6 months or longer if possible

18/11/2024

🐴🪱🐴🪱🐴🪱
Give the correct dose! If the tapeworm test and risk assessment indicate that you need to worm your horse this winter, it’s important to give the correct dose according to their weight. Not giving enough can reduce how effective it is and may also aid resistance to the ingredients used in the wormer. You can estimate your horse’s weight by using a weigh tape or, for a more accurate measure, use a weigh bridge. If you need help estimating your horse’s weight, our vets are always happy to help.

15/11/2024

❄️🐴 Autumn/winter worming 🐴❄️

Autumn/winter worming advice is changing. Here’s what you need to do this autumn: 1. Carry out a tapeworm saliva test 2. Complete out a Worm Risk Assessment Your vet will then be able to tell you whether you need to worm your horse and if so, what wormer you need to use. Give us a call to request your test kit and risk assessment questionnaire. A tapeworm test and worm risk assessment is included with membership of our Horse Health Programme.

11/11/2024

🐴Worm Risk Assessment – what is it and what factors does it consider?
Knowing whether we need to worm our horses and when can be a minefield, but understanding your horse’s risk profile is a great place to start. A worm risk assessment enables you and your vet to gain a better understanding of your horse’s parasite risk profile (low/med/high) and will also help your vet to advise you on what you can do to help reduce your horse’s worm burden. Together with test results from faecal worm egg counts and tapeworm tests, a risk assessment can also help to identify if, when and with what wormer your horse needs to be treated.

A risk assessment looks at:
• Age of your horse
• Clinical/worming history & test results from worm egg counts and tapeworm tests • The number of horses grazing together
• Pasture management such as poo picking, co-grazing, rotation etc.
• How the herd is managed if your horse is kept with others Give us a call if you would like a Worm Risk Assessment carried out for your horse.

08/11/2024

🐴‼️Did you know you may not need to give your horse a routine dose of moxidectin wormer this winter?

Find out by requesting a worm risk assessment. Give us a call to find out more. OR Take the first step towards helping to combat wormer resistance in horses by requesting a worm risk assessment this autumn – if your horse is at low risk, you may not need to give your horse their routine winter worming treatment, which is better for your horse and better for your pocket!

04/11/2024

🔔 Calling all Horse Health Programme members!
Don’t forget to request your tapeworm saliva test kit this autumn and complete the Worm Risk Assessment questionnaire. Both are included with your membership! This will help our vets to provide advice as to whether your horse needs to be wormed and if so, with what type of wormer. The form can be downloaded from the Horse Health Programme website or requested from your vet. Kits are also available to purchase if you are not a member of the Horse Health Programme – or why not sign up? It’s super easy to join and only £15.99 per month with many other benefits and discounts included

01/11/2024

🐴🐴🐴🐴
Worming advice is changing! Resistance to the drugs used in wormers is a huge concern. If we don’t act NOW, we won’t be able to effectively treat our horses in the future. We all need to move to a risk-based, diagnostic-led approach to worming and only worm our horses when necessary.

28/10/2024

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We’ve added a brand-new benefit to our Horse Health Programme membership to help in the fight against resistance to the drugs used in wormers – an annual Worm Risk Assessment. If you are a member, you have everything you need to implement a gold standard diagnostic-led, risk-based approach to worming, which means you only need to worm your horse if test results and the risk assessment indicate it’s necessary.

Contact us for your HHP risk assessment questionnaire

25/10/2024

🐴🐴🐴🐴
Help in the fight against resistance to the drugs used in wormers! Only treat your horse when necessary. Give us a call to request a Tapeworm Saliva Test and Worm Risk Assessment this autumn.

22/10/2024

🐴 🐴🐴🐴
Resistance to the drugs used in wormers is a rapidly growing problem and worryingly, there are no new or alternative drugs on the horizon. We can all do our bit to help slow down the rate of resistance by only worming our horses when necessary and not as a matter of routine. We can do this by having a risk-based, diagnostic-led worming programme, which includes:
• Faecal worm egg counts
• Tapeworm saliva tests
• An annual worm risk assessment
There are also things we can do to help reduce our horse’s worm burden such as regular poo picking and good pasture management.
This autumn/winter, rather than giving a routine dose of wormer, give us a call to request a worm risk assessment and tapeworm test to find out if your horse actually needs to be treated

18/10/2024

🐮 🕰️ There is still time to fertility test your bulls for your autumn calvers. There are numerous causes of sub-fertility in bulls, so just because he worked last year doesn’t mean he will this year. Contact the practice to get booked in with one of the vets. 🕰️ 🐮

10/10/2024

***** BAD WEATHER - CLOSTRIDIAL DISEASE / BLACK LEG ALERT*****

We had a bit of a sad time this weekend with two cases of sudden deaths in prime cattle.
One case was a sudden death in an 8 month old suckler calf. The other was in an 18 month old store stirk.
Both animals were healthy, in excellent body condition and ready for sale. Both found dead in the field.
Diagnosis was made on farm by our vets at post mortem.

