Afon Vets Farm Services

23/02/2022

We have recently been able to source 500ml bottles of Ca/Mag/Phos suitable for use in treating ewes at lambing time with hypocalcaemia. We are also stocking 500ml bottles of 30% glucose solution in plastic bottles -ideal for diluting and treating lambs with hypothermia in these wet and windy conditions and immucol powdered lamb colostrum -a high quality lamb colostrum.
Don't forget to read our latest lambing focus newsletter we have just sent out to all clients ,and collect your free lambing treatment guide from the practice when collecting your farm supplies this lambing time🐑🐑🐑

03/02/2022

As part of the Welsh Government Bovine TB Eradication Programme a Contract was awarded to collect badger found dead carcases for post mortem.As a practice we are able to hold dead badgers prior to collection for post mortem at the Wales vet science centre in Aberystwyth.This scheme provides important data on the health of our local badger population
For further information please contact the practice on 01639 642739

03/02/2022

All sheep farming clients are invited to an online talk presented by ni**od vet suppplies who produce several products used by our practice team on farm.

Find out:

How, when & why to use oral fluid therapy
How to manage twin-lamb disease & hypocalcaemia
How to give your lambs the best start
The talk is on the 2nd March at 7.30p.m via Zoom
Everyone who attends will be entered into a prize draw, CPD certificates can be issued if required.

To register please email your name to wilton.e@ni**odvet.co.uk

24/12/2021

Wishing All our clients a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas and good new year.Thankyou for your continued support of our independent vet practice and we look forward to working with you all in 2022
Afon vets Farm team

25/05/2021

Nemtodirus risk is now high on farms where this worm occurs.
Signs to watch out for ;Young lambs (6-12 weeks) are affected by nematodirosis:
• Sudden onset, profuse watery diarrhoea with “dirty back ends”.
• Lambs are dull and depressed, stop suckling with rapid and obvious dehydration and condition loss (develop a gaunt appearance).
• Deaths due to dehydration (in early outbreaks death can occur with-out obvious signs of scour).
• Weight loss in the remaining lambs.
BENDIMIDAZOLE DRENCH IS EFFECTIVE
DISEASE USUALLY OCCURS WITHIN 1 -2 WEEKS OF HATCHING

14/04/2021

Have more than 2% of ewes in your flock aborted or have 2 or more ewes aborted over 2 to 3 days? Sounds like you need to test your flock for Enzootic Abortion in Ewes (EAE). Visit www.enzooticabortion.co.uk or contact our vet team at Afon for information

24/01/2021

Calf Pneumonia is often a problem at this time of year and it has many causes - modern testing techniques mean we can now determine what infectious causes are present on farm rapidly and advise on vaccinations for the current year and moving forward- however in the fight against pneumonia there are some key elements you need to get right:
•Colostrum –provides immunoglobulins that give immunity to the calf so that it can fight disease. Calves ability to absorb immunoglobulins is greatest immediately after birth-24 hrs max
•Ventilation –it is essential to reduce the transmission of airborne pathogens from calf to calf and prevent damage to the respiratory system by dust or noxious gases. fresh air kills 905of viruses that cause pneumonia in under 5 minutes!
•Stress –Calves stress can lead to suppression of the immune system. Minimise stress by keeping handling to a minimum and ensuring you have good handling facilities.

24/01/2021

Winter has really arrived to the practice, the farm team are busy out and about on calls.Don't forget that farming connect funded animal health clinics are up and running again with covid precautions in place , this week we will be working with clients on sampling for sheep abortion queries, fluke detection, calf pneumonia outbreak monitoring and measuring calf colostrum levels of protection. For information on what we can offer on your farm please call a member of our farm team.

02/01/2021

20/12/2020

As part of ongoing Bovine TB eradication plan in Wales,our practice is part of a funded service which exists to collect and submit carcasses of badgers found dead in our practice area for post mortem. The aim of this survey is to provide greater information on the scale of bTB and other diseases within the Welsh badger population.
We encourage all farmers to support this investigation by reporting dead badgers which they find so they can be collected for testing. Badgers should not be handled but should be reported to 08081695110, or via the website: https://www.bfd.wales.

