Krka has added a new 20g pack size of Flimabend (flubendazole), its water-based chicken wormer, to suit the needs of smallholders and owners of backyard chicken flocks. 

Flimabend is diluted into water and replaces the flock’s drinking water for a set period during the day. 

The new 20g pack includes a post-prescription leaflet to help veterinary surgeons support clients in calculating the correct dose, based on the bodyweight of their flock. It also includes a measuring scoop to ensure accurate administration.

Flimabend is effective against the three key intestinal worms affecting chickens – Ascaridia (roundworm); Capillaria (hairworm) and Heterakis gallinarum, which can be a vector for Blackhead disease. No egg withdrawal period is required.

Charlotte Read, Krka's Key Account Manager – Farm said: “Poultry-rearing is on the increase in the UK, both at a commercial level and among the public.  Recent figures suggest that more than one million UK households keep chickens, with the majority of domestic flocks comprising five laying hens and a cockerel¹.

"A regular worming routine is, of course, essential for optimal flock health and ensuring ease of use in a worming product is the most effective way of ensuring compliance, especially among those keeping backyard chickens.

“As one of the first water-based worming products available for small flocks, Flimabend now offers an innovative presentation of Flubendazole which we believe offers a new level of convenience and flexibility.”

Krka is currently offering virtual ‘lunch and learns’ on the worming of backyard chickens. Contact your Krka Account Manager for more details.

Reference

1. ChickenGuard survey March 2020

As the Agriculture Bill is debated in the House of Lords, two initiatives have been launched by members of the veterinary profession to try and safeguard animal welfare.

Veteran campaigner and RCVS Councillor Danny Chambers MRCVS (pictured right) has started a petition to George Eustice on change.org that: Future trade deals must not compromise animal welfare and public health. 

The petition has gathered an impressive 21,984 signatures, of which Danny says that more than 500 are from veterinary surgeons. 

Meanwhile VetPartners is calling on the retail and food service sector to give priority to British produce, even if future trade deals enable the import of foods produced to lower standards.

Ian Cure, farm director at VetPartners, is contacting the UK’s main retailers to discuss how they can support British farmers in the months and years to come. He has the backing of the clinical directors at each of the 28 farm or mixed practices within the group, which collectively look after the health and welfare of over 30% of the UK’s dairy population and 45% of the pig population.

“We are asking retailers to prioritise a range of Red Tractor certified produce at varying prices, while avoiding designating shelf space to imports of a lower quality. Likewise, the food service sector can choose to source from UK food supply chains.

“These sectors have a high level of influence, as consumers will pick from what is clearly available, which is why we see it as the best way to support our farmers.

“We are incredibly concerned about how the higher welfare and production standards in UK agriculture will be protected long term, given that MPs failed to enshrine that protection in law when voting against the recent amendment to the Agriculture Bill last month.

“Future trade deals to allow the import of cheap food from countries outside of the EU would be a step in the wrong direction, as our farmers will not be competing on an even playing field as they attempt to compete with countries with lower costs of production.”

However, Ian adds that this is not just a welfare issue: "If the UK livestock sector is forced to adopt practices that are frowned upon in Europe to compete, such as the American applications of hormone growth treatments and chlorinated chicken, we would be severely risking our local, lucrative European export market.

“While trade with countries such as the USA and Australia may have benefits from an economical perspective, the carbon emissions associated with longer distance transport of food is a real concern.

“We see it as imperative that higher welfare standards are maintained, while reducing the carbon footprint of our food supply – it's the right, sustainable thing to do. As MPs have let down the sector, we are now calling on retailers and the food service industry to back UK farming."

A study carried out by 24 independent XLVets practices has revealed evidence of fluke infection much later in the year than had been expected, suggesting a more targeted flukicide strategy could be effective. 

The collaborative study, which was sponsored by Norbrook, involved each practice blood testing a cohort of six lambs on 25 individual farms from 16 weeks of age, to look for evidence of antibodies to liver fluke. 

Only 11 farms had positive results in the period from June, up to December, with most only showing one or two lambs out of the six sero-converting later in the year. Even farms located reasonably close by showed positive cases months apart. 

