Towcester Farm Vets

08/08/2024

It’s been another busy day for our farm vets.
Bex has been blood sampling cows and sheep for health scheme accreditation.
Katie P vasectomised some rams to help tighten the lambing period.
Beckie has been visiting farms making sure they are up to date with their attestation forms and looking at some lame sheep.

31/07/2024

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the Blakesley Show this Saturday!

☀️Saturday plans with family & friends?☀️

If you are looking for a local day out with your dogs this weekend, why not come along and visit us at the Blakesley Show 2024?

Our Towcester Vets team from Small Animal, Farm and Equine look forward to welcoming you at our stand for light refreshments.

🐾🐾🏆NEW FOR THIS YEAR!🏆🐾🐾
Towcester Vets are also sponsoring the Dog Show on the day in the livestock ring, please visit the Blakesley website for more information, see you there!

https://www.theblakesleyshow.co.uk/

29/07/2024

The excellent SCOPS podcast is back for a second series! These are a great bitesize listen covering a range of sheep parasite topics. Perfect for the car or tractor!

🐑The SCOPS podcast is back for a second series🎉

Ben is joined by Dr Philip Skuce, vet Rob Howe and farmer Rich Thomas to discuss
environmental impacts and how acting on the SCOPS principles can help to reduce the impact of medicine use on the environment. They ask what it means in practice for parasite control in sheep and cattle, how achievable it is and what tools there are to enable it?

Follow the link below or go to the SCOPS website to listen ⤵️
https://scops-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/implementing-the-scops-principles-to-reduce-the-impact-of-medicine-use-on-the-environment

15/07/2024

July is Sheep Lameness Month! If this is something you’d like help tackling then get in touch. Looking at lameness can be part of the funded Animal Health and Welfare Review too so even more reasons to stamp it out!

11/07/2024

Further funding has been released as part of the Animal Health and Welfare Review to tackle BVD in cattle and a range of options in sheep - from infectious disease testing to trace element sampling! For more info visit https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/funding-to-improve-animal-health-and-welfare-guidance-for-farmers-and-vets or give us a call!

Updates from Defra's Farming and Countryside Programme

17/06/2024

TB biosecurity is incredibly important in protecting herds. This infographic is a great way to look at different potential risks and what to do to help. If you’re on a phone, turn it on its side for best viewing!
https://www.tbknowledgeexchange.co.uk/tb/

For more advice tailored to your farm, FREE TB advice visits are always available, just call the surgery to book!

Nose to nose contact with cattle in neighbouring holdings poses a disease risk to your cattle and should be prevented where possible.

14/06/2024

Flystrike risk is now high. The great people at NADIS have created a risk map for predicting the likelihood of flystrike and you can also view and report local cases to help with monitoring.

Our Blowfly Watch alerts & blowfly strike risk forecast with NADIS use local insights of strike in your area to enable early prevention of strike in your flock

07/06/2024

Wishing all our clients taking part in Open Farm Sunday a great weekend showing everyone what a wonderful job they do!

Farmers are the unsung heroes of Britain - we like to call them the Guardians of the Earth!

How much do you know about what they do to produce our food in harmony with nature?

Here’s just a few of the many ways they farm sustainably:

🌼Farmers plant and maintain hedgerows, woodland and wildflowers.
🐞 They create habitats for beetles, pollinators and wildlife, as well as ponds.
🦇 They feed birds and install bird and bat boxes.
🌧️They manage soil and conserve rain water.

See farming with nature first-hand this weekend by visiting an Open Farm Sunday event.

Find your local farm to visit at https://farmsunday.org/visit-a-farm

03/06/2024

Please let us know by Wednesday 5th if you'd like to join us for our evening of all things sheep fertility 🐑

30/05/2024

Keeping our fingers crossed we don’t need this and even more crossed for a vaccine but useful information just in case!

The Disease Control Framework for England for Bluetongue Virus Serotype 3 (BTV-3) has been published & sets out the approach for the management of Bluetongue in livestock should new cases occur in 2024.

The framework is an over-arching guide to how any outbreak will be managed, so livestock keepers & other potentially affected businesses can understand the possible effects for them individually & collectively, & so they can prepare as far as possible. Please see the latest information available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bluetongue-disease-control-framework-set-out

This Disease Control Framework builds upon the existing GB Bluetongue Virus Control Strategy: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bluetongue-gb-disease-control-strategy.

29/05/2024

Our next meeting coming soon!

Contact our team to secure your place 🐏

28/05/2024

Great advice from the wonderful people at SCOPS, just give us a call before dropping off your samples! 😊

🐑Now is the time to start faecal egg counts (FECs) on February and March-born lambs, says SCOPS🐑

While roundworm activity so far this season has been relatively low, the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) Group says the recent temperature increase means this could change quickly on many farms, as warm, damp conditions encourage larvae to hatch from eggs and develop into infective larvae on pastures.

To fond out more, follow the link below⤵️
https://www.scops.org.uk/news/24656/now-is-the-time-to-start-faecal-egg-counts-fecs-on-february-and-march-born-lambs-says-scops/

21/05/2024

Great to share positive news with you all!

