Bespoke herd and flock health plans

With the help of programmes such as MyHealthyHerd we can provide tailored health plans for both beef and dairy herds, and sheep flocks.

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We use FarmAssist and VetImpress to help collate data for farms to allow them to complete their required antibiotic audit in conjunction with our vets.

We offer plans that fulfil the conditions of FAWL and Red Tractor Farm Assurance Schemes, and more sophisticated plans offering complete management and monitoring of all aspects of herd and flock health.

Farmer discussion groups

We run the DEW club, a discussion group for dairy farmers with quarterly meetings and benchmarking.

The Flock Health Club brings together enthusiastic sheep farmers. The package includes annual health plan review and some diagnostic testing, regular farm visits and discussion group meetings.

New members are always welcome - please speak to Amy (DEW club) or Iolo or Fflur (Flock Health club) for more information. Sadly these have been postponed in 2020 due to COVID but will be up and running again when it is safe to do so. 

Fertility Investigations

At Camlas Farm Vets we offer flexible routine fertility visits which allow us to diagnose pregnancy, to check cows not seen in heat and treat them as required, to do post-natal checks, to synchronise breeding, to see other problem cows and to discuss any fertility issues specific to your herd on a regular basis. We have several types of portable ultrasound scanner available depending on what fertility work we are undertaking. We also offer the use of Interherd, Interherd+, TotalVet and analysis of milk recording data to help you assess your current performance and target areas for improvement, in order to maximise your herd’s fertility performance. Amy McKie holds a Diploma in Bovine Reproduction.

For bulls and rams we also offer investigation of fertility problems including pre-breeding examinations and semen testing. We can also vasectomise males to be used as teasers and can offer advice on sheep synchronisation and breeding.

Young stock health and management

We work with farmers to help investigate and manage common calf problems such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, both to treat affected calves and minimise future outbreaks. This can also include advice on calf buildings and calf management.

We also give advice to farmers on lamb rearing, especially targeted anthelmintic use. We offer same-day Faecal Egg Counts using the latest FECPAK software to help treat your young stock effectively.

Parasite control

We use the FECPAC G2 service to get rapid and cheap worm egg counts for your flock. Worm egg counting is essential for any flock to decide:

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When to drench for best growth

When not to drench – saving time and money, and reducing resistance

Which drench to use and the optimal time

Whether there is any resistance present on the farm to the wormer product used

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We can also use worm egg counts to provide a similar service for weaned young stock. We offer post mortem and/or laboratory testing for other parasites such as coccidiosis, liver fluke, lice, and mites (scab) and can offer advice on parasite treatment in farm animals to help get the best out of your stock.

Infectious disease control - cattle

With greater movement of animals than before, biosecurity is vital to reduce the risk of your flock or herd encountering new diseases and to maximise their performance. Please feel free to speak to a member of our veterinary team for biosecurity advice. 

We can also set up diagnostic and monitoring services to assess the level of infectious diseases in your animals. In cattle this includes BVD, Leptospirosis, IBR, Johne’s disease, Neospora and liver fluke.  Our vets trained in offering TB advisory 'Cymorth' visits.

Johne's disease control: We are committed to helping our dairy farms complete their Johne's Declarations, ensuring they have comprehensive Johne's Control Plans tailored to their farm.

Speak to one of our BCVA accredited Johne's Veterinary Advisors if you wish to develop a bespoke Johne's disease management plan in line with the National Johne's Management Plan.

BVD control: We also have BCVA-accredited BVD advisors, and work with both Gwaredu BVD in Wales and BVD Stamp It Out in England to offer funding for BVD screening of herds.
 

Mobility scoring and lameness management

With more and more milk contracts requiring farmers to perform mobility scoring of their herd we are happy to offer that service. We have a trained member of staff who carries out locomotion scoring on a regular basis, allowing us to use the data in order to monitor and reduce the prevalence of lameness in the herd.

We can offer advice on the most successful methods of treating lame cows and the most current advice on prevention. This can include implementation of a full lameness control plan based around a full assessment of all aspects of farm management and ongoing monitoring of progress. Iolo White and Cerys Evans are accredited members of the Register of Mobility Scorers and Iolo is also a qualified AHDB Mobility Mentor able to offer the AHDB Healthy Feet Programme.

Mastitis and somatic cell count (SCC) investigations

With the use of Interherd, Interherd+ and Herd Companion we are able to analyse your somatic cell count performance and offer advice on how to reduce your somatic cell count most effectively.

We are also able to help with both acute mastitis outbreaks and chronic mastitis problems within the herd, again offering cost-effective advice on how to reduce mastitis cases and treating cases most effectively.

Amy McKie is qualified and registered to implement the full DairyCo Mastitis Control Plan, which offers a full review of all aspects of mastitis and somatic cell count controls.

Nutritional advice

We can offer advice in assessing whether your current ration meets the needs of your animals. We offer a full range of monitoring methods including body condition scoring (BCS), rumen fill scoring, dung assessment, analysis of milk recording data and metabolic blood profiling. We can also give evidence-based advice on the use of mineral supplements in both cattle and sheep. 

Body condition scoring is invaluable in helping assess the energy status of dairy cows in different stages of their lactation. Used in conjunction with nutritional data this can help in maximising their performance and reducing the risk of problems such as calving difficulties.

We also recommend body condition scoring of sheep at critical timepoints to help minimise problems during lambing periods. We offer training for farmers wishing to learn to accurately body condition score their sheep or cattle.

Housing and building advice

Housing is an important factor in many diseases including calf pneumonia, lameness, and mastitis in cows.

We can offer analysis of current housing facilities to identify any problems such as poor ventilation, and offer possible solutions to any problems found. We are also keen to advise on future buildings to prevent such problems arising in the first place.

TB testing

We offer pre- and post-movement testing of cattle as well as DEFRA-related work. Our Cymorth-trained vets can also assess farms and discuss with farmers methods to best protect their cattle from TB. Welsh farmers may be eligible for Cymorth TB visits funded by Welsh Government.