Mark Thompson of Craven Farm Vets in Yorkshire said, “I did not expect to see positive results as late in the year. I expected a positive result earlier (September/October) as the farm is a very wet farm with a long-standing issue with fluke. Also, the weather in the area has been ideal for the intermediate host and fluke development on the pasture.”

Emily Baxter of Drove Farm Vets in Wiltshire said she thinks there is scope to use the results to improve the timing of dosing with flukicides and more responsible use: “We will use the results from this year’s testing to re-evaluate the farm’s fluke control protocol which will help reduce the level of use of flukicides earlier in the season for years with similar weather patterns and assist in planning of strategic grazing.

"We’re looking forward to continuing our work this year, no two years are ever the same, that’s why monitoring is so important. It will allow both ourselves and our clients to build up a picture over time of what’s happening not only on their individual farms, but potentially down to field level! This will allow us to provide more conclusive recommendations. For now, it’s clear that testing has great promise as a means to provide tailored advice to farms on how to control fluke and use the flukicides available to us responsibly.”

Emily says it’s important that farmers do not stop using flukicides based on the results of this study nor assume that there is less risk: “We all know how significant the losses from acute and chronic fascioliasis can be. We therefore encourage farmers to talk to their vet before they change their flukicide treatment protocols and discuss the possibility of using serology as an adjunct to determine how and when they treat.”

Veterinary professionals can find out more about the fluke sentinel project at https://xlvets-farm.co.uk/fluke-sentinel or the XLVets community at https://www.xlvets.co.uk/the-boss/. 

The Sheep Veterinary Society and Flock Health Clubs have announced a series of free fortnightly 45-minute CPD webinars for vets looking to engage more productively with their sheep farmer clients and update their understanding of flock economics.

‘Sheep Vets - Fit for the Future’ are being presented by well-respected industry leaders, vets and sheep farmers on Tuesday evenings during May, June and July.

Webinar organiser, Dr Fiona Lovatt from Flock Health Limited (pictured right) said: "We are optimistic about the future for the UK sheep industry, but to grasp the opportunities farmers need proactive vets who can demonstrate an added value approach. As vets we must think more holistically about the challenges sheep farmers face and that means optimising our understanding of how flock health issues, soil and grassland management, and environmental factors all link together with the economics. 

"This webinar programme aims to help keen sheep vets consider how they can best engage with their sheep farmer clients."

The first webinar in the series was attended by more than 100 delegates, and is now available as a recording. It highlighted the current state of the UK sheep industry and what the future 10 years might look like. 

Future topics include how to improve engagement with sheep farmers (26th May), how vets can best ensure successful lamb growth (9th June), understanding sheep farming economics (23rd June) and exploring the veterinary possibilities arising from different sources of flock data (7th July). Watch live at 7.30pm or catch up later with the recording.

Register for free by visiting www.sheepvetsoc.org.uk or www.flockhealth.co.uk

Boehringer Ingelheim is holding two free webinars looking at improving the control of mastitis on farms.

The first, 'Factors that determine the success of a mastitis treatment' is tomorrow, Thursday 30th April, at 7:30pm. It will be presented by veterinary surgeon and researcher, Sofie Piepers. 

The second webinar is titled 'Communication skills for effecting behaviour change with a focus on mastitis treatments'. Presented by Owen Atkinson, a vet with experience of the dairy industry around the world, the webinar will start at 7:30pm on Tuesday 5th May. 

There will be opportunities to ask questions of both speakers at the end of each session. 

For more information, visit: https://www.boehringer-academy.co.uk

Ceva Animal Health has reformulated and relaunched Allevinix, its flunixin-based NSAID for cattle, pigs and horses.

The product was one of eight NSAIDS that had been suspended following a European ruling that an excipient, diethanolamine, may pose a risk to human health.  

Allevinix is licensed for both intravenous (I/V) and intramuscular (I/M) administration over one to three days in cattle. It has a dose rate of 4ml per 100kg liveweight in cattle, and milk withdrawal times of 24 hours after I/V injection and 36 hours after I/M injection.

Ceva says Allevinix reaches peak plasma levels (CMax) approximately 30 minutes following I/M injection. It is available in 100ml and 250ml vials. 

