The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: trish.farm on November 04, 2014, 01:16:24 pm
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oh my lord!! Just rang my vets to get a quote for TB testing for movement. £50 per visit plus £120 per hour for the vet!! So that's £100 plus say half an hour each visit so total of £220 to TB test 2 cows!!!! only been offered £200 for one of them and £350 for the other (weaned calves) makes the whole job unviable.
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We tried to time selling cattle with the usual test (Government funded). As we were calf-rearing and selling them in time to leave the shed clear for lambing the February test worked very well.
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Annual testing here in Wales does have some advantages!!
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I am on annual testing but that is in July, going to have to keep them for another 8 months now!! Just cant afford pay to get them TB tested now. Makes you realise what a nightmare this TB testing is. :furious:
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I've been lucky so far with paying for testing. When I bought my four Shetland girls in June they were tested by the vendor. They went to stay on a friend's farm until the tenant had moved out of our newly purchased farm and we could occupy it. When the time came to move them it happened to coincide with my pal's annual test and thus a freebie. I'm about to borrow a bull for 2-3 months and he is coming from a non movement testing area. He will be returned in January. As a new cattle keeper, I was phoned by the ministry vet and told my herd had to be tested. I explained the testing regime to date and the vet has agreed to test in January so the pre move test of the bull will be a freebie. I do wonder if TB testing the heifers so often, i.e. June, October and January could cause them to be reactors. Could any vet out there comment.
Regards, David
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Hello Daveh. I think its unlikely to cause a problem, in many areas with herd breakdowns cattle are tested every 60 days.
Regarding the price of testing Trish.farm other options would be to take the cattle to the vet if they're well handled & you've transport, or phone around & compare prices. Being in a 4 yearly area here I dont have a lot of private tests to do but usually charge around £10/head for a couple of cows & half that for bigger numbers - the admin involved is much the same.
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How on earth do my vets justify charging £50 plus vat for call out and test, twice. Plus £120 per hour! ???????
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farmvet,
Thanks for replying. That takes a niggle away from the back of my mind.
Regards, David
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How on earth do my vets justify charging £50 plus vat for call out and test, twice. Plus £120 per hour! ??? ??? ?
Given that their charge is £120 an hour, and it takes time and fuel to get to and from your place, then £50 for call out isn't too bad.
The £120 an hour isn't just for them - it also pays for the receptionist that books your call, the veterinary nurse, the upkeep of the surgery, the interest on the money that pays for all the drugs and equipment that are kept on the premises in case your animals need them etc.
I'm not saying I enjoy paying that sort of money, but it's only half what a solicitor charges, or a lot of other professional people, and you have the ultimate choice to use a vet or not.
At least you get tested once a year, so have the advantage of seeing the vet annually to discuss any problems you have at the ministry's expense, and to get treatment with only the hourly charge to pay.
And in 8 months time your calves should be worth considerably more than £200 or so. And realistically, even if the vet had charged only, say £20/animal with no callout, (so essentially for transport costs only) that would be most of your profit gone. So maybe you need to reassess your timings to take advantage of the free tests you already get. :idea: :sunshine:
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Think that is a little steep :o
We sold 2 cows earlier this year and the TB test was just under £100. We also paid the pre movement TB test for a bull hire last year and that was a similar price (2 different vets 1 in England and 1 in Wales).
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oh my lord!! Just rang my vets to get a quote for TB testing for movement. £50 per visit plus £120 per hour for the vet!! So that's £100 plus say half an hour each visit so total of £220 to TB test 2 cows!!!! only been offered £200 for one of them and £350 for the other (weaned calves) makes the whole job unviable.
Your vets are very expensive!!! My practice used to charge £24 + vat visit fee for a pre movement test and since the new year we now charge £16 + vat. Then the hourly fee for the vet is the same (£120) however we are all speedier than what you quote and we would not charge more than 10 minutes per visit to test only 2 cattle, providing that they are ready and in a race/crush/safely restrained behind a gate when we turn up. That's less than £100 for both visits.
Maybe your vets are so unused to test cattle that take a loooooong time doing it. In my practice we all do min 40-50 heads/hour if handling and pushers are working fine.
Maybe you should move to Devon ;D :roflanim: :idea:
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We had to get a single cow TB tested last summer. I can't remember the breakdown between callout and hourly rate but the total was around £95 - and we are about an hours driving from the vet (although I think he combined the first visit with a visit to someone else a few miles along the glen). I thought it was very reasonable.
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our tb movement tests are all paid for by DARD, but i know from working in a vets the tests were £150 min an that was for anywhere from 1-50 head of cattle
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Our vet charges £25/visit, and £4/head for the TB test, so our total to test 3 cows was £62 including both visits. I'm very glad of our vet!