Black leg is one of the diseases caused by the bacteria Clostridium. This bacteria lives in the soil.
When conditions are right and the ground gets churned up, the bacteria can get into animals through small nicks and cuts in the skin.
If an infection is established highly poisonous endotoxin cause massive tissue damage and sudden death.
Even if you catch them in time treatment options are limited and usually unsuccessful. Young animals seem to be most susceptible.

The only option is to vaccinate using “Blackleg Vaccine or a multivalent vaccine such as “Bravoxin 10”.
Availability of these vaccines has been a bit up and down over the last few years (similar to Heptavac P Plus / Ovivac P Plus – the equivalent vaccines in sheep)
and many farms have had to suspend their vaccine programmes.

Please get in touch to have a chat with one of our vets for further information.

09/10/2024

🐴 HORSE HEALTH PROGRAMME UPDATE🐴

HHP Clients!

Resistance to wormers is growing and puts our horses at risk of diseases that we can no longer prevent or treat.
An annual worm risk assessment, together with regular faecal worm egg counts and a tapeworm test, are essential elements of your horse’s routine healthcare.
This way is the best course of action to avoid the development of anthelmintic resistant and also keep your horse healthy and protect them which is paramount.

Please contact the clinic on the details below, for a copy of the questionnaire and send back to us at your earliest convenience.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.

Kind regards

Buchan & Deveron Vets Equine Department
[email protected]
01771637219

04/10/2024

🐴 Weight loss 🐴

Do you struggle to maintain your horse at a healthy weight? Body condition scoring is the best way to check this and will give a good indication as to whether your horse needs to lose a few kilos.

What can you do if your horse needs to lose weight? Just like weight management in people there is no magic diet which will suit every horse and enable instant weight loss. Diet changes need to be made gradually. Although on the one hand you need to limit the amount your horse eats, all horses need to eat regularly in order for their digestive system to function normally. Here are a few tips:

· Aim to feed your horse no more than 1.5% of their body weight in feed and forage daily. For a 300kg pony this works out as 300 x 1.5% = 4.5kg. However, if you are currently feeding much more than this you will need to cut down gradually or you will be met with considerable resistance!

· Grazing muzzles can be used to reduce the amount your horse can eat. However, it is important to check your horse regularly to ensure the muzzle and horse are still together.

· Another key way to reduce the amount of grass your horse has access to is strip grazing. This can be done by using electric tape to reduce the area of field available for your horse to eat from. If possible, using the tape in the centre of the field to make a track around the outside can be better than traditional strip grazing as it encourages your horse to move around more.

· Unless your horse is doing a lot of work they don’t need any supplementary feed. However, with reduced grass intake your horse may have reduced nutrient intake. There are some balancers designed specifically for horses on a weight loss diet.

· Giving forage is important to maintain your horse's normal digestion and reduce gastric ulcers. However, many ponies and horses will gobble up their haynet as fast as you can fill it! Using a spring weight scale (these are often designed for weighing suitcases) can help you manage how much forage your horse is getting. Using small hole haynets or putting a second haynet on top of your filled haynet can also slow down your horse, meaning the forage will last a little longer.

· If you are feeding hay, soaking it overnight can reduce the sugar content.

03/10/2024

⌚️ Now is the time to test the fertility of your bulls before being put back to your autumn calving cows. Catch those sub-fertile bulls to avoid any nasty surprises at scanning time! Call the practice to get your bulls booked in 🐮

01/10/2024

Call our team to place your order for all your respiratory vaccine needs 🐮 🐮

30/09/2024

🐴 Weighing your horse 🐴

It’s important that we know the weight of our horse, not only to ensure that we give the correct dose of medicines and wormers, but also to monitor whether their weight is changing over time. This is particularly important in the spring and summer when the fresh grass can easily cause weight gain, which can lead to a number of health problems. Few of us have regular access to a weigh bridge for an accurate measurement of weight, so what can we do instead?
· Although not 100% accurate, weigh tapes can be a useful tool to monitor weight gain/loss over time if the same tape is used consistently and in the same way & position each time. Weigh tapes are readily available to purchase online or in your veterinary clinic, are relatively inexpensive and should be a tack room essential.
· Body condition scoring measures the amount of stored fat on a horse’s body. When used in conjunction with a weigh tape, this can provide a good indication of whether or not your horse is a healthy weight. Body Condition Scoring charts are available free of charge online or we can supply you with one on request.

Our vets are always happy to give advice on a suitable weight for your horse or pony and, of course, help you to put together an appropriate diet plan should they need to gain or lose a few pounds! Just give us a call.

19/09/2024