Peter Keyte, ruminant business unit manager at Ceva Animal Health, said: "Allevinix is the only flunixin licensed for both intramuscular and intravenous administration in cattle and provides both vets and farmers with a cost-effective, fast-acting and versatile NSAID that is a useful addition to the range of NSAID options available."

For more information, contact your Ceva account manager, email cevauk@ceva.com or call the ruminant marketing department at Ceva on 01494 781510.

Ceva Animal Health, the maker of Ketofen 10%, has launched ‘Wave Goodbye to Pain’, a campaign to highlight the impact of pain relief in lame cattle and the role it can play in improving recovery time and results.

The company says the initiative, which is targeted at veterinary professionals and farmers, will be supported by an extensive social media, advertising and PR campaign.

The social media campaign will take the form of social media content, newsletter articles and images for veterinary practices to use on their social media channels and will include information on the cost of dairy cow lameness and tips to manage lameness.

Rose Jackson BVSc DBR CertVBM MRCVS is the farm clinical director at Scarsdale Vets which has already trialled the new materials. She said: “The ‘Wave Goodbye to Pain’ social media content has ensured that we are able to post eye-catching and thought-provoking content to continue to engage with our clients and raise awareness of the ‘triple works’ approach to lameness in cows, which includes using a NSAID such as Ketofen, alongside a trim and block for a more complete recovery from lameness than trimming alone.”

The ‘Wave Goodbye to Pain’ campaign was launched following a study by Nottingham University which revealed that NSAIDs have a synergistic effect when given alongside effective hoof trimming and blocking to treat lameness¹. 

The study looked at claw horn disease of the hind foot and found that trimming alone resulted in a 69% rate of return to mobility without lameness in 35 days. Adding a block into an effective trimming protocol raised the success rate to 72%; trimming and administering a NSAID raised it to 76%. Interestingly, using all three techniques together - trimming, applying a block and administering an NSAID - resulted in 85% of cases being successfully resolved (Mobility score or 0 or 1).

Gemma Robinson BVM BVS MRCVS, ruminant veterinary adviser at Ceva Animal Health, said: “The study highlights that effective and prompt pain relief with NSAIDs can quickly help restore animals back to full productivity. Attitudes on the use of pain relief have changed significantly over the last 10 years and dairy farmers can have a positive influence by ensuring they recognise the value of NSAIDs and prioritise their use on-farm.  It is important that vets discuss NSAIDs with their clients, both to manage illness and for routine procedures, and our ‘Wave Goodbye to Pain’ campaign will help encourage farmers to think about their current pain management plan, take action and seek help from their vet.

“Some concerns have been raised that the issues associated with antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic administration are causing farmers to avoid the use of all injectable treatments. We need to be clear that NSAIDs are anti-inflammatories, not antibiotics, and it is important they are used for pain management, fever and the clinical signs associated with many common conditions. With zero milk-withhold NSAIDs available - there really is no reason to hesitate when it comes to administering pain relief in otherwise healthy cattle.”

For more information on the ‘Wave Goodbye to Pain’ campaign visit the website designed for farmers (www.wavegoodbyetopain.co.uk), contact your local Ceva territory manager or call 01494 781510. 

To request a copy of the ‘Wave Goodbye to Pain’ social media pack (including pre-developed posts and images which you can send out to your own clients), speak to your Ceva territory manager or email: cevauk@ceva.com with your name, practice name and address details.

References

1. Thomas H.J. et al. 2015. Evaluation of treatments for claw horn lesions in dairy cows in a randomized control trial. J. Dairy Sci. 98: 4477-4486.

A new study published in Scientific Reports has found that machine learning has the potential to improve veterinary surgeons’ ability to diagnose herd mastitis origins accurately and reduce mastitis levels on dairy farms.

The study, which was led by Robert Hyde MRCVS from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham, aims to create an automated diagnostic support tool for the diagnosis of herd level mastitis origin, an essential first step of the AHDB mastitis control plan. 

Mastitis data from 1,000 herds’ was inputted for several three-month periods. Machine learning algorithms were used to classify herd mastitis origin and compared with expert diagnosis by a specialist vet. 

