Cattle
Foot Trimming
For trimming on farm, Ross uses a fully hydraulic, upright mobile cattle crush of his own design, manufactured in 2011. Rear gates attaching to the crush can be attached to your own handling system, shed or yard entrance. Ross is proud to carry out work on the recommendation of the Myerscough Veterinary Group (Clitheroe branch) and Beacon Farm Vets (Garstang). If you require a copy of your foot trimming record sheets then these will be forwarded to you manually or electronically for your own management records and/or presentation at farm inspection. Foot trimming records / reports can also be emailed to your vet on request. You can either arrange a visit as and when you need it or set up a regular appointment if you wish. We can discuss with you the best options for your herd and devise a hoof care plan to help improve and maintain hoof health on your farm. We can arrange an early morning visit to accommodate milking times if necessary. Please feel free to contact us if you have just a single or few animals which require attention as we will endeavour to visit alongside another nearby visit as soon as possible.
Lameness problems reduce herd profitabilty both directly through milk losses, and indirectly through reduced fertility and increased culling. The first step in decreasing lameness is determining incidence level and severity. Mobility scoring identifies all levels of lameness in a herd, especially those cases which may not be identified by casual observation. At Ross Anthony Livestock Services Ltd we use the DairyCo Mobility Scoring system, which was developed with the University of Bristol in conjunction with farmers, veterinary surgeons and other animal health and welfare organisations. It simply assesses the cow's ability to move easily, without attempting to account for factors influenced by an animal's breeding or conformation. It is a 4 point scoring system from 0-3 and is a relatively quick and simple qualitative assessment of the ability of cows to walk normally. The benefits of the Mobility Scoring system include:
This service can be carried out independently or alongside any trimming work you have booked us to carry out. If required, we can mobility score your herd and then carry out any trimming as necessary to ensure that any lameness issues are treated promptly before they develop further. Faecal egg counting (FEC)
Good parasite management starts with good stock management. Internal parasites are affected by factors such as climate, location and seasonal patterns. Faecal egg counting (FEC) is a simple diagnostic technique which calculates the number of internal parasite eggs per gram of faeces. FEC information is critical to making informed parasite management and treatment timing decisions. FEC monitoring will help you build knowledge of the unique roundworm status of your farm. This information, in conjunction with good understanding of parasites lifecycles and the correct advice and strategies will help you limit the production losses due to worms on your property. Ross Anthony Livestock Services Ltd uses FECPAK to provide you with FEC's for your herd. We can either come to you and collect samples or you may post or drop them off with us if this is more convenient. We will then provide you with a prompt FEC and advise you of a suitable strategy. Regular monitoring will allow you to develop unique management strategies and enable you to spend less time and money on worm control without compromising on production. For further information on FECPAK and our FEC service please look on our News page. Cattle Clipping Ross Anthony Livestock Services Ltd carries out all the cattle clipping at Dunbia (Preston) when required, using a fully hydraulic, upright, mobile cattle crush. We can also clip cattle on farm for you prior to them being sent to sale or slaughter. As well as full-body clipping we can also carry out strip clipping - the removal of a strip of hair from the backs of cattle to prevent them sweating more than necessary and losing valuable condition by then becoming chilled. Please give us a call to discuss your individual requirements.
Ear Tagging & Record Keeping
If for health or any other reason, you find that you are unable to tag your cattle, then provided you have accurate information on the correct identity of every animal that requires tagging then we can do this for you, either in our crush or in your own handling system. It is important that any tag losses are noted regularly and replacements ordered and fitted promptly to ensure that you comply with the law. Records of cow movements on and off your holding, births, deaths and losses all need to be promptly and accurately recorded, if you find that you do not have time to do this then we may be able to help you. This can either be done on your farm or you can send the information to us and we will maintain electronic or book records for you.
For friendly and professional service please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your requirements, we look forward to continuing to work with our existing clients and also meeting new ones. May we take this opportunity to thank all existing clients for their business.
|
Ross Anthony is an experienced cattle foot trimmer having trimmed using the Dutch Method since 2004. He is fully licensed (formerly known as Category 1) with the National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers (NACFT).
Internal parasites cause loss of performance and growth. A recent Cattletech trial in New Zealand discovered considerable drench failure to the Ivermectin group in the NZ cattle industry. No substantial evidence is available to say that there are resistant cattle parasites in the UK but that may be more to do with the fact that nobody has looked!
Legislation requires that cattle are tagged promptly and correctly and that records made detailing all cattle are kept. If you are unsure of these requirements or need assistance with either then we may be able to help.