Dairy

Helping you to get the most out of your dairy herd we work with you to prevent problems that can lead to a drop in productivity or profitability.

Fertility

We understand dairy cow fertility is a major driver of farm profitability and are very involved in monitoring, reporting and trying to improve herd fertility. Our portable easi-scan ultrasound machines are a great asset for fertility visits, with the results analysed using Interherd and TotalVet software to help you to decide where improvements might be made. Ultrasound scanning is ideal for detecting twins and for dating pregnancies where cows have had more than one service.
An embryo implantation service is provided for repeat breeder cows which can help keep valuable cows in a herd if they will not hold in calf.
Subfertile bulls can be a major problem, so we semen test bulls if there are doubts about their fertility.Teaser bulls are one way of trying to improve heat detection in dairy herds and we can vasectomise bulls for this purpose.

Mastitis Control

We can provide cell count and mastitis reports from farm milk records using Herd Companion and Totalvet software to pinpoint mastitis issues and help control cell counts.

We provide a teat scoring and milk sampling service and can carry out parlour visits for herds struggling with mastitis or cell count problems.

Calf health

Growing dairy heifer replacements to calve by 27 months old can be a challenge on many farms, and avoiding disease is essential to maximise growth rates. We advise on calf health programs and vaccination, colostrum intake monitoring and improving calf accommodation and run regular calf rearing meetings through our Calf Club. If things do go wrong we have facilities at the Auction to hospitalise and drip scouring calves and operate on umbilical hernias in clean surroundings.

Herd health

Trying proactively to avoid problems is vital to improving performance. By working with you to analyse past performance, monitoring disease levels, looking at local risk and deciding on future targets we can help you to have the healthiest cows possible. Planning vaccine and worming regimes and strategic blood sampling all play their part in maintaining health. Health planning should be about more than ticking boxes, but we know you need to do that too, so we have the software to produce health plans for your farm assurance scheme too.

Nutrition

Working as part of a team with the farm’s nutritionist is the best way to ensure that cows are fed as well as possible. Because nutrition has such a massive effect on fertility and cow health we can help spot feeding problems and offer rapid feedback to whoever is rationing your cows.  The practice stocks a good quality dry cow mineral which is available in 25kg sacks.

Foot trimming

The practice employs a full-time professional cattle foot trimmer with an electric hydraulic crush. Gareth Foye is an experienced trimmer fully trained in the Dutch five step method and he holds the National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers Diploma. He is available on a day or half day basis for regular farm customers and can trim smaller numbers of cattle on an ad-hoc basis.

Foot trimming is recorded with our own on-farm software and Gareth produces reports for the vets on the farms where he regularly trims. We also provide a mobility scoring service for monitoring foot health or farm assurance purposes.

Training Courses

As well as farmer meetings we run regular Farmskills training programmes for farmers, including an APHA licensed DIY AI course and cattle foot trimming courses. We are also able to access speakers and trainers from with the XL Vets group or from farming organisations.