Did you know dungbeetles are active all year round?
This video was taken this week!
Activity does reduce in the winter but does continue all year, this makes it important to provide habitat for them all year round, i.e. having some animals outside, even if this is just a couple of bulls!
Tup Testing Reminder 🐑
With 16% of tups tested being subfertile, testing is an important management tool to ensure all tups are fertile and working as they should be.
Testing Tups involves a physical examination focusing on the 5 T's (tone, teeth, toes, testicles and treat) and then semen evaluation looking at gross and progressive motility.
The video shows a 5/5 gross motility, it should look like a pint of guiness settling!
To get your tups booked in for testing please give the practice a call
Rock Salt is an important supplement year round as Northumberland is generally low in salt. It also helps with magnesium uptake so supplementation is required to prevent staggers 🐑🐮
Case of the Week 🐮
It has been a busy few weeks for the bull testing kit, the video attached was taken by Jenny when she was out last week!
Last year 18% of bulls tested by Black sheep failed their examination, can you afford not to test?
Please give us a call go get booked in or have a discussion with one of the vets
Case of the week 🐮
Amongst other jobs, Kaz was out freeze branding earlier this week. Freeze branding is used widely for beef cattle in America and Australasia, as well as for the British dairy herd.
Freeze brands are easily read from a distance, and provide an insurance against tags falling out. Cattle can be freeze branded as adults or when selecting replacement heifers to join the breeding herd.
Cattle with thick coats can still be freeze branded – for best effect the brand can simply be clipped before calving to aid identification. The position of the brand can be tailored to how the cattle are kept. If housed loosely or calved at grass, a brand on the side of the thigh may be best while for cattle kept tighter or frequently run through races, a higher brand may be more appropriate.
