Beef news and advice from the LLM Farm Vets team in Shropshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire.
Our Whitchurch vets, Alkis and Laura, had an unusual call the other week to a cow calving with a dead calf that was ‘awkward to get’! Opting for a caesarean after confirming it was indeed awkward and darn right odd! On cutting into the uterus, it became clear this was […]
By Holly Dodd -SQP
As the grazing season has started it is crucial to be proactive about parasite control. Worm egg counts are a simple but effective way of managing your worm burden and act as a good indication of whether to worm and treat your herd or not.
What […]
Wales’ new BVD eradication scheme officially came into act today (1st July) and its already causing some headaches at cattle markets! Many livestock auctions will now be displaying the BVD status of animals in the sale ring – or the status of their origin herds. This is to help reassure […]
Bluetongue continues to be a concern for UK livestock farmers, but the situation this spring is quite different to what we experienced last year. Here is a clear update on where things stand and what actions we should be taking now.
Current Situation
At present, the risk […]
Sexed semen use has rocketed over the past decade. Its use can boost the proportion of female dairy calves born (producing more replacements from fewer cows) and can skew the gender-balance of beef calves towards the more valuable male calves. However, sexed semen needs using carefully to […]
By Rob Hall
The UK leads the global rankings for sexed semen use – 84% of all dairy-breed inseminations are sexed semen in 2025. This is up from just 14% ten years ago; a strong swing which demonstrates confidence in the quality of sexed semen available.
Figure 1 – Proportion […]
As turnout approaches, now is an ideal time to pause and plan your worm control strategy for the year ahead. Careful planning protects animal health and performance and helps slow the development of wormer resistance on your farm. Will Gratwick reviews how your our vets, SQPs and […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the biggest buzz words in farming, overtaking Artificial Insemination and Avian Influenza (thankfully!) as the go-to phrase when we hear the term ‘AI’. Derbyshire vet Will Golding outlines one of the AI systems which has been rolled out to several dairy […]
Off the back of our calf conference, here are a few tips that will hopefully make calf rearing a little easier for you this winter:
1.Feed quality milk in the right quantity
Metabolic profiling is a brilliant tool in our arsenal to identify any underlying factors that could be contributing to a herd-wide issue. We don’t often see this tool used proactively and routinely in beef herds – although happy to report that this is starting to change – there’s so much […]
Whitchurch: 01948 663000 | Eccleshall: 01785 472211 | Derbyshire: 01629 691692 | Lancashire: 01772 866014
Company Number: 10084952 | VetPartners Practices Limited T/A LLM Farm Vets | Registered Address: Spitfire House, Aviator Ct, York YO30 4UZ
