Farm Vets - Norfolk Farm Ltd

06/09/2026

Warning - Plant Toxicity! ⚠️

With grass availability low, livestock are likely to browse plants they would normally ignore. Here are five of the main culprits to look out for!

Young, inquisitive animals, particularly heifers and sheep, can be especially at risk. Familiarise yourself with these plants and, where safe to do so, put on gloves and walk your fields, paying particular attention to field margins, hedgerows and areas where garden waste may have been dumped.

Many of these plants inadvertently get thrown into fields from hedge trimmings - with Rhododendron and Azalea often included. These can cause serious illness and, in some cases, death.

05/09/2026

As ever it’s an honour to be asked to inspect at the MultiBreed sale at Melton - some cracking stock. Thanks as ever to Tina & Scott & all the team for their help.

Good luck to all the vendors.

If you missed today the NSA sale is on in a fortnight or there is a sale next week at Louth Livestock Market

04/09/2026

21/08/2026

We believe we are seeing the first cases of BTV locally and we have been sampling animals showing signs over the last 2 weeks.

Results are very slow to come back due to the huge pressure in the labs presently. However where BTV is suspected APHA are paying for 3 blood samples.

There are no restrictions on farms thought to have BTV in England.

This particular cow is very very sick and was not vaccinated. Where animals have been vaccinated and infected after vaccination the signs appear to be much milder in both cattle 🐄 and sheep 🐑 we are finding.

Please consider vaccinating if you haven’t already and boosting if you vaccinated last year. We are yet to reach peak risk time which is the end of September and remember it is not spread directly animal to animal - it requires the midge - so often it will pick on a few animals at a time over a long time period.

The 2 dose (sheep) vaccine Bluevac is available and has gone out to many farms locally already and we are told that the single dose (sheep) vaccine Bultavo 3 will be here next week. Both vaccines are 2 doses on cattle as a primary course.

19/08/2026

Now is the time to start testing forage ready for winter feeding! 🐮🐑
Did you know that lower conception rates in cattle can be caused by mineral or nutrient deficiencies?
By having your forage analysed you can:
• Ensure you are meeting the nutritional needs of your livestock. Nutritional needs vary depending on age of cattle, and whether they are growing, finishing or breeding cattle
• Create diets that include suitable nutrition, as if this is wrong it can cause issues with growth, fertility and overall health of animals
• Identify gaps in diets that may require supplementing

Samples should be taken as close to feeding as possible as feed quality will change as the year progresses. For example, if you cut it in May and plan to start feeding in the Autumn, take a sample mid-late summer. Re-sampling later in the season once you have started feeding is also recommended to ensure the quality and nutritional values stay the same.

13/08/2026

We have access presently to Bluevac vaccine for BTV - this vaccine is very effective but it is 2 doses in sheep 🐑 & cattle 🐄.
Bultavo 3 (the more commonly used vaccine) is due in the next few weeks and is a single dose in sheep (2 in cattle).

Bluevac is cheaper for 2 doses than Bultavo is for 1 dose presently.

Please do not use anything other than Bultavo if you plan on moving animals into Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 or are boosting cattle that were vaccinated with Bultavo last year.

Call the office for prices.

For more information on the current bluetongue situation watch this webinar from AHDB linked below.

Cases of bluetongue virus (BTV) are rapidly increasing in both shee...

08/08/2026

!!🤩WOW🤩!!

😁 What a response we have had to our last post regarding the loss of our milk buyer and search for new outlets 😁

🤯We are slightly overwhelmed by this response...if you have emailed/messaged/called, please bear with us while we have a meeting to discuss exactly what we can offer and process these messages. THANKYOU so much, we will be in touch!!!

🥛In the meantime...a few answers to some common questions....

-A milk and milkshake vending machine/milk hut/self-serve....watch this space 😉
-A milk round/home delivery...fantastic idea, but baby steps, possibly one for the future 🤔
-Raw Milk....not something we currently sell or are looking to sell at the moment. There's a few extra hoops we have to jump through to be able to do this in terms of legal requirements. Having said this, our gentle pasteurisation process means that there is negligible to no impact on the nutritional value or taste of the milk (there is lots of research supporting this). Our milk is also non-homogenised meaning the cream rises to the top and you still get that traditional 'cream line'. Pasteurisation simply extends the shelf life and removes any potentially harmful pathogens. -Cheese...this is a niche area that would require extra investment and training. However our milk is already used to make Blue Sky Hal-Moo-Me which is available to buy in the shop!
-Yoghurt...definitely one that's on the radar 😋
-Queueing for milk refills...the shop is incredibly busy at the moment so we appreciate the frustration of having to wait amongst the queue for ice-cream/food to refill your milk bottles. Bottles can now be refilled from 8.30am whilst food orders will not be taken until 9am as usual. Thankyou for your patience on this one..!

🐄 Pictured is one very happy herdswoman this morning, safe in the knowledge that her job is secure and the future for the ladies is bright 😊