Making EDPET Work

The Graig Olway Team with Alan Colebatch (Fully Audited CHCSB Member) and Sara Pedersen (Farm Dynamics Ltd).

Overview of the Farm

Graig Olway is situated in Usk in South Wales. The farm is run by Russell Morgan alongside his mother and aunt, his partner Sarah, herdsman Christian and daughter Eleanor. It is a mixed enterprise with dairy, beef, sheep and arable. The dairy herd currently comprises of 185 adult Holsteins milked through four Lely robots. The herd is housed in cubicles with mattresses and sawdust with access to grazing in the summer. The herd is averaging 37 litres per day.

Focus on Feet: The Farming Connect Project

For the past three years it has acted as a Farming Connect Demonstration Site with one of the focuses of the project being reducing lameness. As part of this the herd implemented the AHDB Healthy Feet Programme with Mobility Mentor Sara Pedersen. A key action was to improve Early Detection and Prompt Effective Treatment (EDPET) of new cases of lameness.

Alongside implementation of EDPET there have also been a number of other changes made on the farm to improve hoof health. These included undertaking a digital dermatitis ‘blitz’ treatment at the start of 2020, upgrading cow mattresses, removing head locking yokes, installing rubber matting around the robots and implementing a more frequent footbathing regime.

How does EDPET work in practice?

To ensure success each member of the team plays a key role. The majority of communication is conducted through a WhatsApp group including all trim reports, update reports and trim lists. This enables everyone to be kept informed.

Sarah mobility scores the herd fortnightly, recording each cow individually. Scoring is undertaken at a very sensitive level to ensure that cows are identified at the earliest signs of lameness. There is no benefit of the doubt.

Sara uses Sarah’s scores to monitor patterns and create the inspection lists based on:

• Routine preventive inspections at 8-10 weeks before calving and 60-90 DIM
• New cases of lameness (Score 2 or 3) since last score
• Repeat cases or new cases still lame 8 weeks after treatment
• Chronic Score 2 cows every 10 weeks
• All Score 3 cows (unless non-foot related problem identified as cause)
• Block rechecks at 6 weeks
• In calf heifers 8-10 weeks before first calving

Russell and Christian ensure all cows on the list are presented. 

Alan Colebatch (a Fully Audited CHCSB Member) joined the team in autumn 2020 and inspects the cows on the list and treats according to the treatment protocols below. All date is entered directly into Uniform. 

Digital dermatitis:

• Clean, dry, spray with Engemycin. Repeat after 30secs.
• Visibly mark cow for repeated treatments 

Claw horn lesions (sole bruising/sole ulcer/white line):

• TRIM & BLOCK: Also give NSAID If new case
• If no visible lesion in horn but elicits pain response in sole ulcer site, then treat as above 

Sarah uploads the trim visit results on to the WhatsApp group and these are then collated with the mobility scores. The information is then fed back and shared by Sara. 

Sara also visits the farm every six months to undertake a mobility score, inspect feet in the crush and update the AHDB Healthy Feet Programme Action List.

Summary of Results