Drove Farm Vets

29/01/2025

🛑 First time lambing? New staff members? Need a refresher? Or just a unique gift!

Join us on Wednesday 26th February at 09:45am for our annual lambing course. This is a perfect opportunity to either refresh your knowledge or to gain more confidence ahead of the lambing season.

The course will take place in the morning at our practice in Badbury (see advert for exact location). It will cost £75 ex VAT.

We will start off with a theory session where we will cover the following topics: peri-parturient diseases of the ewe, stages of labour, lambing dystocia and when to intervene, care of the newborn lamb and other useful topics such as vaccinations, parasites etc. This will be followed by a practical session with our lambing simulators and opportunities to practice castrating/tail docking and passing stomach tubes for colostrum.

Tea/coffee and biscuits will be provided!

☎️ For more information or to book your place please call the Farm Office on 01793 501 499. Or reply to this email.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

29/01/2025

🛑 MEETING INVITE

Please arrive from 7.30pm where a hot buffet will be served ahead of a discussion and quiz (with prizes!) on the subject of:

What if you could reduce losses due to Mycoplasma bovis respiratory disease?
Introducing Protivity: the first modified-live vaccine for Mycoplasma bovis

☎️ Please call the office on 01793 501 499 to book your place

29/01/2025

🛑 Drove Farm Vets Sheep Club meeting: From Symptoms to Solutions: Managing lameness in sheep.

We would like to invite you to our first sheep discussion meeting of 2025!
Lameness is very damaging for the sheep industry, with huge impacts on welfare and productivity. In Great Britain, the estimated cost from footrot alone is between £20-80 million each year. We are pleased to welcome Jon Mayer from MSD to discuss overcoming the common obstacles in tackling flock lameness issues.

We will be discussing :

Lesion identification
Making use of accurate data recording
Appropriate & effective treatments
Perceived barriers to tackling lameness at the flock level
The five point plan
Footvax vaccination and implementation

Date: 10th February
Time: 6.30pm
Location: Roves Farm, SN6 7QG

Non-members Welcome at £20 per farm. Dinner and refreshments will be provided.

☎️ If you would like to confirm your place call the Farm Office 01793 501 499

27/01/2025

🛑 BTV-3 OUTBREAK: Seasonally vector low period reached - certain restrictions eased.

Due to lower temperatures and reduced midge activity the risk of new infection and onward transmission due to vector activity is now very low. As a result of the reduction in risk, certain restrictions are being eased from Tuesday 21 January including removing the following:
The requirement for post-movement
testing of animals.
The use of insecticide on vehicles.
The requirement to send animals
from the Restricted Zone to
designated abattoirs.

As a precautionary measure, the Restricted Zone currently in place across affected regions will remain.
All animals moving out of the Restricted Zone will still require a pre-movement test unless going direct to slaughter or to a dedicated slaughter market.

There is free testing available when moving animals from the RZ. Vaccines are available and they will reduce clinical signs, but they will not prevent infection. BTV is a notifiable disease. Please remain vigilant and monitor livestock frequently for clinical signs. If you suspect Bluetongue you must report it immediately by calling the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301.

☎️If you would like to know more about vaccination, please call us to speak with one of our vets (Farm Office 01793 501499).

More information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ bluetongue-information-and-guidance-for-livestock-keepers ,- leaflets,-videos-and-posters https://ruminanthw.org.

23/01/2025

21/01/2025

🛑 Is your Veterinary Attestation due for renewal?

VAN numbers expire every 12 months, so please be sure to check your expire date and book your renewal in advance to avoid any last-minute rush.

Since December 2023, non-assured UK livestock farmers are required to provide a veterinary attestation number for their products to be eligible for export to the EU (some portions of most UK carcasses are exported to the EU). The purpose of the vet attestation visit is to verify the absence of notifiable disease and provide general advice on farm biosecurity. Farmers and vets must keep a copy of this declaration for their records and write the VAN on FCI/movement documents accompanying animals to the abattoir or market.

The vet attestation does not need to be the sole purpose of the visit and can be combine with other visits, like the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.

For more information or to arrange a visit please contact the Farm Office on 01793 501499.

17/12/2024

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Christmas Party last Wednesday. It was truly a pleasure to have you join us, and we hope you had a wonderful time.This was an opportunity to say thank you for your support throughout the year, we feel fortunate to have clients like you, and we look forward to the opportunities the new year will bring.

05/12/2024

Come and see us and have a chat Voyce Pullin Cirencester Cattle Market

02/12/2024

Please let us know if your coming to the Christmas Drinks ASAP

02/12/2024

🛑 Last week, we ran another edition of our popular Herdsperson Course. This course combines theory with practical sessions in the following areas:
▪️Lameness
▪️Milking routine and mastitis
▪️Care of the sick cow and down cow management
▪️Fundamentals of fertility
▪️Calving and care of the fresh cow
▪️Youngstock management

Whether you are coming from a beef farm perspective or a dairy background, the course content can be tailored to meet your needs.

