Bovine TB at Westleaze

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8 June 2021

Last month we had the dreaded news that our herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle had gone down with Bovine Tuberculosis. This was the first time that any of our cattle had contracted the disease in the ten years that they have been grazing the Beaminster Downs.

The positive reactor, which was discovered through our annual herd test has large ramifications; infected cattle are to be slaughtered and we are now unable to move any cattle off our farm till they all test negative twice after 60 and 120 days.

Due to the high cases of the disease in Dorset, we have to test our cattle yearly for signs of the disease, as opposed to every four years in low-risk areas. Otherwise, we would only test the animals that are due to move off the farm within the next 60 days.

Once a risk to human health in the UK, Tuberculosis today, however, causes stress and emotional heartache as farmers have their livelihoods slaughtered due to the disease.

TB testing in cattle began in England in 1935, as milk drunk from an infected dairy cow would transmit the disease. As with today, infected cattle would be slaughtered to stop the spread of the disease, which nearly led to the disease’s eradication in the 1970s.

Unfortunately, however, it was soon discovered that badgers and deer were carrying and continuing to spread the disease across the country. Last year, in England alone, over 27,000 cattle were slaughtered due to the disease.

The solution?

Realistically, there isn’t one solution. And it’s a bit of a hot topic to bring up! The Government have had a three-pronged approach to be TB free by 2038; testing, culling and vaccinations.

Many areas across England have been actively culling the badger population and it was announced in February that this was to be continued in Dorset, Somerset and Devon.

Patch the Dog keeping an eye on the herd

DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has set a five-year plan to have an effective vaccine for cattle. Currently, there is one, however, it has an effectiveness of around 60% and when tested a vaccinated cow will automatically test positive for the disease.

Badgers can be vaccinated, but only by injections, so they must be caught in a cage and treated. This makes the process extremely costly; a five-year vaccination programme for badgers in Pembrokeshire worked out at £684 per badger.

Last year saw a 10% reduction in Bovine Tuberculosis slaughters in England – but it’s not enough. All of our cattle are to have blood tests in the next month to definitively see the toll of how many more will be killed.

Any animals that are slaughtered are compensated for by the Government, but the real cost is the mental effect on the farmer.

Despite what many people may think, we love our animals. We breed them, raise them and spend every day of our lives with them. We give up family time to spend time in the pouring rain with the boys and girls out in the fields.

it’s a case of having one of your own slaughtered, and farmers will do anything to stop that.

By: Andrew Livingston

Voice of the Farmer | June 2021

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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I think after last months article where I mentioned that during the month of April, we had not received any measurable rainfall and that perhaps farmers and growers could do with some rain, during May we have virtually have had rain everyday. So far the totals amount to 150mm or 6 inches. This has led to the rapid growth of our grass and crops which has meant that the silage making process of providing winter feed for cattle has been severely delayed. At least when the weather does improve we shall have a good crop although may be lacking in quality.

Much of the farming politics has been involved with the trade talks with Australia. The result of the Brexit Deal has led to the United Kingdom being able to negotiate trade deals with countries outside the EU. The trade deal being agreed with Australia may be a bad deal for the farmers. With a tariff free deal being on the table this could mean food being imported produced at lower standards to what is expected in this country. This would put the UK producer at a disadvantage and unable to compete on price.

Let’s hope there will be better labelling in place soon so that consumers have accurate information of how and where the food was produced and hopefully will support local producers where possible.

With the weather now improving we have been able to get on with our silage making providing feed for our cattle next winter . Always an exciting time of year bringing in the first harvest of grass especially when you are relying on various bits of machinery not to break down !

The photos are of silage making at Rawston in the 1960,s and this year.

By: James Cossins

Life as a farm vet

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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Here at Damory Veterinary Clinic in Blandford we have six full-time dedicated farm vets, alongside our small animal & equine teams. The majority of our work involves looking after dairy cattle, but we also see plenty of beef herds and sheep flocks; along with smallholders owning a variety of species including goats, poultry and alpacas.

Our days can be extremely varied, with a mix of pre-planned and emergency visits. For example I could be ultrasound scanning cows to see if they are pregnant, TB testing, dealing with emergencies such as difficult births, treating poorly animals, operating on a cow with a displaced stomach – the list is endless. Not knowing what you might do each day (or night!) is one of the most exciting aspects of our job.

Some parts of farm veterinary work are very seasonal, with Spring being notoriously busy. However there are some moments that make it all worth it: such as treating a severely dehydrated calf with a fluid drip, watching them go from listless to bouncing around the pen in a matter of hours! Or ultrasound scanning a cow and seeing that she is “in calf” (pregnant), after you nursed her back to health from severe illness a few months earlier. Calvings and lambings, including C-sections, are also immensely satisfying – the feeling of bringing new life into the world never gets old!

As well as visiting farms, there is also technical office-based work looking at farms’ data to keep us busy. We have several software programmes enabling us to analyse data and advise farms on how they can improve their herds’ health most efficiently.

