Cliffe Farm Vets

07/11/2024

🪱UPCOMING WORM EGG COUNT TRAINING COURSE 🪱
📆 Friday 29th November
📍Cliffe Farm Vets, Laughton
🥪 Lunch provided
Spaces are limited - please call the office to book yours now ☎️

04/11/2024

Reminder to follow the below link to sign up to our upcoming talk! 🐑

Joins us for a great evening learning more about grading beef and lamb carcases and common reasons for rejection. See you there!

21/10/2024

Just a reminder that we are changing systems over the next few days and would appreciate your patience with the move.

📣 Announcement 📣

Next week we will be having a new computer system installed at the Practice. This means from Monday to Wednesday we will have limited access to our records and computer systems. We will be open for emergencies and will be available for collections of medications. We would advise that if you have any large medicine orders that you place them this week to allow us to order and process them ahead of the changeover.

Should you need us during this period please call us as normal on 01273 473232 (opt 2) ☎️. We kindly ask that you allow us extra time to deal with your requests during these days.

From Thursday 24th October it will be back to normal, however we ask for your patience while we learn and navigate the new system.

Thankyou.

16/10/2024

* Our phone lines are back up and working *

☎️ Phone Lines ☎️

We are currently struggling with our Internet and phone connection.

If you have any emergency please either contact your routine vet, or press option 1 for small animal. For any routine phone calls or medicine orders we kindly ask you wait until the issue has been rectified.

We apologise for any inconvenience. We are working hard to fix this issue.

15/10/2024

📣 Announcement 📣

Next week we will be having a new computer system installed at the Practice. This means from Monday to Wednesday we will have limited access to our records and computer systems. We will be open for emergencies and will be available for collections of medications. We would advise that if you have any large medicine orders that you place them this week to allow us to order and process them ahead of the changeover.

Should you need us during this period please call us as normal on 01273 473232 (opt 2) ☎️. We kindly ask that you allow us extra time to deal with your requests during these days.

From Thursday 24th October it will be back to normal, however we ask for your patience while we learn and navigate the new system.

Thankyou.

07/10/2024

⚖️ Weigh Scale Hire ⚖️

Monitoring weights is very important in assessing productivity and efficiency. With the service period for our autumn block calvers just around the corner, now is the ideal time to weigh your heifers and choose your best replacements.

Our Tru-Test weigh platform, bars and S7 weigh-head can be hired from our Laughton practice for a flat rate £100 + VAT, with a 50% discount for members of the Youngstock Health Programme.

To hire the scales, or for more information, please contact the office on 01273 473232 ☎️.

03/10/2024

📋 Bluetongue Survey📋

What is the impact of Bluetongue (BTV3) in the UK in 2024? - an industry-led survey.

We would appreciate it if as many of our clients as possible could spare some time to answer the below survey. It is industry led and requires farmers opinions to be able to better understand the wider impact of BTV3.

Link and QR code below ⬇️

https://bit.ly/BTV3survey

30/09/2024

📣Bluetongue Question Time📣

Tomorrow night a panel of our vets will be hosting a Q&A session regarding the current situation on Bluetongue.

If you have not received the link and would like to attend please either call the office on 01273 473232 (opt2) or email us at [email protected]

23/09/2024

📣 Upcoming Talk by Cliffe and AHDB 📣

The talk aims to cover grading Beef and Lamb Carcases 🐑🐂 and why they may be rejected.

Free for all Cliffe Clients, for more information and to sign up please follow the link below.

Sign up link:

Joins us for a great evening learning more about grading beef and lamb carcases and common reasons for rejection. See you there!

03/09/2024

📣EXCITING NEWS📣

We are very excited to announce that we are moving our Farm Department out of Lewes to our Equine Clinic at Laughton. We have used the clinic for a few years for clinical work and it will be great to have everything on one site, and to have easier parking for your trucks!

Our New Address is:
Cliffe Farm Vets
Harbens Farm
Mill Lane
Laughton
East Sussex
BN8 6AJ

The telephone number will remain the same- 01273 473232, option 2.

We are now in the transition phase and over the coming few weeks everything will be moved to the new site. The installation of new software may mean some teething issues, we are grateful for your patience whilst we deal with anything that may arise.

A small amount of commonly used products will still be available at Lewes for your convenience, but the main dispensary will be at Laughton. Any medications can be delivered to Lewes for collection, we ask that you provide us with 48 hours’ notice to transfer across. A direct-to-farm courier service remains available for larger orders.

