Mobility Services
Lameness is one of the main welfare issues affecting the industry and we therefore provide a range of services to help improve mobility on your farm, and are keen to work with professional trimmers to provide a collaborative approach.
Our mobility services include:
- AHDB Healthy Feet Programme
- ROMS Accredited Mobility Scoring
- Treatment of lame cows
- Lanta Accredited Foot Trimming Training Courses
AHDB Healthy Feet Programme
Ed, Sarah and Will S are all qualified Mobility Mentors and can therefore deliver the industry accredited AHDB Healthy Feet Programme on your farm. This incorporates a review of the lesions causing lameness on farm and a thorough environmental and management assessment to identify the contributing factors. After the knowledge and skill of farm staff is evaluated, the whole team is brought together to agree an achievable action plan.
Outcomes are assessed through further mobility scoring and data review so that goals can be altered as improvements are made. Also, we can make detailed recommendations based on the current best evidence about many aspects of lameness control, including:
- Lameness identification and treatment
- Foot bath design and strategy
- Cow time budgets
- Building design
- Slurry management
- Cubicle comfort
- Cow flow and handling system design
- Pasture infrastructure (tracks and fencing)
- Nutrition
- Foot trimming crushes and equipment
- Breeding and youngstock management
Mobility Scoring
Early detection and prompt effective treatment has been shown to be one of the quickest and most effective ways to reduce lameness on farm. We can offer regular mobility scoring through our Vet Tech team to identify the cows which would benefit from treatment, allowing rapid treatment which will lead to improved cure rates. Mobility scoring is followed by a prompt report detailing which cows need to be seen, as well as identifying chronic cows from previous tests. All our mobility scorers are ROMS accredited which means scores will satisfy supermarket milk contracts.
Treatment of Problem Cows
Some chronically lame cows, such as those with a toe necrosis or other none healing lesions, can benefit from more radical treatment under local anaesthetic. Our vets are happy to either undertake this themselves or work alongside your trimmer to use our local anaesthesia techniques alongside their trimming expertise to ensure the best outcome for these cows.
We offer courses at two different levels:
First Aid for Feet
A one-day Lantra certified course to develop basic skills and knowledge, content includes:
- Basic anatomy of the foot/landmarks
- Tools for the job (including knife sharpening)
- Mobility scoring overview
- Recognition of main lesions causing lameness
- Handling, lifting and examination of a foot
- Introduction to the 5-step trimming method
- Treatment protocols: Block choice and NSAID administration
- Practical lesion treatment/blocking
Intermediate Foot Trimming
This 3-day course builds on the basic level course, covering areas in more depth, as well as expanding knowledge and skills in other areas:
- Anatomical overview and lesion development
- Tools for the job (including knife sharpening) and grinder use
- Mobility scoring overview
- Recognition of lesions causing lameness and recording
- Handling, lifting and examination of a foot
- The 5-step method
- Treatment protocols: Block choice and NSAID administration (including vet referral)
- Practical trimming and lesion treatment/blocking
- Lameness prevention: Success Factors
We also offer ROMS Mobility Scorer training.
Mastitis, SCC & Milk Quality
Mastitis can be one of the most costly diseases on farm, affecting yields, cow health and profitability. The George Farm Vets are well equipped to fully investigate and diagnose mastitis problems.
- Decades of experience investigating mastitis on farm
- Multiple trained AHDB Mastitis control plan providers
- Access to Interherd, Interherd +, TotalVet, Dairy comp and Unifrom agri data analysis programs
- In-house lab for culture and ID of mastitis pathogens
- Mastitis data reviews are done every 6 months for all our milk recording herds with the aim of spotting issues early on.
- Individual treatment protocols tailored to the farm
- Medicine handling and drying off training
- Parlour visits and milking parlour assessments
- Teat scoring and udder singeing services available
TB Testing & Apha Duties
We understand the stress and strain that TB testing and restrictions can put on a business. All farm vets and approved TB testers are registered APHA official veterinarians, licensed to perform TB testing, statutory brucellosis (abortion) enquiries and anthrax examination. We also have authorisation to issue licenses for export of stock and products.
In an attempt to reduce the financial implications of pre-movement TB testing, all pre-movement tests are booked as discounted visits with our hourly rates reduced by 20%.
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We provide TB Advisory Service (TBAS) visits, with members of the team trained as TBAS advisors. These visits are completely free and give an opportunity for farmers to discuss their concerns and worries about the disease and what they feel can be done to improve TB control. Ben Sellick is our Veterinary Lead for TB. Ben is working to help inform future TB control policy and sits as veterinary advisor on the National Farmers Union TB Advisory Group and is part of the Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) Partnership.
Dairy Fertility
Fertility is a fundamental pillar of dairy business resilience; we encourage all clients to have routine fertility sessions booked with their designated named vets. The ongoing client-vet relationship is key to us providing the best support to individual client’s needs and producing tangible value driven by fertility performance. These sessions are tailored on a weekly, fortnightly or four weekly basis based on individual farm requirements.
We pride ourselves on data analysis, tracking fertility performance and integrating trends with broader areas of farm performance to enact practical management changes customised to farm-specific needs. We routinely utilise management software such as Interherd, Interherd +, TotalVet, Uniform Agri and Dairy Comp as part of this process, as well as a number of other system specific farm programmes.
