Welsh Regional
Veterinary Centre

Projects

HCC/RVC BVD Project

The Welsh Regional Veterinary Centre (WRVC) has embarked on a programme in collaboration with Meat Promotion Wales/ Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) to promote BVD control in the Welsh beef industry.

By contacting the office at the WRVC farmers are able to gain funding to start the process of becoming accredited. Those farmers with BVD present on their farm are then eligible for support to eradicate this disease on farm with the use of an accredited programme.

By being part of this project farmers and their vets will be able to call not only on financial support from the HCC but on the expertise of veterinarians at the WRVC and its parent organisation the Royal Veterinary College.

If farmers are interested they should contact the WRVC.

Johne's Disease and Calf Scour Project (2011)

In the period February 2011 to April 2011 we will be running a project funded by the Dairy Development Centre (DDC) at Gelli Aur to look at Johne’s disease and Calf scour on the demonstration farms of the DDC. In total 13 farms will be visited, of which 7 in North Wales and 6 in South Wales.

Johne’s Disease

The aim is to check for presence of Johne’s disease on farm, identify risks for introduction and spread of the disease on farm, and formulate a strategy to combat Johne's on the specific farm.

On farm a risk analysis is done for the introduction and spread of Johne’s disease, to identify farm specific risks. A 30-cow check test is done to test for the presence of Johne’s disease on the farm. Both the laboratory results and the farm specific risks are discussed with the farmer, and a strategy to combat Johne’s is discussed. This could include: addressing specific risks of disease entry, using regular testing to identify medium and high risk animals, management strategy for medium and high risk animals, monitoring annually with a 30 cow check-test.

Calf Scour

The aim is to identify presence of neonatal scour pathogens on farm, and the success of uptake of antibodies (passive transfer) in neonatal calves.

Samples from 5 neonatal (<7 day old) calves are tested for the most common scour pathogens in young ruminants. These include: Cryptosporidia, Rota virus, Corona virus, Salmonella, E.coli F5. From these calves the uptake of antibodies from the colostrum is also measured both by measuring Total Protein and by the Zink Sulphate Turbidity test (ZST). These tests are both performed on serum. Where colostrum is available, the colostrum quality is measured with a colostrum densimeter and with the Brix refractometer. Results from the laboratory test are discussed on farm.

IDIS Project (2009-2010)

Currently we are running a project funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, called the Infectious Disease Investigation Service (IDIS). During this 2 year project we will be visiting around 300 dairy and beef farms in South West Wales that have a bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) breakdown.
During the visits we will gather data about all aspects of the farm management that have an effect on the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. The focus will be on bTB, as well as other infectious diseases like BVD, IBR, Leptospirosis and Johne’s disease.
The aim of the project is to gain specific information of factors playing a role in the introduction of infectious disease into the herd, as well as the dynamics involved in the continuation of infection within the herd. In addition the project will focus on improving knowledge and understanding of infectious diseases by final year veterinary students and farmers.

SCC Project (Spring 2008)

In a specific project funded by the Dairy Development Centre, the vets of the WRVC have visited 57 farms throughout Wales from March till May 2008. During the visits at milking the vets collected samples and observed the milking routine.
The overall finding of the project is that Staphylococcus aureus is the main bacteria in herd with high bulk somatic cell counts. Managing the high cell count cows was the most frequently used recommendation. This will reduce the cell counts, but also the infection pressure during milking.
Regarding the quality of the milking plant, liner change and vacuum reserve are two main areas for improvement. Great improvements can be made in the level of cleanliness of the cows and the milking routine that is used.
This project has been beneficial to farms in pinpointing the problem areas on the farm with regards to cell counts, bactoscans and mastitis rates. By identifying farm specific recommendations this will help reducing cell counts and enables them to produce higher quality milk with a better pay.

Welsh Regional Veterinary Centre
College Farm, Gelli Aur tel 01554 748597

This page was last modified on 19 August 2011