BEEF FOCUS: Disease control drives on farm performance and stores price

BY taking a more preventative approach to livestock diseases, David Monkhouse says he has reduced his annual vet bill and lost less animals at Low Houslop, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham.

He credits his vet, Debby Brown, of Castle Vets in Barnard Castle, with raising his awareness of the risk of transmissible diseases – particularly BVD in his suckler herd.

Mrs Brown encourages her clients to use ‘My Healthy’ Herd’, a website-based scheme designed to help farmers and vets manage the health of dairy and beef herds.

Farmer members can enter their livestock health data, and compare their status with other registered herds.

The website also includes a trading section, where producers can identify disease-monitored livestock which is coming up for sale, and a biosecurity risk assessment, which uses a traffic lights system for scoring disease status and potential disease threats on individual farms.

Impressed with the concept of the health declaration system, Mrs Brown has taken the idea a stage further and obtained agreement from the local auction mart at Middleton-in-Teesdale to promote a pilot scheme which allows producers to promote their BVD-free status.

This satellite scheme is still in its early stages, but it has been trialled with some success at a couple of small sales. It is not unusual for vets at the practice to be approached by producers looking for BVD-free stores or replacements, she says.

Producers who enter livestock at these sales in Middleton-in-Teesdale auction mart are asked whether their cattle are BVD-monitored. Subsequently, cattle with BVD-negative status are made identifiable by an A4-sized ‘visa’ attached to their pens. They will also be highlighted in the sale catalogue, as well as by the auctioneer, when they enter the ring.

Harrison and Hetherington, the company behind the mart, has been fully supportive and some sponsorship has been gained from a BVD vaccine manufacturer.

Building a picture

Mrs Brown has built up a picture of the BVD status of cattle in the area by blood-testing clients’ cattle aged 6-18 months. To date, around 150 herds have been tested, with two-thirds showing a negative result.

Younger cattle are unsuitable for testing, as they may still harbour maternal antibodies, she says. Meanwhile, older cattle, especially those which have moved between farms, may be carrying antibodies without being carriers of the disease.

If more than 12 months have passed since the cattle were last tested, producers must arrange further blood tests, even if all their cattle are vaccinated and they have bought no new livestock during the period. While Mrs Brown admits the risk of these farms harbouring BVD is minimal, she says regular testing is necessary to maintain the credibility of the scheme.

“BVD is a relatively straightforward disease, with only a simple blood test required to determine its presence,” she says.

“There is also an effective vaccination available.

“This is not the case with some other transmissible diseases, like Johne’s for example.

“The ultimate aim would be to make Middleton a BVD-free mart, but that is a long way off at the moment. However, if the scheme proves to be a success, it is possible BVD-negative certified cattle will eventually attract a premium in the marketplace.

“I am hoping this system will spread to other marts and that it will encourage auctions to offer separate facilities for monitored livestock at some point in the future.”

Mr Monkhouse certainly supports the idea, as he is now aware of his BVD status and routinely vaccinates stock against it.

He and wife, Joyce, moved to Low Houslop in 2007, having previously farmed almost 40 hectares (100 acres) in North Yorkshire. They brought 50 Limousin cross suckler cows and 120 ewes from the old farm to Co. Durham, where they have almost 110ha (270 acres) of upland, plus some fell rights.

Numbers now stand at 76 cows and 450 ewes, with the flock comprising mainly Texel crosses put to a Charollais tup, as well as 250 horned ewes. Cattle are sold as stores, with lambs finished on the farm and marketed from late July through to March.

Mr Monkhouse says the web-based health scheme, which he signed up for in December 2008, has proved a useful tool for managing the threat of contagious livestock diseases. His home-bred livestock are run alongside animals which have been bought both privately and through the auction system.

Fortunately, cattle blood testing proved negative for all the main contagious diseases, except for two Johne’s reactors, which were immediately culled.

Two-week process

Mr Monkhouse now follows a set programme for all new livestock. Cattle are tested for Johne’s disease and BVD on arrival, and only join the rest of the herd once the results become available, a process which usually takes about two weeks.

Newly-purchased sheep are kept away from the main flock for around four weeks, which is long enough for most infectious diseases to become evident. A separate building is available for new animals during the winter, and Mr Monkhouse has identified a field suitable for isolation during turn-out.

Prior to using the services of Castle Vets, Mr Monkhouse had experienced some heavy losses, particularly in his cattle herd. Over the course of one winter, he lost three bullocks, two cows and his stock bull, due to a variety of causes. These events had an enormous impact on profitability that year. So far, all the cattle have remained healthy during 2009. Although he plans to use the certification system to attract potential buyers, this element is not his main priority

“After feed costs, the annual vet bill is one of the most expensive inputs on the farm,” he says. “A preventative approach makes sense, because healthier livestock perform better and keep vet bills down to a minimum.

“As well as being better for welfare, it improves my job satisfaction.

“No farmer wants to see sick animals or lose livestock, especially in cases where health issues could have been avoided with better planning.”

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