Almost two weeks ago, we had a call from Animal Health to tell us that our TB testing was now booked in the system and to expect a letter to confirm. We have been given the dates from 1 July to 31 August which means that we MUST get our cows tested between those dates. Unfortunately, it won’t be our vet doing the testing as they are not part of the TB scheme but we know of the vets who will be doing it, and they do come recommended! It is a scary but very necessary part of keeping cows and crucial to complying with the requirements, is the need for proper handling systems. ‘On the day’ the vet needs to have safe and individual access to every cow and in the majority of cases, that usually means having a crush. We have used our crush already when we had to milk out Sage for a few days but we have also invested in proper cattle hurdles and gates to attach to it and today was the day we set it all up.
As with setting up a sheep race last summer, the idea is that the cows are ‘encouraged’ to move from a wide enclosure to a narrower one with the promise that if they keep moving forward, they will eventually be able to find a way out. We have set up our system so it is attached to the Woodchip Pad. That way, we can get the cows into the Pad the day before and then they are ready to go into the hurdled area as soon as the vet arrives the next morning. We plan to have a few ‘dummy’ runs because until we get the cows to use it, we won’t know if it is going to work. Fingers crossed we have set it up well because the hurdles are very heavy to move!!!
The photo is of Sage and her heifer calf, and yes she does have a mucky tail!!!
In other news we have five more chicks, and should be six by morning and the goats’ worm counts came back showing they needed another treatment (annoying but not surprising)!!!