No two years are ever the same and each one seems to throw up a different set of problems.

This year we had a lot of night frosts right up until June and while it restricted growth, there were some beautiful days. But since then it has been very warm, humid and wet at times. This has thrown up a whole new set of problems. When there were night frosts there were very few flies, but since warm weather arrived the flies are everywhere. They seem to be playing catch-up. Every time I bring cattle or sheep into the yard, they are followed by a swarm of them.

Of course there are flies every year, but in my opinion, not to the same extent.

I try to keep the flies under control by using pour-on insect repellents on the cattle and sheep, which normally work well. The autumn calving cows also get lick buckets with garlic.

We have done the same this year, but the response has been poor. The sheep were maggoting just two weeks after being sprayed.

Clip

My son was home from Scotland for a few weeks and he decided to completely clip all the ewe lambs, and do around the tails of the male lambs. Everything got resprayed.

It was a major undertaking, and without him I wouldn’t have had time to do it. But it does seem to be working.

Autumn cows

I calve half of my cows in the autumn (August and September) and I have often been asked about summer mastitis. Until this year, it wasn’t a major problem. There might be one or two cows that would lose a quarter, but it wasn’t a massive issue.

A couple of weeks ago I was going away for a few days and I went to my out-farm to check on my autumn calving cows before I left. These cows had been treated with a pour-on less than three weeks previous and had access to a garlic lick bucket.

However, I noticed one cow with a large quarter who was walking slowly. I suspected that she had summer mastitis. I hadn’t a lot of time left, but I knew I needed to take some action, so we brought all the cows home.

Sure enough, the cow had mastitis, so I treated her and checked the rest. Three other cows had also been infected, so everything got treated with pour-on again. I had a dairy heifer with mastitis and she had to be treated too.

That’s the funny thing about farming; when you are looking to get away somewhere, there is always something to go wrong and hold you back.

Calved

While I was away one of the cows calved early. It could have been the moving, the mastitis or the treatment, but thankfully all was fine. It’s a small calf, but grand all the same.

Other years I seemed to get away with two fly treatments, but this year it looks like I’m going to have to treat every couple of weeks. I may also have to consider some extra measures.

There are times when I think that I am on top of animal health issues, and that I’m doing a lot of different things to prevent problems. But over the years I have found that the minute you let your guard down or get complacent, something will come along and knock you back.

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