Personally my special interest is infectious disease control, so when I’m not out on visits you might find me analysing results or advising farmers on control plans, including vaccination, tailored to their individual farms. It is so rewarding to get to know our clients and their farms, working with them over time to improve herd health. I am also enrolled on a post-graduate qualification, the Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice. My colleagues have particular interests in areas such as fertility, dairy cow lameness, mastitis, youngstock and suckler herd management.

To see more about our services & what we get up to, find us on Facebook “Damory Farm Vets” or Instagram @damoryvetsdorset_farm

By: Laura Sage BVSc (Dist) MRCVS

Hedgehog fundraising fayre

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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Hedgehog Rescue of Hazelbury Bryan has booked a date, time and place for its 2021 fundraising event: Saturday, 26th June, 1pm to 5pm, at the Hazelbury Bryan Pavilion (opposite the Antelope). Given the circumstances of the last year, organising an event has been a struggle – even deciding on a name! Eventually our committee voted for “Hazelbury Hedgehog Craft Fayre” as we have over 22 craft tables booked in for the afternoon. We are now asking for local businesses to donate raffle prizes so we can sell tickets on the day.

It is so much easier naming hedgehogs especially as they never know and forget them even quicker. It makes my job easier to be able to identify the hedgehog by name and not just a number, although they get both on admission.

Buddy was admitted from Sturminster Newton with a nasty infection that made it difficult for him to pass urine. He is feeling much better now and has found his appetite. He is trying to build up the muscles he lost when he was ill.

Fortuna came from Fiddleford having had a very close call with a strimmer. Her prickles are beginning to grow back now, but she will have to stay with us until they do as they are her only form of protection. She hates being here and is very grumpy.

Hufflepuff is from Hazelbury. He is a beautiful young man who was sprayed with weedkiller. It made him very sick and gave him diarrhoea and vomiting. The first thing I did was give him a bath to remove as much weedkiller as we could. He has made a full recovery and is nearly ready to go home.

Like all the other casualties they will be returned back to the wild to live their lives.

“If you build it, they will come”

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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No wildlife garden is complete without a pond of some kind. The larger, the better, but even if you only have a tiny patio, it’s still worth trying to find a small shady corner, to sink an old ice cream tub or something similar.

If you have enough space to dig a proper pond, you will need to vary its depth to suit different plants and aquatic wildlife. Make sure you leave a shallow ‘beach’ area for creatures to enter and leave the pond, as well as providing them with plenty of plant cover nearby so they don’t feel exposed as they come and go. And once built, try to fill your pond with rainwater or water from a nearby pond. When choosing plants it is important to use only native – which have co-evolved with native aquatic wildlife – and to include a variety of floating, oxygenating, and marginal species. Spiked Water Milfoil is a great oxygenating plant, as are Water violet and Common Water Crowfoot. Marginals might include plants such as Marsh Woundwort, Water Mint, Ragged Robin, and Purple Loosestrife; and for floating deep-water aquatics, consider Hornwort, Frogbit or native Water Lilies. There are plenty more to choose from.

Some aquatic plants are extremely vigorous and can take over, so it’s worth getting expert advice to make sure you get the planting balance right. Once you do, your pond will require little, if any, maintenance throughout the year.

As the plants begin to settle, you will be amazed by how quickly your pond becomes colonised by all manner of weird and wonderful creatures. Expect water snails, pond skaters, frogs, newts, dragonflies, water boatmen, whirligig beetles and many more exciting visitors – which all seem to appear from nowhere! Not to mention other non-aquatic birds insects and small mammals who will welcome the chance use your pond to quench their thirst, or take a bath. Our most regular visitor is a Crow, who turns up most mornings with a hunk of stale bread (from a neighbour’s lawn) which he drops in our pond to soak and soften, before he eats it.

Having a pond in your garden provides hours of interest and entertainment and within a couple of years you will wonder how you ever thought your garden was complete without one.Kate Bradbury’s book How to Create a Wildlife Pond is packed with useful advice, and DDS Aquatics, in Henstridge, provide everything you need to get started.

Property Disputes

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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Multiple lockdowns and ‘stay at home’ rules may have resulted in property disputes with your neighbours, but how can a Solicitor help resolve these? Property Dispute Resolution Solicitor Annabel Morgan explains:

What steps should a person take to resolve disputes with their neighbour?

• Communication is often key – early communication between neighbours can often help to avoid the need to litigate. Consider and if appropriate, seek to agree the solution to the problem with the neighbour.

• Check to see whether you have the benefit of before the event insurance
(for example attached to your home insurance policy or bank account) as boundary disputes are discouragingly expensive. As Lord Hoffman said Alan Wibberley Building Limited “Boundary disputes are a particularly painful form of litigation. Feelings run high and disproportionate amounts of money are spent. Claims to small and valueless pieces of land are pressed with the zeal of Fortinbras’s army”.

• Seek advice from solicitors on what your title plans and deeds show, we do not need to be formally instructed to correspond with your neighbour as often that creates further barriers in resolving the dispute. Often disputes can be resolved by better understanding the construction of the documents. In the absence of express provisions which outline what rights and obligations each owner has, issues can be resolved by agreement even informally.

