The UCDVH's Breeding Soundness Examination of both bull and ram will identify sterile animals, but also those with reduced fertility at the time of examination. The examination begins with a thorough physical examination of the bull or ram to check general health and look for any signs of lameness. Following on from this, the focus then turns to the reproductive system, with examination of the penis and testicles, measurement of the scrotal circumference and rectal palpation of the accessory sex organs in the bull. Semen is then collected, usually by electroejaculation. A sample of the total ejaculate is evaluated on a warm microscope slide for motility, while another subsample is placed on a slide and stained to determine the percentage of sperm having normal and abnormal morphology. The procedure does not evaluate an animal’s ability to mate or its libido.
The UCD Farm Animal Team consists of European Board Certified Specialists in bovine and small ruminant health management, animal reproduction, epidemiology and veterinary public health. This multi-disciplinary group also includes internationally recognised experts in reproductive biology and applied animal nutrition.
The UCD Farm Animal Team offers clinical excellence at the level of the individual animal, including investigation of infertility and breeding soundness examination of both the bull and ram, as well as delivering high-level consultancy in herd health investigation, disease prevention and control. The team is also highly experienced in managing herd health relevant surgical conditions such as abomasal and caecal dilation.
Supported and informed by its innovative research programmes on dairy cow nutrition and infertility, lameness, risk-based disease management systems, modelling herd fertility and developing software tools to facilitate herd health management, the team offers a unique array of expertise to colleagues in practice seeking advice and support in the investigation and management of complex herd and flock health problems.
The UCD Farm Animal Team offers a unique array of expertise in the investigation and control of complex disease and fertility problems in both dairy and beef suckler herds. The team brings state-of-the art knowledge and expertise to bear on common herd level problems, including calf health, infectious disease, mastitis control, the nutritionally-focused production diseases of the transition cow and lameness in the dairy herd, all of which are also current areas of research.
Supported by the judicious use of clinical laboratory diagnostics, the team uses a robust epidemiological approach to herd level problem-solving. The initial focus on performance evaluation is closely aligned to ‘the key abnormality of function’ diagnostic approach used in the individual animal as the ultimate outcomes are highly reliable in the face of herd-level complexities. Optimal investigations depend on the availability of reliable systems of recording relating to health events and production performance (e.g. ICBF data-base) and the team offers expert ability in terms of population data analysis, including relevant economic cost-benefit calculations.
Supported by colleagues in Diagnostic Imaging and the UCDVH Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories, the UCD Farm Animal team offers a unique skill-set to diagnose complex clinical syndromes in individual, frequently high genetic merit, pedigree farm animals.
UCDVH offers a wealth of experience in managing common abdominal bovine surgical conditions (LDA, RDA and caecal dilation), surgeries of the digit, as well as the common surgeries of calves such as umbilical hernia and correction of spastic paresis. The Hospital’s ‘Rotating Crush’ offers safe and controlled conditions for certain surgeries of the digit as well as for investigation and treatment of conditions of the bull’s prepuce and penis.
The UCDVH Farm Animal Team offers a wide range of expertise and referral consultancy services in the areas of lameness and orthopaedics. Individual lame cows and bulls can be managed safely and efficiently in our superb rotating crush for the purposes of foot trimming and surgeries of the distal limbs. The UCDVH is Ireland’s Centre of Excellence for the diagnosis and management of orthopaedic conditions in cattle, sheep and other farm animals. Our team includes a number of European specialists in Bovine Health Management and we work closely with the world class surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists in the UCDVH.
In addition to the professional services we offer in relation to the individual animal, the UCDVH Farm Animal Team are also recognised as leaders in the provision of Herd Health Consultancy and Referral services on the island of Ireland. Lameness investigations are routinely carried out at the request of veterinary practitioners throughout the country, and involve locomotion scoring, lesion identification, housing assessments and the implementation of control programmes for both infectious and non-infectious foot lameness in cattle. Similarly, flock lameness investigations are also routinely and successfully performed by the team.
The UCD Farm Animal Team has the only European Board-Certified Sheep Health Specialist in Ireland, Professor Michael Doherty. Supported by colleagues, Professor Doherty has a broad range of experience of investigating and delivering control programmes on Irish sheep farms for a wide range of health issues, including lameness, respiratory disease, lamb mortality and genetic disorders. Supported by Dr Theo De Waal, Professor Doherty advises on sustainable parasite control programmes testing for anthelmintic resistance and approaches to targeted selective treatments.