21/05/2024

Yummy cake anyone? 🍰🧁

🍰🍰CHARITY CAKE SALE🍰🍰
Tomorrow we are raising funds for Cancer Research, all welcome!



Our team are also entered into the Pretty Muddy run on the 8th June, here is the link below if you wish to make a donation, well done team!

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/team-tvc-1

17/05/2024

Happy Friday!

Our events page has been updated, hope to see many of you joining us at our next meeting...

https://towcester-vets.co.uk/farm/healthcare-information/events/

Visit our farm events page regularly to view our upcoming dates. These may include farmer training and other events. Learn more here

02/04/2024

🐑 Feel free to share!

26/03/2024

*NEMATODIRUS FORECAST VERY HIGH RISK IN OUR AREAS!*

Please check the Nematodirus forecast as our local weather stations are now showing as VERY HIGH RISK. This means hatching is predicted to have started in some areas and you should risk assess your farm and take action to protect lambs if required.

Take care to assess your farm's height above sea level compared to the local weather stations to find the most comparable forecast.

The Nematodirus forecast, information on carrying out risk assessments and what action to take can be found on the SCOPS website:

The forecast can be used in combination with your grazing history to assess the risk of Nematodirus infection in your lambs.

19/03/2024

Cattle farmers 🐮

This site contains consultations that are run by Defra.

28/02/2024

***Nematodirus Forecast***

Regularly checking the SCOPS Nematodirus Forecast will help farmers predict the risk to individual flocks.

For more information please see the useful post below...

***SCOPS post***

Free online SCOPS forecast will help producers deal with huge variation in disease risk this spring🐑

The Nematodirus Forecast will be really important to help prevent individual flocks being caught out⤵️
www.scops.org.uk/nematodirus

06/02/2024

NEWS FLASH!

Our latest winter newsletter has been emailed out to all our subscribed clients. Don't forget all our news and advice can also be found via the website by clicking the link below...

https://towcester-vets.co.uk/farm/healthcare-information/news-advice/

Read Towcester Farm Vets' articles on animal health conditions, seasonal advice, preventative care, updated legislation & more

05/02/2024

A chance to hear from someone different for a change 😉

08/01/2024

🐮Booking for our next FARM MEETING closes this Thursday 11th Jan, call or email the surgery today to secure your place!🐮

[email protected]

Date for your diary
Our first FARM MEETING of 2024!

15th January
We are discussing Calf Scour
🐮causes
🐮diagnosis
🐮treatment

Kindly supported by Forte Healthcare Ltd

We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

23/12/2023

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from all the team at Towcester Farm Vets!

***Christmas/New Year Opening Hours***

Sun 24th Dec - Emergencies Only
Monday 25th Dec - Emergencies Only
Tuesday 26th Dec- Emergencies Only
Wed 27th Dec- 8.30am-5pm
Thurs 28th Dec 8.30pm-5pm
Fri 29th Dec 8.30am-5pm

Sat 30th Dec - Emergencies Only
Sun 31st Dec - Emergencies Only
Mon 1st Jan - Emergencies Only
Tue 2nd Jan - 8.30am-5pm

Over the festive period the out of hours service will be operating as normal (24hr emergency service) our farm team are here to help anytime day or night!

21/12/2023

Date for your diary
Our first FARM MEETING of 2024!

15th January
We are discussing Calf Scour
🐮causes
🐮diagnosis
🐮treatment

Kindly supported by Forte Healthcare Ltd

We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

20/12/2023

Useful update - Bluetongue cases in UK

Visit our website for more information https://towcester-vets.co.uk/article/update-on-bluetongue-cases-in-uk/

A case of the notifiable disease, Bluetongue was confirmed in a cow near Canterbury, Kent, on 11 November, following routine testing. A Temporary Control Zone (TCZ) was implemented within 10km of the case. Following active surveillance, a further eleven cases on six premises have been identified and...

29/11/2023

Always pays to arrive early at a vet conference, Katie P, Nikki and Katie G spending the day at National TB Conference learning and eating...

22/11/2023

Please share 🐑

19/06/2023

September and October are peak months for abortion vaccine sales - the manufacturers of both Toxovax and Cevac Chlamydia have advised us they are likely to reach maximum production capacity and may not be able to supply 100% of product required during these months.
We are advising, if possible, to bring vaccination forward into June, July and August. Adult breeding ewes can be vaccinated between 4 months and 4 weeks prior to tupping. Ewe lambs must be over 5 months of age for their first vaccine.
We appreciate this will not suit every system but by shifting vaccination earlier we can help spread demand. We are offering a promotion on Toxovax purchased and delivered in June, July and August. Please contact the office for further information.

15/06/2023

New research by national charity The Farming Community Network (FCN) seeks to better understand the impact of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) on UK farmers’ health and wellbeing.

Farmers who have experienced a bTB breakdown are being encouraged to fill the survey in and to share their experiences.

https://fcn.org.uk/blog/2023/06/05/study-seeks-uk-farmers-feedback-on-impacts-of-bovine-tuberculosis/