Farming Diary by Kirsty Howson, farm animal veterinary surgeon, Yan Farm Health, Old Hutton:

WELL, as the weather rapidly changes and we leap into autumn in a rush, the plethora of diseases changes rapidly - from worms in grazed cattle and sheep to the battle with pneumonia at housing, from ensuring the correct nutrition whilst grazing to the changing rations as the cows come in.

We are busy driving around the countryside trying to dodge the heavy showers and hoping our next call may be inside, not out! I had an early morning visit completing some blood testing today and was very grateful to be inside watching the rain overflow the gutters - not sure my paperwork would have survived outside!

One of the common ailments rearing its head in the next month or two will be pneumonia, especially in young cattle. There are several aspects to reducing disease incidences on farm and the best results are seen by tackling the disease from two main angles. The first is reducing the environmental pressure (bugs) on farm, including measures such as reducing stocking density, avoiding mixing different age groups and improving shed ventilation.

The second is increasing immunity of your stock through ensuring adequate intakes of high-quality, antibody-rich colostrum from the dam, optimising nutrition to allow the immune system to function well, and using vaccines to enhance immunity.

As there are several bacteria and viruses which can be involved, it is important to establish which bugs are present on farm to ensure we can advise on an appropriate vaccination protocol.

Finally, it is important to be aware of other respiratory pathogens which may be on farm and further complicate disease outbreaks - bovine viral diarrhoea and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis are two of the most common, and their presence on farm should be monitored by bulk milk sampling, or blood testing in the case of beef animals.

The last few weeks have seen Yan Farm Health run a number of training courses alongside our day-to-day work as vets. This involves upskilling farmers and future farmers on various topics which will enhance their businesses. Recently, we have run mastering medicines and do-it-yourself artificial insemination courses, but we are always after a new challenge, so if there are new skills you would like to learn, give us a buzz and we will see what we can come up with!