Farm Animal Services

To maximise fertility and therefore productivity we recommend clients have a routine fertility visit. This will be arranged on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis depending on your farm’s circumstances. Your dedicated vet will attend, and we are able to send a member of lay staff as well to help complete the visit paperwork for you if this is needed. This would save you a member of staff and enable you to focus on the cows.

We also run an InterHerd+ bureau for our regular visits; inputting your service, treatment and calving data to generate the lists of cows to be seen for each visit. We can synchronise InterHerd+ with NMR and CIS to allow full access to your milk recording data and produce comprehensive farm reports. An in-depth fertility report is produced quarterly; we recommend sitting down with the whole farm team to discuss this, allowing us to proactively promote better health and fertility.

Health planning should not be a once a year ‘tick box’ exercise. We understand the importance to a modern farm in setting and reaching ever improving targets for your business. Although we may only sit down to fill in the paperwork every 12 months, we aim to promote open conversation between vets and farmers all year round. Regular monitoring can be achieved via fertility visits, bulk tank testing or blood sampling for infectious diseases. We have a quarterly reminder service for bulk milk samples and an optional written report to accompany this, enabling you to track your infectious disease levels in the herd. Our TB testers and Vet Techs are also able to collect these samples on farm.

Our on-site laboratory allows us to process blood and faecal samples in house. We perform worm egg counts and coccidiosis counts with same day results and therefore same day treatment when needed. We are also able to run blood samples and perform IgG blood tests to assess passive transfer of colostrum.

Mastitis is commonly one of the biggest problems found on dairy farms. Shires Vets will study your milk recording data, tube usage, and clinical mastitis incidence to establish a preventative plan to reduce mastitis and increase milk production.

A lame cow is estimated to cost £2.20 per day. Not only does lameness negatively impact milk yield, growth rates and fertility, it is also one of the most important welfare problems we face as an industry. Being able to identify and promptly treat lame cows is essential. Rosie, one of Shires Vet Techs, is a ROMS accredited mobility scorer and will produce a report identifying lame cows that need attention.

The Shires Vets team of qualified TB testers and vets will be known to many of you by now, alongside our designated office staff. We aim to make the TB testing process as stress free as possible and regularly send extra staff out to help with TB paperwork at no extra charge to yourselves. We also offer free, on farm TB advice via the DEFRA funded TBAS service which is delivered by Ellen.

Pre-breeding examination of rams and bulls can prevent unexpectedly low conception and pregnancy rates. It takes six weeks for sperm to recover following lameness or illness, and therefore a full examination at least ten weeks before the start of breeding means we have time to correct any problems without it negatively impacting the breeding season. Following a full physical examination, an electro ejaculator is used to procure a sample of sperm which is then examined under the microscope. We are also able to produce reports for pre-sale or for your records based on the results of the tests.

Meetings and discussion groups are an invaluable tool for both vets and farmers. It allows us to share new ideas and experiences as well as learn about advances within the industry. Throughout the year Shires Vets schedule a range of in-house talks, on farm walks and practical workshops.

We are available for emergency call outs 24 hours a day 365 days a year. You will always see a Shires Vet out of hours should you need us.

All orders for medicines are placed via the farm office at Eccleshall. For farmers whose closest branch practice is in Rugeley, we have farm animal drugs available for collection from there too. For farms who submit a bulk order for a large quantity of drugs, we offer a 10% discount if paid for at the time of collection. This is limited to one order a month of over £500. We also apply a 5% prompt payment credit for all accounts settled within our standard credit terms of 30 days.

Monthly newsletters are sent to all farm clients via post. The newsletters will contain a variety of articles relevant to the season, as well as important dates for the diary and regular updates on the local TB situation.

We also regularly update our Instagram and Facebook pages – search for “Shires Vets Farm” now to follow us!