www.dalesidevets.co.uk APRIL 2015 Daleside Newsletter This Month 1 Happy News! Happy News ! Huge congratulations to Michelle and Paul Humble on the safe arrival of their baby girl! Emelia Grace was born on Sunday 8th of March and weighed 7lb 13oz. 2 3 4 TB testing update All the family are doing well. TB testing update Neospora Meeting Following meetings with XL Farmcare Midlands and XL Farmcare North, we are happy to tell you we will be continuing to carry out all TB testing for our clients farms in England as well as in Wales. Out Of Hours phones At some point in the near future you will receive a letter from the new TB Testing Delivery Partner. They will be administrating TB testing work in the region and they will be asking you to select the practice you want to do your TB testing. 5 Staff News Please can you ensure that you reply to them, to say you want Daleside Vets to carry out your TB testing. Farmer Meeting: Neospora is diagnosed as the cause of abortion in cattle in 10 to 20 % of UK cases. Economic losses are not only through abortion and stillborn calves but also because of an increased calving interval, reduced milk production and reduced value of breeding animals. It is a difficult disease to control due to the complex lifecycle of the parasite and its’ eggs surviving for months in the environment. Though dogs and foxes play a role in transmission of the disease, 90 % or more of problems with Neospora come through infection of calves by their dam during pregnancy. Targeted blood sampling of pregnant animals 10 to 4 weeks before their due date or direct after abortion is the way to get control over a possible Neospora problem. 1 Daleside Veterinary Group October 2013 Arthur Otter is one of the lead pathologists/investigators from the APHA lab in Shrewsbury. He will explain and discuss abortion in cattle with a focus on Neospora on Tuesday 14th April in the Shippon Restaurant at The Plassey in Eyton. The meeting will start at 7:30 pm. Please let us know by Friday 10th April if you are planning to come to the meeting. We are hoping to see lots of familiar faces! Out Of Hours Phone Service Following a trial period during March, we will now be using the Moneypenny Telephone Answering Service during evenings, nights and weekends. Moneypenny is a local company based in Wrexham and they have work with many veterinary practices. They offer a high quality service and will ensure emergency calls are dealt with professionally and efficiently. If you phone us out of hours they will take your details along with the nature of the call. They will then put you on hold briefly and contact the on call vet. If needed they can transfer your phone call through to speak to the vet or will let you know the vet is on their way to your farm. Staff News Kate Burnby is moving to North Somerset at the end of May. She is going to live there with her partner David. We are sad to see her move but she will still be working with us to continue her consultancy and fertility work with our block calving herds. We wish her all the best down south! Welcome to Abbey Williams who has joined us working on reception. She has already settled in extremely well and is quickly becoming a valuable member of the team. We are hoping to bring her out on a few farm visits with the vets over the course of the coming month. We are sure you will make her feel welcome here at Daleside! 2