The machine learning algorithms were able to achieve a classification accuracy of 98% for environmental vs contagious mastitis, and 78% accuracy was achieved for the classification of lactation vs dry period environmental mastitis when compared with expert veterinary diagnosis. 

Robert said: “Mastitis is a huge problem for dairy farmers, both economically and in welfare terms. In our study we have shown that machine learning algorithms can accurately diagnose the origin of this condition on dairy farms. A diagnostic tool of this kind has great potential in the industry to tackle this condition and to assist veterinary clinicians in making a rapid diagnosis of mastitis origin at herd level in order to promptly implement control measures for an extremely damaging disease in terms of animal health, productivity, welfare and antimicrobial use."

Reference

1. Hyde, R.M., Down, P.M., Bradley, A.J. et al. Automated prediction of mastitis infection patterns in dairy herds using machine learning. Sci Rep 10, 4289 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61126-8

Sarah Tomlinson MRCVS, from Westpoint Farm Vets in Derbyshire, has been named Dairy Vet of the Year at the Cream Awards.  

The Dairy Vet of the Year award, which is organised by the British Dairying Magazine and sponsored by Krka UK Ltd, recognises a veterinary surgeon for going the extra mile in helping to create a more positive, forward-thinking dairy industry.

In addition to her work as a farm vet, Sarah is also Technical Director at the TB Advisory Service (TBAS), which involves her overseeing and delivering training for new advisors, chairing technical board meetings and delivering farmer meetings across the country. She also provides bespoke advice to farmers in High Risk and Edge Areas of England, and is known for her compassion and understanding for those suffering a TB breakdown.

She is also a member of the TB Eradication and Advisory Group (TBEAG) for England, which advises government policy makers on all aspects of TB control in England.

Lindsay Heasman, Project Manager at TBAS, said: “Sarah is an authority on TB and understands the responsibility that comes with this role. She uses her position for good at all times and is prepared to make statements that are not always universally popular. By standing by her beliefs and dispelling misconceptions, she has won the respect of farmers across the country. Her dedication has, at times, come at personal cost, but her passion for eradicating bTB and support for farmers in achieving this goal never wavers.”

Sarah said: “I am just a farm vet doing the same job every farm vet does daily across the country. Through necessity, seeing my clients being devastated by TB breakdowns every day, I felt passionate about doing something about it. TBAS, my colleagues I am lucky to work with, and TBEAG have given me the platform to do this. I am very humbled that the judges though me worthy of the Award amongst the other hard-working vets."

Photo: Giles Brandreth, Charlotte Read, Sarah Tomlinson and Sean Sparling

Princess Anne has officially opened the Large Animal Clinical Facilities at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey.

The new facilities use teaching aids and models to allow students to refine their practical skills and build confidence before being let loose on real patients. 

As part of the official opening, Princess Anne toured the School of Veterinary Medicine, where she met with staff and students and saw a demonstration of a new equine gut model that offers an alternative to using live animals for research into the gut microbiota of horses and how they are affected by diet, disease and medication.

Professor Chris Proudman, Head of the School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "We are honoured to welcome The Princess Royal to the Vet School today, and very grateful that Her Royal Highness has officially opened the Large Animal Clinical Skills Facilities. Preparing students for life as a vet is our number one priority; the hands-on experience they will get through the use of this facility is invaluable and enables them to give the best possible care to all animals.

"We are also very grateful to the Longhurst family, without whom these teaching resources would not have been possible – their generosity is helping us to teach the vets of the future."

Mossman Farming, a dairy farm on the west Welsh coast which has been stricken by bovine TB, has become the first to gain permission to trial PBD Biotech’s rapid Actiphage blood test for Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). 

PBD Biotech says the Actiphage test offers the potential to revolutionise control of bovine TB by allowing detection of the disease within hours from a blood or milk sample.

Last November, the Welsh Government announced a new policy that allowed the use of non-validated tests such as Actiphage in herds affected by a TB breakdown. It followed a similar protocol to one authorised by the UK Government last year for cattle herds in England after the test was used as part of a successful private eradication plan on a Devon dairy farm.

