Beef
At Farm Vet Services we work closely with our beef clients to enhance animal health and welfare, alongside focusing on productivity. We offer a wide ranges of services, from proactive herd level guidance to 24/7 emergency work.
Bull Fertility Testing
We offer Bull Fertility testing either on site or in our Templepatrick Branch. This allows us to identify potential problems pre breeding or confirm why/if a bull isn’t working the way he should (cows repeating etc). This process involves semen evaluation.
We also offer this service for Rams
Scanning
We perform routine pregnancy diagnosis, pre breeding scans and foetal sexing. This allows you to batch your cows for calving and feed them appropriately. We have multiple vets who have a very strong interest in this area.
Dry Cow Mineral Profiling
We offer blood sampling and liver biopsies as a way to evaluate cattle and sheep mineral statuses. Selenium, Copper, Cobalt, Manganese, and Iodine are the main minerals we can test for. Successfully identifying a deficiency, and the effect supplementation has on those stock, is a very satisfying part of our job.
Nutrition
In suckler herds good nutrition is important to fertility, calving ease, calf daily live weight gain (DLWG) and cow colostrum quantity / quality. Our vets can help identify where nutrition is breaking down and work closely with nutritionists to help remedy problems
Infectious Disease & Health Planing
Through our disease investigation and herd health plans we can reduce/prevent the outbreak of diseases such as pneumonia, scour, lameness and Johne’s.
Liver Biopsies
A liver biopsy extracts a small amount of a cow’s liver tissue and is used for pro-active health monitoring of the herd. Collecting samples of liver tissue is the most accurate means of evaluating some trace mineral status of an animal, especially for copper.
Cows like to sleep close to their families and sleeping arrangements are determined by individuals rank in the social hierarchy.
They have excellent sense of smell. They can detect odours from up to five miles away.
Like humans, cows form close friendships and choose to spend much of their time with 2-4 preferred individuals.
They have almost 360-degree sight and can see all colours except for red.
Cows don’t have top teeth in the front of their mouths. The top of their mouth is a tough pad of skin called a dental pad. They have large molars in the back of their jaw to grind food up and expose more fibres for digestion. When you see a cow lying and chewing she is ‘Ruminating’. Hence the phrase to ruminate on something.
On average, a cow has about 40,000 jaw movements a day.
