Vasectomy Season 2022!

Vasectomised or teaser rams are a great way to kick start cycling activity in the ewes making sure they are ready to go when the ram is introduced giving you a tighter lambing period.  The best candidates are 4-5 months old, and surgery needs to be completed a minimum of 6 weeks prior to introduction to allow for recovery.

Teasers should be in with ewes for 2 weeks before the ram takes over, so an 8-week lead time is necessary.

For more information read our full article or give the team a call on 01327 350239

Best foot forward – cattle lameness

Entire books and conference schedules are devoted to foot care in dairy cattle and, quite rightly, when the industry is running at an estimated 1 in 5 lame milkers. However, our sucklers, finishers and bulls get less attention than they deserve.

Studies have shown a wide range of interpretations of what lameness looks like on beef units with farmers not considering overgrown and misshapen feet and an abnormal gait as lame. Instead, many farmers only really appreciate that lameness is an indication of pain when severe lesions are present.

Cows walk oddly because they are uncomfortable – that could be because the foot is misshapen and cannot bear weight evenly or because there is an infection between the claws, or deeper within the foot which we can all agree must be painful.

We know around 85% of lameness comes from the foot so if you have the skills and equipment to lift, assess and treat the foot then great, but we are aware that some set ups don’t lend themselves to safely doing this. However, this doesn’t mean that all we can do is give antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and shrug our shoulders. We can confidently state that no antibiotic will sort a nail stuck in the foot!

Foot trimmers are in demand but will attend for individuals and perhaps just as usefully can then go through the group and neaten up any misshapen claws that pre-dispose animals to lameness and help prevent future cases.

If you don’t have a contact for foot trimming, please get in touch, we have a list or we will happily attend a lame animal if they can be restrained safely and appropriately.

Lameness in cattle of whatever shape or size rarely resolves itself and the quicker you intervene the sooner the animal recovers.  Quick treatment will also prevent deeper damage occurring that will ultimately protect against future foot problems.

Ouch! – Pain relief on the farm

When we’re on the farm we often identify animals that are in pain by changes in their behaviour such as reduced food intakes, lameness, isolation from the group, tooth grinding, depression and/or increased respiratory rate or effort.  Pain will reduce an animal’s performance, whether that be mothering ability, milk production or growth rate and must therefore be prevented and/or treated promptly to benefit both farm income and the animal itself.

It is not hard to think of a situation where an animal will experience pain – whether it’s due to a routine management procedure where we can anticipate and reduce pain, or when they suffer disease or injury, where it’s important that unexpected pain is treated promptly and effectively.

For example, the use of local anaesthetic when disbudding and de-horning cattle is not only a legal requirement but a useful tool to reduce handling stress for all involved.  The local simply blocks the pain without providing any long-term anti-inflammatory pain relief.  Studies have shown that the use of an anti-inflammatory treatment at the time of the procedure reduces the acute pain seen when the local anaesthetic wears off.  In addition to their use in de-horning, the same principle is also true for castration in calves (whichever technique is employed) and for tail docking in lambs.  All Red Tractor members must use anaesthetic and pain relief for disbudding, dehorning and castration of calves by any method other than rubber rings. 

Introducing non-steroidal anti-inflammatories

We have a range of anti-inflammatory pain relief available for cattle. These are classed as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs).  They are useful in a number of situations; as preventatives prior to a surgical procedure, as standalone treatment for an injury or in conjunction with a suitable antibiotic to reduce a high temperature or the inflammation associated with illnesses such as calf pneumonia or mastitis. NSAIDs also reduce tissue damage and make the animal feel better! This in turn means they are more likely to eat and helps reduce any check in weight gain due to ill health.  They are essentially the animal equivalent of popping a Nurofen and should be routinely included in treatment protocols.

There are no NSAIDs licensed for sheep, goats or alpacas – not because they don’t work or because these animals do not feel pain but purely because it would cost too much money for the drug companies to get a license. However, as vets we are able to prescribe these drugs under the cascade system. We have plenty of data to know they are effective in helping control pain and inflammation in these species.  It has been great to see so many people using NSAIDs over lambing this season and really seeing the benefit of a comfy ewe mothering her lambs after a tricky birth.

Last call for ‘Teaser Ram’ Vasectomies

Using vasectomised “teaser” rams is widely recognised as the best way to kick start cycling activity in a group of ewes at the same time.  This will make sure their ovaries are raring to go when tups are introduced to the field.

We are coming to the end of ‘Vasectomy time’ at Towcester Farm Vets so if you have not already considered using Teaser Rams, then now’s the time to give us a call.

Contact our Farm vets about Ram Vasectomies

There are three benefits to using teaser rams

1. They achieve a more compact lambing period
2. This will lead to a better use of labour and resources come lambing time
3. More compact lambing periods also help reduce the risk of disease in young lambs

 How to choose and use teaser rams

The best candidates for your teasers are young rams, from 4-5 months of age, as they are generally more energetic, have good teeth and joints and less health concerns (what more could any ewe want..!).

One teaser can be expected to work with 100 ewes.  We can perform the short operation under sedation on farm or at the surgery and as long as you can provide a pen, some water and someone to help hold the ram we carry everything else with us.  Given the time of year good fly cover needs to be in place to prevent flystrike of the operation site.

Timings are important – surgery needs to be completed a minimum of 6 weeks before they are due to work to allow for recovery. It is recommended that teasers go in with the ewes for 14 days before the tups are introduced, so an 8-week lead time to the start of the service period is required. This mean that we are coming to the end of vasectomy time at Towcester Farm Vets, so if you have not already taken action now’s the time to give us a call.

Optimising the effect of teaser rams

The ewes will respond better if kept away from the sight, sound and smell of a male (by at least a mile!) for a month before the teaser goes in with them.  As the aim is to get the ewe’s served in a shorter time frame you will need to ensure the tups are in peak condition to serve and increase ram numbers to meet demand (1 ram to around 20-30 ewes)

For more information or to book in any vasectomies, please contact the surgery.