Mossman Farming, in Ceredigion, is located in an area of chronic breakdown. It is a spring-calving milking herd with a total stock of 529, to date 312 dairy cows have been slaughtered. Farmer Chris Mossman agreed to trial Actiphage after hearing about the Gatcombe pilot.

Chris said: "TB is a massive problem in Ceredigion, so when I heard about Actiphage’s use at Gatacombe, helping to clear that dairy herd for the first time in six years, I wanted to try and replicate those findings here. Me – and many other farmers – are losing large numbers of animals. I’m trying to do all I can to get rid of this disease from my herd."

In Spring 2019, The Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales granted permission for Robert Price-Jones MRCVS to use Actiphage to screen high-risk cattle for M. bovis.

Robert, who has been leading the trial, said: "Actiphage is able to identify the presence of relatively low numbers of M. bovis in the blood stream of infected cattle. It is not dependent upon an immune system response to the pathogen - in contrast to current validated tests - and so has greater sensitivity than such as the official Tuberculin SICCT skin test.

"The benefit of using Actiphage is that it offers the potential for eradicating the disease from the farm; as early identification of animals at risk of bovine TB enables heightened disease management and control."

Under the terms of the Welsh Government’s protocol, cattle not condemned for slaughter can be tested with Actiphage. Those that give a positive result are identified with a ‘management’ marker, monitored and milked separately.

To prevent further contamination of the environment and to minimise risk to uninfected cattle, animals found to be ‘shedders’ are removed from the farm.

Although a decision to remove cattle based on a non-validated test will be at the farmers’ own expense, the APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) has confirmed that during the trial, where a positive result is confirmed with statutory tests, the animals will be removed with compensation as normal.

So far, 100 animals from Mossman Farming have been tested with Actiphage and Robert Price-Jones is preparing a paper to publish the findings in early 2020.

PBD Biotech is now seeking more farms to trial Actiphage in order to gain the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) validation. The company is offering reduced cost testing to support trials where the findings are made available to support validation of the test.

The Royal Veterinary College Principal, Stuart Reid has become embroiled in a row over its students' annual charity calendar, after a veterinary vegan group complained about the month that showed veterinary students handling sheep.

The photograph showed seven naked male student vets holding sheep 'tipped' in front of them so as to hide the students' spare parts.

That anyone should complain about sheep being tipped, a technique which the British Cattle Veterinary Association describes as: "widely recognised as being safe and pain-free for the animals" defies logic. But so they did, and according to The Times, it led to personal attacks, harassment and threats against the students who'd made the calendar.

Worse still was the fact that according to various newspaper reports, the complaint originally came from the Veterinary Vegan Network (VVN), a group of qualified and trainee veterinary surgeons and nurses, who reportedly posted on their Facebook page that the photo was 'deeply disturbing'. 

Oh come on. 'Deeply disturbing?' Really? I'd argue that any vet who finds that photo 'deeply disturbing' should be asking themselves whether they're in the right job. 

There cannot be a veterinary surgeon or nurse in the country who is not aware of the high suicide rate in the profession, or the problems it is facing with retention, so if the complaint did trigger a backlash against the students involved, the VVN should hang its head in shame and apologise to them immediately. Profusely. As the BCVA said in its statement, the vitriol aimed at the students is "both grossly unfair, unfounded and should be condemned."

The RVC's response was predictably politically-correct: Stuart Reid wrote an open letter apologising to those who'd taken offence. But it was pitched very badly. It was long on apology, long on hand-wringing and long on appeasement. It was jaw-droppingly short of an outright condemnation of those who'd harassed his students. Indeed, according to The Times report, an unnamed vet said the college had "thrown its students under a bus."

We live in an increasingly homogenised, politically-correct world in which people complain at the first opportunity and take offence at anything and everything. Our institutions then seem to fall over themselves in the rush to apologise to the perpetually offended Facebook fruitcakes. We all need to fight this. Stuart Reid, ewe need to grow a pair. 

To the students involved in the calendar: well done for making the world a slightly less grey place, and remember that for every one fruitcake, there are a thousand more who support your charitable efforts.

No sheep were hurt in the writing of this article.