FETF 2025 - applications close midday 10th July
The current round of FETF grant funding will run until midday 10th July.
This will be the only round of FETF grant funding for 2025 so if you've been waiting - this is your opportunity.
There are three "themes" again this year and you can apply to any or all of them: productivity, slurry management and animal health and welfare. The total grant funding available for each stream is between £1000-£25000 if you are successful.
Each item has a published number of "points" which will be added together; this number will then be divided by the total cost of each item to give your total points.
As your vets we can increase your total number of points by 20% by discussing the items with you and you putting down our RCVS number on your application. For the example above, this would mean the points for the application would increase from 0.35 to 0.42.
You may also be able to get a 25% uplift in your points for each stream if you've accessed less than £10,000 funding in previous rounds.
Make sure you get in touch to discuss your items and get your vets' RCVS number to claim your extra points.
BLUETONGUE - an update
It's been a busy month for getting your Bluetongue vaccines in - and just in time as the whole of England is now in the Bluetongue Restriction Zone.
This means cattle and sheep can freely move around England without needing a license or pre-movement testing which could result in more rapid and unpredictable spread of Bluetongue virus (BTV) cases beyond the South East and Yorkshire.
Map of confirmed BTV cases in England:
Bluetongue can't spread cow to cow or sheep to sheep, but spreads via the bite of an infected midge. Despite the warm weather, the main period of spread for BTV peaks in September and carries on through the Autumn and so there is a window of opportunity to get stock vaccinated before it arrives in our area.
The more virus in the local midge population, the more severe the signs of infection are in cattle and sheep and this is amplified when infected midges arrive in a livestock heavy area as the number of infected midges can quickly escalate. The cases in the South East have been mild, but that may change as Bluetongue spreads across the country.
What to look out for:
Sheep:
- High temperature
- Dull, off feed
- Ulcers in mouth
- Crusty nose and red eyes
- Swollen head, nose and lips
- Swollen around hooves
- Lame
- Poor fertility and abnormal lambs born
Cattle:
- High temperature
- Dull, off feed
- Teat sores
- Redness and crusting of nose and eyes
- Milk drop (-1kg per cow and can last for 90 days)
- Abortion, stillbirth, weak "dummy" calves
Bluetongue Vaccine:
The vaccine we're using is called Bultavo-3 and is the only vaccine which allows cattle to be moved into Wales or Scotland without pre-movement testing as long as it is at least 3 weeks after their second dose. Bultavo 3 has a claim to stop the virus replicating and spreading in the blood of cattle and so vaccinated cattle will not only show less signs, but they'll also not spread the virus on to more midges and stop the virus escalating in the midge population.
The dose for both cattle and sheep is 1ml.
Sheep:
- one dose, 1ml, under the skin
Cattle:
- 2 doses, 1ml, 3 weeks apart and the vaccine goes in the muscle.
Bultavo 3 comes in 50 dose bottles and needs to be used within 10 hours of opening the bottle.
There was a bit of a shortage of the BTV vaccines initially but we've now got good supply of Bultavo 3 so get in touch if you want to order in your doses.
The vaccine does need to be reported to APHA within 48 hours of being used - use the link below:
Please let us know if you need a hand getting a list of your cattle ear tags from CTS to make the reporting of your first dose a bit easier!
Movement Licenses:
As we are now in a Restriction Zone, licensing of movements have changed a bit depending on where animals are moving from and to and for what purpose:
Within England:
- no extra license needed if moving within England - just your usual General License
- Bluetongue is still notifiable so any suspect cases must be reported to APHA
From England into Wales to live:
Animals can only be moved into Wales to live if they are under a license and either they:
- have had a negative pre-movement PCR blood test in the last 7 days, or
- cattle can be moved if they have had both doses of Bultavo 3 at least 3 weeks ago
- sheep can only be moved into Wales with a negative PCR pre-movement test blood result
From England into Wales for slaughter:
The following Welsh slaughter houses are registered to process movements of stock from a BTV restricted zone (England):
- Dunbia, Llanybydder
- Euro Farms Wales, Haverfordwest
- Farmers Fresh, Wrexham
- Pilgrims UK Lamb, Llanidloes
- Kepak/St Merryn, Merthyr Tydfil
Movements from England to these designated slaughter houses don't need a bluetongue license, vaccination or pre-movement testing.
From Wales into England:
- No restrictions.
Within Wales:
- No restrictions
Pre-movement PCR blood testing for BTV:
Pre-movement blood testing cattle and sheep to move into Wales is going to be logistically challenging, costly and will need everyone to be organised for it to work.
The pre-movement test is only valid for seven days from when we take the blood sample and in that time we need to package and post the samples and get them to the lab at Pirbright on a day they are working (Mon to Fri) and then the tests take 3 working days before we get the results back and only then can APHA process the license, so timings are going to be tight.
How much will it cost?
The lab fees are set by Pirbright and depend a bit on how many animals we're testing:
- £48 per animal (up to 5 tests)
- £40 per animal (6-20 tests)
- £37 per animal (21 or more tests)
Please get in touch if you have any queries about Bluetongue, vaccines, testing or licensing.
GIVING FLUIDS TO FRESH COWS - a reminder what to use
Lots of you have stomach tubes and pumps on farm and make very good use of them when treating poorly cows, or by giving fluids to a freshly calved cow but just a reminder about which sachet to use and when.
What about a freshly calved cow?
If you are going to pump a freshly calved cow, make sure you use a Fresh Cow 500 sachet as this is geared up to provide extra calcium as well as magnesium and yeasts and it doesn't contain potassium.
Do not use Off-feed or Restore in the first 48 hours after calving.
Off feed and Restore sachets contain extra potassium which is really important in treating sick cows and getting them back eating, but it blocks the uptake of calcium so could turn a fresh cow into a milk fever cow.
Off Feed - good for inappetant cows or after LDA surgery
Restore: for rehydration (scour, toxic mastitis or dirty after calving, wire, post-op)
How much water?
All of the sachets are designed to be dissolved in 20 litres of warm water before pumping into the rumen - this is the right volume for a cow with mild dehydration. If you have a cow that is more severely dehydrated, then you can add in an extra sachet of Restore alongside your first choice sachet and double the water to 40 litres.
Never use two Off feed or two Fresh Cow 500 sachets in one go, and never use the two sachets together.
What about Glycerol Plus?
Glycerol Plus is a long acting energy source that we mix into 10-20 litres of warm water and is great for correcting ketosis in dairy cows. It doesn't contain any salts for rehydration so it's useful to use with a Fresh Cow, Off-feed or Restore sachet if she's dehydrated too.
Get in touch
Paula: 07764 747855 paula@haywoodfarmvets.com
Tom: 07837 291097 tom@haywoodfarmvets.com
Katie: 07507 656747 katie@haywoodfarmvets.com
Open hours: M-F | 8:30 - 16:30
Out of Hours: 01630 810016