The other important change to note is that our out-of-hours cover now starts at 5.30pm on Friday. The farm clinic will not be open on Saturday mornings. Should you require medications then the on-call vet will be able to provide with the usual OOH dispensing fee.

This is an exciting time for Cliffe Farm Vets and we look forward to welcoming you to our new site 🏡

03/09/2024

⚠️Bluetongue⚠️

The Bluetongue situation in the UK is changing daily with restriction zones changing - now covering Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. It is important to stay vigilant in spotting and reporting clinical signs in your animals.

We would advise keeping an eye on the APHA/Government websites and social media pages for further updates and advice.

For more information please follow the links below:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/bluetongue
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bluetongue-information-and-guidance-for-livestock-keepers
Animal and Plant Health Agency

Following confirmation of bluetongue virus BTV-3 on a number of new premises in Suffolk, the Restricted Zone & Infected Area has been extended to cover Essex. It now covers the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

Keepers of cattle, sheep, camelids and other ruminants must remain vigilant and follow the restrictions on animal and germinal product movements that apply. Check the Bluetongue interactive map: https://defra.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=514ec88edec74575958d860f0196d2ea and GOV.UK to see what steps you must take to prevent and control the disease: https://www.gov.uk/bluetongue.

29/08/2024

This huge calf was born via caesarean this month 🐄✨

Udderly thrilled to see both cow and calf are doing well!

⚠️ swipe for a gory photo ⚠️

31/07/2024

📢 CONFIRMED 📢

Our next Faecal Worm Egg Count is confirmed for 8th August!

Call the office on 01273 473232 to book your space and avoid disappointment! ☎️

📣 Worm 🪱Egg Count Course 📣
Provisional date: Thursday 8th August
Cost: £175pp +VAT (10% discount for Flock Health Club members 🐑)

📞If you’d like to register a place on the course please phone the office on 01273 473232

31/07/2024

🐑 Our smallholder talk this evening (31st July) is now fully booked! We’re looking forward to welcoming everyone who has signed up for an interesting talk tonight followed by a nice pub meal 🍔

29/07/2024

🥵 Heat Stress 🥵

The constant changing weather has us glued to our weather apps, and cross checking with other apps just to make sure we believe that we are due more rain 🌧. We may not quite have had the heat waves we’ve been used to over the past few summers, but the temperatures are certainly ramping up this week. However, it is not just the temperature that we need to consider, but also humidity and decreased air movement 🌡

Heat stress is maybe something we don’t think should affect us in the UK, but it can happen when temperatures are above 25degrees 🌡 (Upper Critical Temperature for adult cattle). Cattle need to maintain their temperature tightly, and unlike us, cannot sweat effectively to do so. This means that we need to be taking provisions to help them stay cool. Heat stress can be seen clinically on a herd and individual basis, with some common signs being listed below.

Clinical signs associated to heat stress in Cattle:
• Herd level - reduced fertility, Reduced milk yields (may be seen as decreased growth rates in suckled animals), Change in milk composition and increased mastitis risk.
• Individual level - lethargic, increased or altered respiratory rate, Open mouth breathing, Excessive drooling, Refusing to lie down, Standing with heads down, Grouping closely together, Reduced feed intake and Changes in faeces.

Top Tips For Keeping Animals Cool:
• Try to keep handling and movement of animals to the morning when the weather is cooler. Although evenings are also cool, it can take cattle up to 6h to dissipate their heat load, making morning handling preferable. Vets will also thank you for not having to be out in our waterproofs in the middle of the day! 🕑
• Ensure constant access to water 💧, preferably with close by water sources to reduce distances walked in the heat 🚰
• House in fields with plenty of natural shade 🌳
• Install fans and sprinkler systems
• House in well ventilated barns with appropriate stocking density
• Ruminants 🐑🐄- feed at night – peak fermentation heat occurs 4-6hours post eating.
• Pigs 🐷– provide extra wallow space to ensure even the submissive animals in the herd can use the wallow.

25/07/2024

Little Cedric needed some assistance entering the world at the weekend.

We think he was worth the wait and added stress 😍🐮

15/07/2024

🐑Reminder for the upcoming talk on synchronising your ewes for a tighter lambing period
When: 31.7.24 6pm 🕕
Where: The Dorset, Lewes
Cost: 🆓 (with a meal and pint included! 🍔🍺)

13/07/2024

Huge thank you to Sara Pedersen Farm Dynamics and Andrew Tyler for a fantastic couple of days talking about and trimming cows feet 🐄