As part of the Welsh Government Bovine TB Eradication Programme a Contract was awarded to collect badger found dead carcases for post mortem purposes. These post mortem examinations will provide useful information on the nature of the disease within the badger population across Wales. It is importan...

12/11/2020

APHA are offering full post-mortems with diagnostic work up for free on up to 3 thin ewes off participating farms up until the end of december,They will look specifically and test for the “iceberg diseases” OPA, Johnes, Maedi Visna and Border disease.for more information ,please contact the farm team at Afon vets.

12/11/2020

Bird Flu:
Although there are currently no findings of Avian Influenza in Wales, as a precautionary measure in response to the increased risk level, an All Wales Avian Influenza Prevention Zone has been declared as of Wednesday 11 November at 17:00. The Prevention Zone has introduced mandatory enhanced biosecurity measures across Wales for all bird keepers, in order to protect their birds and the national flock.

All keepers of poultry and other captive birds, irrespective of how those birds are kept, are to take appropriate and practicable steps, including:

· Ensuring the areas where birds are kept are unattractive to wild birds, for example by netting ponds, and by removing wild bird food sources;

· Taking steps to feed and water your birds in enclosed areas to discourage wild birds;

· Minimising movement of people in and out of bird enclosures;

· Cleaning and disinfecting footwear and keeping areas where birds live clean and tidy;

· Reducing any existing contamination by cleansing and disinfecting concrete areas, and fencing off wet or boggy areas.

Keepers with more than 500 birds are also required to take some extra biosecurity measures.

03/11/2020

Examination of skin scrape samples from sheep showing suspect clinical signs of sheep scab is being offered free of charge in Wales, by the APHA and funded by the Welsh Government, between 2nd November 2020 and the 31st March 2021.Samples will be sent to APHA lab in Camarthen.For more information contact the farm team on 01639642739 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑

20/10/2020

The farm team will be continuing to provide our full service during the impending all Wales lockdown.TB testing ,fertility work and attending sick animals will all continue as normal as will our full out of hours provision to all our registered farm and small animal clients.
Welsh government has announced the temporary suspension of any Cymorth TB visits and Farming connect animal health clinics remain suspended in the local lockdown areas as previously.🐑🐄🐖

17/09/2020

Farming Connect animal health clinics- Funding (£250 plus vat) is still available for these animal health clinics .The farm team have been busy working with clients using this funding on topics across animal health including trace element testing, fertility testing in rams and bulls, fluke testing and drench resistance clinics. Don't miss out on this funding and call the farm team on 01639 642739.🐑🐄🐄

17/09/2020

Afon vets is a member of iechyd da which delivers TB testing services to our farmer clients.Please complete the survey below on feedback for this organisation

Please take the survey titled "Iechyd Da (Gwledig) Ltd - Customer Satisfaction Survey". Your feedback is important!

02/07/2020

Farming Connect Animal health clinics have reopened in a new window from July 13th.You will need to be registered with farming connect .Funding is available for up to £250 per farm and covers a number of actions to include Blood Testing,Fertility Testing,Genetic Disorders,abortion investigation,Postmortem,Trace Elements and faecal egg counts.For more information please contact the surgery and ask to speak to the farm vet team. Risk assessments will be carried out prior to any visits undertaken

04/06/2020

Following the recent rain we are anticipating a sudden rise in numbers of infective worm larvae pastures where lambs are grazing particularly ,where FEC counts up until now in this very dry season have been consistently low - monitor your lambs closely and be prepared to go in quickly with a worming dose over the next fortnight -by the time adult worms have developed in the lambs intestines the damage will already have been done,causing significant reduction in weight gain and long term poor performance.

