Why it pays to prevent disease outbreaks – in more ways than one

Ialways find the last two weeks of March the most strenuous time of year on the farm. Here it coincides with peak lambing and calving season. The weather can be difficult — as it is this year — and a lot of animals, if not all, can still be housed. Silage or feed is usually running low and the slurry levels rising rapidly. This all adds to the pressure and stress levels. A lot of the work is still very much manual labour, unlike other busy times of the year.

One of the factors that increase the workload right now is a disease outbreak in the sheds. It is usually in the newborns and could be anything from scour to joint ill. Most of these issues are caused by lack of hygiene.

This is one area for improvement we have focused on this spring. It is next to impossible to keep on top of everything during lambing and calving, and sometimes near the end we can get a bit relaxed with the cleanliness of the shed, pens and equipment, through no fault of our own due to sheer workload.

A disease outbreak can cost a lot — both in time and money. Animals have increased in value over the last number of years and the treatment of sick cattle or sheep has become costly. So it is best to prevent the problems if at all possible.

It is often just the basics that are the most important.

Back in the summer, the sheds were cleaned out and disinfected. They then had a few months to dry out before the winter housing and then the spring lambing and calving, which I think makes a big difference.

At the start of the lambing or calving, it is easy to keep on top of the bedding, as numbers are small and oneself is fresh and enthusiastic for the new season. Once it comes to this time of the season, though, numbers are at their peak and other jobs or tasks on the farm are becoming more demanding.

This year on our own farm, we happen to have more help for the duration of the calving and lambing. One of the students insisted that the areas where any young animal was lying or being born were kept in a clean and dry condition.

I didn’t disagree with them, as I was already seeing the benefits after a few weeks into both the lambing and calving.

The only disadvantage was that we used about 25pc more straw than other years — in a year where straw is both scarce and expensive.

That said, I think it was well worth the extra cost of the straw and time spent bedding — because what price can you put on the treatment of sick animals if you add in your time treating them plus the cost of the loss of production, let alone the loss of one or more of them?

In addition to using more straw, we applied way more lime between bedding or moved animals to different pens.

This year, we purchased the cubicle lime in tonne bags and it worked out way cheaper than the small 25kg bags. There are a number of quarries or companies supplying that product. Lime also has a great drying effect and is super absorbent, especially at a time of wet weather when dampness can get into the sheds.

Also, for the last number of years, we have been using a product called Kenocox. This is a broad-spectrum disinfectant that is very efficient against coccidiosis and cryptosporidiosis. Any farmer that has had an issue with either or both together will know the devastating and highly destructive damage that these diseases can cause to any young animal.

We used this product after the sheds were powerwashed, but also during the lambing and calving. We tried to spray the gates and around the water troughs, and any other area or equipment in the sheds that these young animals might be coming into contact with.

Finally, we placed a few more disinfectant points around the farmyard, especially between the different sheds on site.

Get back to the basics of washing wellies and wet gear (at this time of the year, a livestock farmer is literally living in them), plus use plenty of disposable gloves.

Also, we need to be more aware of visitors to the farmyard, particularly people in the industry travelling from one farm to another in association with their work. While most are aware of the biosecurity measures on farms, it might still need to be pointed out to others.