Pre-movement TB Testing - Changes from 20th Feb 2006

[Duncan MacIntyre]

All cattle keepers in UK should have received a booklet from DEFRA /SVS detailing the introduction of pre-movement testing at the owners expense of animals over 15 months off holdings on 12 or 24 month testing. Whilst I have to say that I think it will be a good thing to help with the control of the disease, it may well affect Dexter owners to quite a considerable extent, as we do tend to move animals around between our small herds more than the average commercial farmer. It will not by itself make bull hiring or taking in cows for service impossible, but it will certainly add to the fuss and bother and cost. It will be a serious consideration for those involved in these movements, though TB is not the only disease we should be watching.

Stricter biosecurity allows herds to be free of other infections such as BVD, IBR, Leptospirosis, Johnes etc which in many cases are easier to be free of in smaller herds than larger ones where there is a sufficient population to allow the disease to go round in circles. So there may be an up side to the new regulations for reasons other than TB.

The pre and post movement testing of cattle coming into Scotland from 12 and 24 month testing areas has been operational for some time.

Duncan

[Sylvia]

This will be interesting (I haven't had the info yet) because, due to the pressure of testing in this red area my vet can't get to my herd until almost 6 weeks after the last date I have for testing, thus putting me on standstill for that time. I look forward to finding out what sort of chaos will occur when every cattle movement needs a test too. Also, a visit to the farm plus treating an animal usually doesn't come much below £30. I don't begrudge this money for a sick animal but it would appear that around £60 would have to be added to the stud fees for bulls being loaned out. I assume animals going to slaughter don't have to be tested?

[Mark Bowles]

Duncan, am i right in thinking that the serum/material cost of the test is paid for by DEFRA and the farmer has to pay the vet labour cost.
We are on 24 month test and except visiting females to the bulls, i am considering closing the herd to visitors, to contract TB and the effect of shutdown does not bear thinking about.
What it will mean is one less person in our area for small herds without a bull to visit, maybe putting pressure on them to breed their own bull to do the job.
As far as selling females, i think we would have to sell them all within the 60 day window after a test as opposed to selling all year round and having several test a year.
Also the cost of the females may have to go up to reflect the added expense.
What a pain........but if it restricts or reduces TB then great.
Mark

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Hello Mark, yes the government pays for the tuberculin and the owner pays the vet. The details are all in a booklet which I received both as a vet at the practice and as a cattle keeper at Burnside, anyone who has not received one can presumable get one through their local office or view or download from www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/strategy/newstrategy.htm

Like most government documents it has an awful lot of words and sometimes not as clear as it might be. I notice that on page 3 bull hirers are mentioned as one of the factors affecting testing frequency, but they do not seem to feature in the list of exemptions to the pre movement testing on page 7. Usually the routine herd test only tests cows which have had a calf, but I see that you can request younger ones to be tested as part of the government paid test if they are going to be moved. That would save paying for a private test for the next 60 days. One of the exemptions is "cattel moving off premises within 1 month of arrival" so a cow coming in for service would be pre movement tested by the owner, could stay less than 1 month, and return to the herd of origin without a further test as far as I understand.

Overall it is going to need quite a bit of thought, but hopefully will reduce the spread of TB by cattle between herds.

I wonder if it will increase the demand for Dexter bulls on AI?

Duncan

[groubearfarm]

The whole issue is going to effect the small Dexter herds scattered all over the country, there will be more closed herds and the genes will become more inbred. Of course we want to work towards putting a stop to the threat of TB in our cattle but we also want to be assured that these new regulations which will affect the life style of our herds is being matched by government investment in creating a vaccine or sorting out the source (those pretty black and white creatures!).
Why don't sheep get TB? They must graze in far more infected places.

[Jo Kemp]

To prevent inbreeding, surely AI will be used. In some ways it is easier in a small herd as the headache of keeping heifers away from the bull is irritating, especially from now until after the hay/silage is gathered. Jo

[ann]

Ref A.I

I think we could have more problems re inbreeding with A.I at the momnet as the choice is very small, I have several quite old straw in my flask and upon discussing the merits of some of the bulls these straw belong to,with a very knowledgeable old timer it appears that most of the bulsl where not what we would currently consider good examples of the breed as much more emprasis is now put on better feet and legs.

The costs before all these new premovemnt tests are added is about £2000 per bull for taking semen so unless you are sure you can get some of that money back, I don't think there will be such a lot of people queying to have semen taken, I may be wrong, I hope so as although I currently have to bulls and take in females to them, it may not be for much longer.

One solution that may be an option, is to run a nice young bull on for 12 - 18mths, then put him in the freezer, this use to happen quite a lot when I first came into dexters in the 80's but the down side of this is that if you get very nice calves and you have eatten the sire, you can't repeat the mating.

