We now have a brand new programme of FarmSkills training, please click the link to view our comprehensive list of FarmSkills Courses for 2017.

To enable us to continue offering courses that are relevant to you, we would like to invite you to take part in a questionnaire.  It will take less than 2 minutes to complete and you can remain anonymous.

Dairy Farmers Survey

COWS - The industry body providing guidance on parasite management, have produced a new guide to liver fluke treatment for bought in cattle to minimise the chances of introducing resistant fluke.

Click the link, to download the pdf if you're considering buying any stock this summer/autumn.

Here at St Boniface Vets, we are now offering a cattle IVF (in vitro fertilisation) to our clients as well as a conventional embryo service.  IVF should be considered as an alternative to MOET (multiple ovulation embryo transfer) for the following reasons:

As part of this latest issue, to focus on Crediton, we asked veterinary practice owner Tony Kemmish a few questions, to get to know him a little better and learn more about St Boniface Vets.

How old were you, when you realised you wanted to work with animals? There was a big age gap between me and my big sister and she married a farmer when I was only 10. For as long as I can remember I’ve grown up around all types of animals working on the farm. We’ve always had dogs and I couldn’t be without one.

With lambing time already upon many of you and fast approaching the rest, this quarter we look at the care of the new born lamb.  Statistically, the majority of lambs are lost within the first 3 days of life.  This percentage could be as high as 15% in some flocks.  In the current market, with tight profit margins; improving lamb survival can make a real difference to profitability of the flock. A realistic target to aim for is 5% lamb mortality preweaning.

Ewe nutrition

Recent research into calf rearing has shown that optimising heifer growth rates pre-weaning is vital for efficient heifer rearing and producing a healthy, high yielding dairy cow.

Keeping a record of colostrum management, growth rates, calf illness and calf mortality is therefore essential.  The XLVets Calf Tracker initiative has been designed as a monitoring system, which allows recording and bench marking of calf performance from birth to weaning within our practice, but also nationwide.