The funded animal health consultations available to dairy farmers

Michelle McGrath, a vet working with Animal Health Ireland, tells Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast about a number of Department of Agriculture funded animal health consultations that farmers can avail of through their vets. Michelle says that, for farmers struggling with their bulk SCC, there is an in-lactation consult available to help farmers take the first steps towards getting control of their cell count.  This process involves farm advisors and milking machine technicians as well as the farm vet however, the first step on this journey begins with the initial consult with the vet.  While this is targeted at herds that have SCC problems, if people would like to learn more about being more in control of their SCC, they can also apply. It is important to note though that the deadline for application for this consult is Oct 31st. On a similar line, Michelle also spoke about the TASAH funded dry cow consult available to help farmers embark on sealer only dry cow strategy to allow them to comply with the new regulations introduced earlier this year.  There are also consults available on Parasite control and Johnes control as well as BVD and TB in the case of breakdowns of either disease on farms. Finally, Michelle points out that there is a great resource of information on animal health on the Animal Health Ireland website and encourages people to visit it to view articles, videos and lots of other information in relation to the main diseases that affect farmers. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com