28/05/2020

Faecal egg counts carried out this week continue to show relatively high numbers of nematodirus eggs so lambs under the age of 8 weeks grazing may still be at risk on local farms with a history of nematodirus

21/04/2020

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE NEMATODIRUS RISK FOR OUR AREA HAS BEEN RAISED TO HIGH FOLLOWING THE RECENT SPATE OF WARM WEATHER.ON FARMS WHERE NEMATODIRUS IS AN ANNUAL PROBLEM WE ARE EXPECTING AN EARLY HATCH.LAMBS AT RISK SHOULD BE WORMED WITH A BENZIMIDAZOLE FAMILY DRENCH AND MONITORED CLOSELY.FURTHER DRENCHES MAY BE REQUIRED OVER THE COMING WEEKS.FOR MORE🐑🐑🐑 INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT THE FARM TEAM.STAY SAFE.AFON VETS

03/04/2020

We hope you are keeping safe and well.In light of the recent outbreak we have split the practice team on farm to reduce the chances of us all isolating at the same time! We are still delivering a full service to our farm clients as usual at this busy time of year.If you require medicines these can be ordered as previously and collected from our Neath Surgery where we have a farm meds collection point. We are also still currently carrying out routine tb and pre-movement testing until instructed to stop by APHA.To help keep everyone safe we are working where possible to social distance guidelines - this is difficult if not impossible with some of the jobs we work with you on,but we are all trying! please excuse us if we don't call in for a cup of tea - we miss it as well! At least the weather has been beautiful in the last few weeks and the lambs are in the fields.Stay safe and well from all the farm team 🐑🐑🐑🐑

09/01/2020

The farm team at Afon are now able to deliver and certify for farmers LANTRA approved medicine training courses.These are required with Red tractor Assurance standards and are good practice for all stock keepers to undertake.We can deliver on a 1:1 basis or small groups and the course can be tailored to a workshop format with a combination of presentation/workbook materials depending on client requests .More details to follow in due course

09/01/2020

A big thank you to all the clients who attended our Pre- lambing meeting last night.Next week on the 15th we will tackle targeting lambing losses and maximising lambing performance.We still have some spaces left,please call the surgery on 01639 642739.

01/01/2020

Happy new Year to all our clients-don't forget to register for our vet team led lambing workshops on 8th and 15th of January at our Neath meeting room...to book your place please call 01639 642739

24/12/2019

Wishing all our clients a very happy and peaceful christmas and New Year,Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda from all the team at Afon vets

24/11/2019

Rotavirus has made an early appearance this winter on stock farms.Watch out for scouring young calves and get samples tested to check for infectious agents.Advice on treating scouring calves and vaccinations available to prevent infectious scours is available from the farm team at Afon vets🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄🐄

24/11/2019

Our duty farm vets have attended two cases of magnesium staggers in cows with calves at foot outdoors on separate farms over the last 2 days.With limited grazing available underfoot cows still outdoors with their calves will be under metabolic stress. If still out with calves at foot, supplementary feeding is required or house.Weather forecast again looks very changeable for the coming week so risk of staggers will continue.🐄🐄

22/08/2019

Flock owners where nematodirus is a problem at spring time need to monitor their lambs this autmn.2019 saw a very early nematodirus hatch with limited exposure to lambs,therefore these lambs will not have gained immunity.The pattern of nematodirus infection is changing across the uk and we are now seeing an autumn spike in levels on pasture as well the spring rise.Benzimidazoles remain the effective treatment of choice for dealing with nematodirus

23/06/2019

Today we diagnosed the first case of Redwater in cattle seen in the practice.This was in the Bridgend locality.This disease is caused by a protozoan parasite called Babesia and is transmitted by ticks .It causes red blood cells in the blood stream to rupture with potential fatal consequences.Clinical signs include high temperature, dullness and passing red coloured urine.We diagnosed the case based on clinical history and blood films analysed at the practice. Treatment is possible.
There are no licensed tick insecticides licensed for cattle in the UK but sheep products can be used.Ideally do not graze cattle during summer months in tick infested pasture eg moorland,apply insecticides regularly and monitor cattle for clinical signs.For more information on ticks please visit the COWS website.