Devon Dairy Vets

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Devon Dairy Vets We are a dairy focussed practice with over 20 years of experience working in Devon. Give us a call to find out more.

15/10/2026

🐄🐄Pregnancy scanning in cows🐄🐄

Whenever we are checking if our cows are in calf, we always aim to look for twins too.

Did you know that:

🐄Cows carrying twins are 3-7 times more likely to lose their pregnancy during the first trimester compared to cows carrying singletons?

🐄Cows that carry their twins in the same horn are 5-9 times more at risk to lose their foetuses compared to cows carrying twins in both uterine horns?

🐄Most cases of single embryo mortality in twins occurs around 28–40 days of gestation and rarely after day 60

💉We can inject a cow with GnRH carrying twins in the same horn in early pregnancy to decrease her risk of losing both foetuses?

🌟That is, why we make sure and check for twins during a regular pregnancy check.

We can then make sure that we:
🌟Inject cows that might be eligible to reduce the chances of embryo loss
🌟Make sure they get re-checked again after 60 days of gestation to see if they are still in-calf
🌟that they get dried-off a little bit earlier and put in with the close-up earlier to ensure they
transition well too.

Knowledge is power! If you know, you can manage accordingly.

11/10/2026

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Here is a little glimpse of what Dartmoor looked like today! One of the perks of living in Devon!

10/10/2026

🐄🐄We love a good outcome!🐄🐄

Sometimes scouring calves really do take a turn for the worst. In this case, this heifer calf went from drinking fine one evening with mild scours, to being very poorly the next morning. She was down, very weak, depressed, dehydrated with a very weak suck reflex and impaired palebral reflex.

We know that offering normal milk feeds and adding extra electrolyte feeds throughout the day will often be enough to help them overcome their scours, on top of giving them pain relief and keeping them warm, dry, clean and draft-free of course.

But sometimes, they need a bit more than that. They can become very unwell from being very dehydrated due to the loss of water from their circulation, drawn into their guts when they are experiencing diarrhoea. However, often it is not just dehydration that makes them this ill.

In this case, rotavirus will have damaged the villi in the small intestines, unabling them to absorb the carbohydrates in milk. These then will enter the hind gut, where lactose gets fermented quickly by the bacteria living there, into D-lacatate. It's the systemic D-lactic acidosis, that is responsible for the distinct neurological symptoms (weakness, ataxia (wobblyness) and lethargy) seen in scouring calves.

The best way to combat this Lactic acidosis is to give them Sodium Bicarbonate in the vein. The results can be very dramatic.

We are glad that this particular calf pulled through so well. She already was given pain relief and electrolytes before we saw her. After the initial IV fluid, she continued to receive electrolytes several times during they day, until she was strong enough to get up herself and starting to drink again.

😀 😀

30/09/2026

More Ram fertility testing this week

As expected there were a lot of sub-fertile rams, due to Bluetongue.

However, to our surprise, we did have a couple of good samples in rams that had been affected by Bluetongue early on in this outbreak.

Full s***m development in ram takes approximately 50 days. In bulls this is a bit longer (around 60 days)

We know that marked improvement in semen quality generally occurs 63 to 138 days (roughly 1 to 2.5 s***m cycles) post-infection.

Make sure you get your rams and bulls tested. It is good to do any year, but particularly important this year

19/09/2026

🐄🇳🇿🇬🇧 A bit of fun for the weekend 🇳🇿🇬🇧🐄 Comparing scanning cows in New Zealand vs scanning cows in the UK.

Ingrid has spent a couple of years working as a farm vet in New Zealand and stumbled across these photos and videos. It was fun working in a slightly different way, while over there!

Have a look at the video for 10 differences between NZ and the UK!

It is great to work in different parts ofthe world, it certainly broadens your horizon!

🐄🌟Calf health and Colostrum Management🌟🐄It is good practice to check periodically whether your colostrum management is s...
15/09/2026

🐄🌟Calf health and Colostrum Management🌟🐄

It is good practice to check periodically whether your colostrum management is still working as it should.

