NMR and Vets team up to give health clinic at Dairy Event
17/08/06

NMR will have specialist dairy vets on its stand at the Dairy Event, Stoneleigh on Wednesday and Thursday 20/21 September. Dairy farmers can book an appointment to get a free 15-minute herd health consultation with one of the vets during the event.

The vet will view the farmer’s own herd data using NMR’s Herd Companion, accessing herd data through a web link on the NMR stand. Using the analysis tools easily available on Herd Companion, the vet will be able to highlight areas that might warrant further discussion.

“The idea is that farmers take advantage of the combination of available herd data, fast analysis of specific herd health criteria and the vet’s input,” says NMR’s Jonathan Davies. “We are confident that the farmer will get some useful pointers to take home and pursue with their own vet after the event.”

The NMR software programs InterHerd and Herd Companion are now used by 80% of the UK’s large animal veterinary practices. “They have opened the door to vets being able to access and interrogate dairy herd data remotely – with the farmer’s permission – so they can spot issues with individual animals and adverse trends in herd performance without visiting the farm, particularly through the benchmarking tools available within Herd Companion, ” adds Mr Davies.

“Not only does this provide an early warning system prior to any adverse symptoms being expressed in the herd, but also allows vets to request the farmer to segregate animals prior to their visit – saving time and money.”

Contact NMR Customer Services on 0870 1622547 or visit the NMR stand in Exhibition Hall 1 and book a consultation.

Herd Companion offer

As part of its campaign to encourage producers to make full use of their records to improve herd health, NMR is offering two months free subscription to Herd Companion for those signing up for the web based service for a 12-month period. The offer will be launched at the Dairy Event.

Herd Companion is specifically aimed at combating declining trends in cow health and fertility. It analyses recorded data to provide important production details associated with health and fertility, such as identifying early lactation cows with low protein percentages, suggesting a negative energy balance, which can signal fertility problems.

It will also list cows in seven crucial mastitis and cell count categories, covering new infection, chronic infection, recovered and uninfected. Developed with vets and already used in many dairy practices, Herd Companion gives up-to-date detailed data very quickly, identifying potential problem cows following every milk recording.

Herd Companion costs £5 per month. Visitors to the NMR stand at the Dairy Event will get the first two months free if they subscribe for 12 months.

Free BVD test

Continuing the health theme, producers supplying milk buyers who use National Milk Laboratories (NML) for their payment testing can register for a free BVD test. This test will use a bulk milk sample collected by NML from the depot, avoiding the need for any special sampling. Results will be sent back to the farmer and also directly to the vet if required.

Mastitis cost calculator

How much is mastitis costing? Thanks to a joint initiative with Intervet, producers visiting the NMR stand will be able to use a web based ‘mastitis calculator’ to establish how much mastitis is costing them over the year. The system assesses SCC and Bactoscan data along with yield information against the milk price penalty bands associated with the milk buyer.

Visit the NMR stand at the Dairy Event on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 September in Exhibition Hall 1.

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