Hi Health Schemes
- Thread starter Old Tip
- Start date
They are generally all run to the Checs rules
http://www.checs.co.uk/
Decode which logo you like best - some may be slightly better value than others.
http://www.checs.co.uk/
Decode which logo you like best - some may be slightly better value than others.
We were in the SAC Premium Cattle Health scheme too, accredited for BVD, Lepto IBR & Johnes R1 status, so Elite health status, it was good to have when selling stock and for your own piece of mind, but I often wondered if I'd created a rod for my own back.
Annual blood tests required, not cheap but had to be done. I found a high proportion of bull buyers werent in the least bit interested in it.
It cost to maintain it, and you could lose it overnight with a positive for any given disease, also, its easy to pick out the pedigree herds with health problems as they will have been in a scheme for a while but have no accreditation.
Had dealings with Bio-Best too and they seemed helpfull. Talk to George Caldow at SAC or David Kay at Bio-Best, both very helpful.
Annual blood tests required, not cheap but had to be done. I found a high proportion of bull buyers werent in the least bit interested in it.
It cost to maintain it, and you could lose it overnight with a positive for any given disease, also, its easy to pick out the pedigree herds with health problems as they will have been in a scheme for a while but have no accreditation.
Had dealings with Bio-Best too and they seemed helpfull. Talk to George Caldow at SAC or David Kay at Bio-Best, both very helpful.
Sussex Martin
Member
- Location
- Burham Kent
I found Bio-Best very good, and yes David is the guy to talk too. I had an issue with a bought in heifer once (undeclared that it was vacinated) after testing a couple of times had a conversation with a very nice lady Vet who was in charge of the lab there and was all sorted quite quickly. Very helpful people.
CharcoalWally
Member
- Location
- West of Scotland
We're with the SAC PCHS too. Yes we sell bulls , and yes, we sell breeding heifers so it's essential for both as more and more of our customers are coming on board to the idea of good herd health.
But it's not just for our customers , it's an essential tool as part of our own herd management which I wouldn't be without these days. Far too much money tied up in cattle at stake to go throwing it away on bad herd health/management , so it's not just for your customers.
But it's not just for our customers , it's an essential tool as part of our own herd management which I wouldn't be without these days. Far too much money tied up in cattle at stake to go throwing it away on bad herd health/management , so it's not just for your customers.
- Location
- Huntingdon
Im with SAC too. certainly gives bull customers a bit of reassurance
from a commercial point of view I would rather fix my costs with a testing regime rather than a variable cost of unknown losses.
its is good practice as a management tool. some people would argue that not testing is negligent in terms of animal welfare.
from a commercial point of view I would rather fix my costs with a testing regime rather than a variable cost of unknown losses.
its is good practice as a management tool. some people would argue that not testing is negligent in terms of animal welfare.
I've just re-read my post and it comes accross as negative...
I didn't mean it to be as I've been in the SAC PCHS for 10 years and herd health was always at the forefront of my mind when buying cattle.
It's well worth doing if your selling breeding stock especially, and want to maintain peace of mind over what your dealing with at home, and what your passing on to other people (who may, or may not appreciate what your offering..)
Although bear in mind if your buying or selling at a mart thats the health status void, or if animals are transported on the same wagon as other cattle or kept at a lairage
I didn't mean it to be as I've been in the SAC PCHS for 10 years and herd health was always at the forefront of my mind when buying cattle.It's well worth doing if your selling breeding stock especially, and want to maintain peace of mind over what your dealing with at home, and what your passing on to other people (who may, or may not appreciate what your offering..)
Although bear in mind if your buying or selling at a mart thats the health status void, or if animals are transported on the same wagon as other cattle or kept at a lairage
M-J-G
Member
Been in the SAC scheme since 1999. Got laughed at back at that time for such a stupid idea.
Wish everyone else would join and test for Johnes so that I could buy bulls more easily, there is still a very limited supply of bulls from herds with long term clear testing history.
Wish everyone else would join and test for Johnes so that I could buy bulls more easily, there is still a very limited supply of bulls from herds with long term clear testing history.
Talk to both as they both differ in how they test and interpret results, a classic example is that a vet took blood samples from an animal and sent it to both sac and bio best and the results were completely different. I've heard many stories of people changing from one scheme to the other as results are not as harsh, shouldn't be that way but it is.
John Chance
Member
We're with SAC. George Caldow v. helpful and knowledgeable. Your vet needs to be on board with the whole idea. I.e. needs to understand the diseases and the tests. If not, you need a different vet. Ours didn't. Do the first tests before you finally decide how you want to be accredited (free, vaccinated free, or vaccinated). You may get a lot of vaccination related antibody positives for IBR (for example). If you IBR vaccinate, make sure you use marker vaccine, so, in the end, you will be able to distinguish between vaccine positives and real ones. Tag test every calf for BVD antigen even though that is not part of the protocol. I think it's worth doing for the health benefits. There is no other commercial benefit to us. We produce stores and most store buyers don't give a rat's ass about it.
M-J-G
Member
BVD, although horrible if it gets into a naive herd can be gotten on top of fairly easily, it's Johnes that is the massive up hill struggle if it settles into a herd.
M-J-G
Member
Which scheme did you hear was easiest and for which disease in particular, or was it for all?
That's probably why they chose to eradicate bvd & not johnes!
M-J-G
Member
Exactly!!!
Thanks for the info re the different schemes, i don't actually vaccinate for anything currently and as far as i know never had Johnes, but have heard of bulls with it in the area.
Most of my cattle are home bred or bought from herds in the scheme with good records so hoping i am free of any of the issues, but it will be good to know for sure.
OT
Most of my cattle are home bred or bought from herds in the scheme with good records so hoping i am free of any of the issues, but it will be good to know for sure.
OT