One part of that is taking some 💉blood samples from newborn calves 🐄 to see if they have received enough Immunoglobulins (IgG). We can measure the Total Protein (TP) in the serum, which happens to correlate very well with the levels of IgG. A very easy and cheap way to get some useful information!

There has been a big push over the years to ensure calves receive enough (Quantity) colostrum, Quickly enough, that is of a good Quality and has been harvested in sQuicky clean way (the famous 4 Q's).

Over the years we have been pushing for 4L in the first 2-3 hours, followed by another 2L 6-12 hours later. Although this works very well from a transfer of Immunity point of view, this can also cause some discomfort in some calves. Sometimes putting them off feeding the following day.

With BRIX refractometers widely available it is easy to check the Quality of colostrum on farm before feeding it to your calf. Rather than using the minimum 22%, we should be using the better quality threshold of a minimum of 25%. In which case smaller volumes are required.

Weighing your calves allows you to make a taylor-made plan for colostrum management. How much colostrum of a certain quality should an average size calf receive? How much a smaller calf? etc

On this particular client's farm, calves are certainly receiving enough colostrum quickly enough, with no calves at all that had failure of passive transfer of immunity. They are doing an excellent job!

Of course there are plenty of other benefits to colostrum, besides the Antibodies. There is growing evidence that extended feeding of colostrum or transition milk can have many benefits. Beware of pooling unpasteurised milk!

If you make any changes, make sure you keep monitoring and check TP levels again, to confirm the changes you have made are for the better.

If you want to speak to us and discuss anything regarding youngstock management, you know where to find us! 😀🐄

09/09/2026

✨🚜🇬🇧🇬 🐄Back British Farming Day 2026🐑🐖🐓🌿 Back British Farming NFU

Of course we are backing our British Farmers every day of the year, but lets appreciate them even more today!

2026 has not been an easy year for British Farming, with the hot dry summer and the circulation of Bluetongue virus.

Devon Dairy Vets is proud to support our farmers and are grateful for their hard work and dedication, so that we can ALL enjoy delicious and nutritious food!

The countryside wouldn't look the same without them.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! ❤️

03/09/2026

Today vet Ingrid was working together with vet Fiona from Freedom Veterinary Advisory Services to fertility test 24 rams.

Fertility testing your rams 🐏and bulls🐂 is always a good idea, so that there are no surprises.

Rams and bulls can be infertile (no (live) semen whatsoever), or more commonly sub-fertile (some semen, but not enough). Both will have a big economic impact.

Causes of sub/infertility are varied, but one of the reasons can be a fever. Semen can not survive high temperatures, that's why they are hanging outside the body cavity after all!

Particularly this year, with a lot of Bluetongue virus going around Devon, it is even more adviseable to have your breeding rams and bulls tested. Bluetongue virus can affect the semen both directly, as well as indirectly through a fever.

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any concerns or questions 📞

01/09/2026

We are ROMS registered and can carry out regular scoring on your farm.

Mobility Scoring is a great tool.

🐄It enables early detection of lameness.
🐄Faster treatments, will result in better and faster cure rates
🐄Clear tracking of progress over time
🐄Raises Team awareness of foot health
🐄Improves overall herd welfare and milk yield

🐄💉Top Tip for Herd Vaccinations without inadvertently spreading Bluetongue. 💉🐄💡Use 2 vaccination guns and a tag team. 1 ...
20/08/2026

🐄💉Top Tip for Herd Vaccinations without inadvertently spreading Bluetongue. 💉🐄

💡Use 2 vaccination guns and a tag team. 1 Person to inject the cow (🐄 or 🐑), while the other changes the disposable needle. Swap guns and repeat!

Yes, it takes a bit more time than usual, but once you get into the swing of it, it's not too bad!

Of course this goes for all types of vaccinations at the moment, not just for the Bluetongue vaccine.

Remember injecting multiple animals with the same needle can spread Bluetongue, in the same way a midge can. 🦟🦟

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Lapford
Crediton

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