Ann :p

[Jo Kemp]

Not only is it more expensive to take semen now (and it was over £2,500 for Sultan last year) but there are only 2 AI centres in the UK which will take private bulls and they have great difficulty with DEFRA; ie before Xmas clearing 12 bulls to go to Lindsays but Weybridge was closed from 19th Dec until 3rd Jan. This meant that tests could not be done on blood samples so the bulls had to stay in isolation for extra time.
I think that one can 'like' the look of a bull when he is young but he doesn't really show his qualities until he is 18 months at least - perhaps 15 months so unless I wanted particular bloodlines, I would not want to breed from a young bull to put him into a freezer! If he developed into a good bull, I'd want to keep him and if he was not so good I'd wish I hadn't used him.
If enough of us used AI perhaps Genus could be persuaded to keep some Dexter bulls?
Jo

[Woodmagic]

If breeders are to be tempted to rear a bull of their own, now that the pre-movement testing is going to add to the expense of hiring, it would be as well if thought went into the choice of the young bull. Instead of simply choosing a nice looking bull calf, it would be worth choosing a male that stands a reasonable hope of breeding first class calves, and no regrets.
This enterprise, could with advantage, be undertaken working with another breeder, whose aims were similar to your own. Firstly pick two outstanding females, one from each herd, preferably not only for their looks, but performance, mothering ability and temperament, to name three things I would look for. A good-looking udder does not necessarily mean plenty of milk; she should regularly rear a first class calf. I would need to assure myself that she wasn’t the odd one out amongst her close relatives, but that her relatives were, on average, better than their peers. Decide on a sire, either A.I. or natural service, try to inspect his stock. In choosing your sire, you should not make your selection just on his looks. A show champion does not necessarily breed show champions, and I doubt whether many of my readers are identity kits of their mother or their father, let alone both!
Next pray for two reasonable bull calves, or shorten your odds, but also your choice, by picking two dams from each herd. At present, there is no scientific proof for it, but most experienced stock-keepers of any species, seem agreed, that the female has greater influence on the progeny than the male
The potential bulls would go into the opposite partners herd, and could then be swapped two generations on, providing their calves were satisfactory, and I guarantee they will be more likely to produce worth while stock, than where no attempt is made, to work out what genes the bull is likely to carry. Personally, I always try to use my bull on his dam, to look for any undesirables, but if you are working on your own, and don’t want to do this, it would mean that you had to find a sire for his dam If you have hit the jack pot, you will be probably asking her do the same again. with a fresh sire.

[Jo Kemp]

Oh How I agree Woodmagic on every count!
At the GYS, the judge asked the parentage of my bull (after judging him a champ) and then said "That's the best bull ever to come from that sire" Mary Kay turned to me and said "Now you know just how much comes from the dam!". I had been told that Harron Sunbeam breeds champions. A certain amount is luck obviously but as you say, shorten the odds by choosing parents which are good performers.
I think your recipe for homebred bulls a most interesting one.
Jo

[Inger]

There are some bulls that put more into their calves than others. We've got a Klondyke bull and no matter what shape of cow you put him to, the calves always seem to have his stamp on them. They are more alike than the line of calves that those same cows have produced from another bull.

[Woodmagic]

I hope I didn’t leave the impression that more effort should be made in the choice of dam than the sire. The calf has to inherit half his genes from each parent. However, the aim is to breed a herd of cows, not bulls, and the bull on his own cannot give much indication of how his daughters are going to turn out.
If you go to his dam, she can demonstrate the genes she gave the young bull and that he in turn may pass on, if you can also inspect the paternal grand-dam, you should have an even better notion. He can only donate the genes he inherited. By studying his close female relatives, you should acquire a good idea of what they may be. Remember, it is chance, which genes he will inherit, if you pick a dam from a family that has some excellent and some poor quality females, sod’s law means he will almost certainly have inherited the poor genes. Poor genes are nearly always recessive, and may not show up in his dam, although she can carry them, and pass them on, and not the good ones that you see in her.
The prepotent Klondyke bull quoted, had obviously inherited many identical pairs of genes, and whichever grand-parent the gene came from, the result was the same . Woodmagic Mole was used on numerous unrelated visitors, but you could always spot his daughters.

[Inger]

I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the animals used in the Klondyke herd were from a closed herd in Canada, (but don't quote me) so yes, the same traits would have been reinforced down through the generations. The Canadian Breeder said that she had a line of heifers which looked like peas in a pod, they were so similiar. I remember her saying that she could put a ruler along their backs and their heights would all be the same, within a cm or two.

Uniformity isn't my number 1 priority though. I've got far too many other faults to fix first. :;):