Our next edition will be held in Spring 2025. If you are interesting in attending, ☎️ please contact the Farm Office on 01793 501499 or [email protected] to register your interest.

27/11/2024

🎄It’s that time of the year again!
Drove Farm Vets invites you to join us for a night of food, drinks and fun. Celebrate the season with us at our Christmas Party, held at the Sun Inn. Enjoy some holiday cheer, and get ready for a festive fancy dress competition! Theme: Christmas Movies.

📧 RSPV by 29th November to Michelle [email protected] or call 01793 501499

22/11/2024

🛑 First time lambing? New staff members? Need a refresher?

Join us on Thursday 19th December at 09:45am for our annual lambing course. This is a perfect opportunity to either refresh your knowledge or to gain more confidence ahead of the lambing season.

The course will take place in the morning at our practice in Badbury (see advert for exact location). It will cost £75 ex VAT. A 10% discount will apply to members of the Smallholder Club. Please see my previous email regarding this club if you are interested!

We will be having a theory session where we will cover the following topics: peri-parturient diseases of the ewe, stages of labour, lambing dystocia and when to intervene, care of the newborn lamb and other useful topics such as vaccinations, parasites etc. This will be followed by a practical session with our lambing simulators and opportunities to practice castrating/tail docking and passing stomach tubes for colostrum.

Tea/coffee and biscuits will be provided!

This same course will also be running in January/February (exact date TBC) for those that can't attend this date in December. If you would be interested in attending the second course instead please let us know.

☎️ For more information or to book your place please call the Farm Office on 01793 501 499. Or reply to this email.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing you there!

21/11/2024

🛑 Yesterday we held our DEW Club evening meeting for our dairy clients. We were very pleased to welcome Katherine Timms from Ceva, who along with our very own Alex, gave us and entertaining, informative and engaging talk about Cattle Abortion, with and special focus on Q-Fever. We also talked about the best way of taking an abortion sample for submission and what to expect from the results. Huge thank you to everybody who came.

Our DEW Club membership offers dairy clients regular evening meetings, farm walks and monthly reports. ☎️ If you are interested in the DEW Club or any of the services provided by Drove Farm Vets please call the Farm Office on 01793 501499.

21/11/2024

🛑 First time lambing? New staff members? Need a refresher? Join us for a morning of all things lambing!

At the Drove Farm Vets Lambing Course we will be having a theory session where we will cover the following topics:
Peri-parturient diseases of the ewe
Stages of labour
Lambing dystocia and when to intervene
Care of the newborn lamb
Other useful topics such as vaccinations, parasites etc.

This will be followed by a practical session with our lambing simulators and opportunities to practice castrating/tail docking and passing stomach tubes for colostrum.

Date: Thursday 19th December
Time: 09:45am (for a 10:00am start)
Location: Drove Farm Vets - SN4 0EU
Cost: £75 ex VAT

☎️ For more information or to book your place please call the Farm Office on 01793 501499

21/11/2024

🛑Following the identification of a further bluetongue BTV-3 case in Hampshire which is just outside the zone, the Restricted Zone (RZ) has now been extended to include additional areas of Hampshire and part of Wiltshire. The RZ now covers the following 26 counties and Unitary authorities in England: Bedfordshire, Berkshire (part – recently extended to include 2 new districts), Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, City of Kingston upon Hull, City of York, East Riding of Yorkshire, East Sussex, Essex, Greater London, Hampshire (part – recently extended to include 2 new districts), Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Leicestershire (part), Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire (part), Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire (part), Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire (part), West Sussex, Wiltshire (part).

How is bluetongue transmitted? The most likely source of the arrival of BTV-3 in England was from biting midges infected with BTV-3 that were blown across from Europe. The virus can also be transmitted via infected germinal products (semen, ova, and embryos) as well as passed on maternally from mother to unborn offspring. Latrogenic spread of BTV-3 through reuse of needles is possible. Please use new or clean disinfected needles when giving any injections.

Whilst BTV-3 is vector borne disease, and midge movement will spread the disease locally, animal movement plays a role in spreading it long distances. Beware when buying animals in or only move animals within the RZ. Movement controls apply yto all ruminants, camelids and their germinal products within the RZ. Free testing is available for animals moving from high risk counties, subject to APHA's approval.

The government has permitted the use of 3 unauthorised BTV-3 vaccines. This vaccines will reduce or prevent clinical signs and mortality but they will not prevent the animals from being infected. ☎️ If you will like to know more about vaccination, please call us to speak with one of our vets (Farm Office 01793 501499).

More information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bluetongue-information-and-guidance-for-livestock-keepers ,-leaflets,-videos-and-posters
https://ruminanthw.org.uk/

20/11/2024

What a great turn out at Cirencester Market yesterday for the protest