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We understand that achieving success requires a team driven approach; we routinely work with a wide array of external consultants and companies ranging from breeding companies to nutritionists as part of our on-farm approach to fertility management.
Training courses
We provide support for your on-farm AI team in the form of training courses for beginners, refresher courses for trained staff and consultatory input to identify potential bottlenecks in AI performance. Our vets are well placed to follow up on success rates and ensure realisation from training to pregnancy outcomes on-farm.
Embryo Collection and Transfer Services
Our ET team offers a full package of embryo services to capitalize on herd genetic progression, including conventional flushing of high genetic merit animals and embryo implantation. We offer on-farm collection, freezing, fresh or frozen implantation and frozen embryo storage. There a number of formats and options for exploring the benefits that ET work can provide, a key element of the ET process is discussion with our team to determine how best to utilize these techniques in a way that will produce the best outcomes.
As an aside from our ET programmes, we offer an embryo implantation service for repeat breeder cows. This can help improve conception rates by up to 20%!
Genetic Analysis and Genomics
At the George Farm Vets, we provide a complete genetic analysis and testing service through Clarifide and Clarifide plus. This allows our dairy clients to fully understand the genetic strengths and weaknesses of their herd; then, using genomic testing of maiden heifers, animals can be selected to improve key areas of production.
The AHDB herd genetic analysis is the starting point in which, data from breeding records and production data of your herd, shows where your herd is in relation to yield, milk quality, cell count, fertility performance and much more. From this we can tailor heifer and bull selection to improve the genetic potential of the herd.
Prediction of performance of maiden heifers can be difficult with predictions based on parent average only being ~30% reliable. With a simple tissue sample from the ear the genetic code of a heifer can be examined, and reliability of the data received is >70%. This allows you to make better breeding decisions and improve the genetic progress of your herd.
A tailored genetic index can be set using your specific goals and we can use this to select the best heifers to breed from. If you would like to discuss genetic analysis or start genomic testing of your herd, please contact us at the practice.
Herd Health Planning
The practice is heavily involved in herd health planning for all types and sizes of farms. Our health plans are regularly updated to conform to the requirements outlined by the British Red Tractor Standards Scheme. They are designed to help carry out a meaningful assessment and analysis of the farm data, to put in place practical management and husbandry measures that benefits both the welfare of the stock and the productivity of the farm. An automatic reminder system enables us to help you stay in date with your plan and avoid those last-minute panics to get it updated!
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The purchase of stock can be a significant risk factor for introducing disease to a naive herd. To help prevent this we suggest pre-purchase health status reports are obtained from the herd of origin. We arrange this by contacting the vendor’s vets with a health status request; we are then best placed to advise you whether the stock will match your herd, or if any other tests should be performed prior to purchase.
Nutritional Evaluation
What and how cows are fed is the key to healthy and productive cows. The George Farm Vets can support you at all levels of feeding the cow:
- Ration formulation with the help of DietCheck
- Silage and grass analysis
- Penn state separator analysis of TMRs
- Body condition scoring (BCS)
- Full rumen health visits including faecal sieving and rumenocentesis
- Data analysis of milk constituents to help identify how the cows are responding to a ration
- Metabolic profiling via blood samples in our in-house lab or external labs
Infectious Disease
Prevention and control of infectious disease is the cornerstone of a healthy herd. The George Farm Vets is actively engaged with national control plans, including the National Johnes management plan and BVDfree. Through on-farm risk assessments, vaccination and thorough testing regimes we have a proven track record of reducing and eradicating disease on our farms:
- All vets are trained BCVA TB, Johnes and BVD advisors
- Competitive vaccine pricing combined with comprehensive vaccination plans
- Access to My healthy herd software to centralise disease control plans
- Testing schemes through NML for automatic bulk milk sampling for BVD, IBR, Leptospirosis and Liver fluke
- National Johnes management control plan compliant health plans and testing protocols through milk recording organisations
- TBAS accredited TB advisors
Sustainability in Farming
The George Farm Vets believe that farming has a vital role to play in the future care of our environment. We are committed to helping our clients equip themselves for the new sustainable targets of the future:
- We have set up a Sustainable farming group with up to 50 active members
- Regular meetings and talks from external speakers
- Use of the carbon calculator
- Expertise in the use and advantages of herbal lays
- A 10% reduction in antibiotic use year on year across our clients
- Close links with the Soil Association to promote soil health
- AHDB grazing mentors within the practice
- Working alongside Vet Sustain to make sure the veterinary profession is also doing its bit
Organic Production
We are aware of the different challenges facing our organic clients and are experienced at working within the organic regulations. Our focus on preventative medicine ties in closely with the organic principles, and it is an approach we encourage on all farms, both organic and conventional. To this end, our clients have consistently reduced their antibiotic use 10% year on year! We have close links with both the Soil Association and Organic farmers and growers. Many of our farms are producing milk without antibiotics (PWAB) and are fully committed to supporting our clients and achieving this status in the right way.
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Our Organic Discussion Group brings organic farmers together, on a regular basis, to share knowledge and experience on all aspects of cattle health and production. A lot of the group’s time is spent on farm trying to find practical ways to implement this knowledge to maximise profitability and improve animal health.