• Get independent expert advice. Consider engaging a surveyor for boundary related disputes otherwise, contact a solicitor who specialises and has experience in property disputes.

If my local council is refusing to collect my recycling bin because neighbours are adding non-recyclable refuse to it, what can I do?

Waste dumping is illegal. You should report
the waste dumping with the local council and request that they follow this up. Speak to your local waste collection service to provide your neighbour with a better understanding of what they will and will not take.

How could mediation help neighbours resolve a dispute?

Mediation is often a very useful and pragmatic way to resolve disputes. Parties do not necessarily need to be legally represented at a mediation. It is a process focused on practical rather than legal solutions and allows an impartial third party to listen to all parties and encourage understanding and concessions to be made.

Why should a person seek regulated legal advice to resolve disputes with neighbours?

Property disputes can be acrimonious, particularly between neighbours who have long since ceased to see eye to eye. We will help you to preserve a relationship with the other side as far as possible. Property disputes can be expensive and it is important to us that potential costs of a case are properly understood, proportionate to the dispute and capable of being funded. We will always therefore give you full advice in relation to the costs and consider funding options, including – for example – insurance-backed funding. We can also act on a fixed fee basis where appropriate. If litigation is necessary, as a regulated firm, we are able to conduct court proceedings on your behalf.

For more information on Property Dispute Resolution, contact Annabel Morgan on 01935 846262 or email [email protected]

Looking after your employees’ well-being

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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As part of their ongoing partnership with Dorset Mind, Blanchards Bailey joined others around the world in celebration of World Mental Health week. The firm’s Head of HR & Operation, Jane Eldridge-Cordner, provides expert advice to business clients on how they can best look after their employees’ mental health and offers examples on how the firm puts that advice into practice:

“Looking after your employees’ well-being should now, more than ever, be a key priority. Modern day life pressures, coupled with challenges presented by the pandemic, have left many feeling anxious and depressed. Signs of this in the workplace include decreased productivity, morale problems, lack of cooperation, absenteeism, presenteeism, complaints of tiredness, complaints of aches and pains and alcohol/drug misuse.

The good news is that there are a number of tools and strategies that employers can adopt to proactively manage health and well-being in the workplace. These include:

· ensuring you have a wellbeing policy.

· developing a supportive culture by training mental health first aiders, educating line managers in recognising the symptoms of anxiety and stress, and running self-awareness workshops for staff.

· providing easily accessible resources for staff which include self-help information as well as useful telephone numbers and links to websites.

· providing access to an employee assistance programme which includes advice for maintaining and improving health as well as a counselling service that can be accessed free of charge.

· signing up to the Wellbeing Charter or other recognised mental health champions to access current research and training.

· carrying out regular staff surveys/stress audits to retain awareness of the overall mental wellbeing of your workforce.

Blanchards Bailey takes the mental health and wellbeing of its staff very seriously and, as such, has worked hard to build a supportive culture over the last few years. Actions taken during this time include; signing up to the Wellbeing Charter and sourcing an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that not only supports ongoing good physical health but provides an online resource base for mental health. This includes the option of attending up to eight free counselling sessions, creating mental health champions who have been given formal mental health awareness training, developing a set of mental health resources and signposting for staff to access, delivering mental well-being sessions to all staff, and ensuring opportunities for informal networking and teamworking are provided across the Firm.

Management awareness training is planned for this coming year, as well as improvements to the provision of flexible and remote working which the pandemic has made more possible and is strongly supported by the Firm.”

For all HR and employment enquiries contact Jane Eldridge-Cordner on 01258 488220.

By: Blanchards Bailey

Local firms support Dementia Friendly to help reconnect the elderly

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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We have all been affected by the pandemic, feeling a sense of isolation and loneliness at being cut off from family and friends, but this is especially so for the elderly and vulnerable in care homes, especially those living with dementia.

Jenny Cottrell of Porter Dodson and Chloe Hooper of Symonds & Sampson with Robopets Porter and Sampson

Last autumn, Jenny Cottrell, solicitor with Porter Dodson in Sturminster Newton, nominated Newstone House in Sturminster (where her mother is a resident) to receive one of Dementia Friendly Gillingham’s giveaway robotic cats. She wasn’t successful on that occasion. Then Anne Kings (the organiser) contacted her and she was introduced to Sue Reader of Marnhull. She also wanted to donate a cat in memory of her late mother Rosemary Joyceand the two were paired up. It seemed worth asking Porter Dodson and Symonds & Sampson, Estate Agents, Chartered Surveyors and Auctioneers if they would like to join in and they both readily agreed to get involved and donate a dog each to accompany the two cats”.

The result is that both Newstone House and Nazareth Lodge will each receive a feline and canine friend for their residents. The benefits for the residents are well-established, especially when (pre-restrictions) both homes were regularly visited by pets and all kinds of other creatures – “I met two donkeys leaving the lift once in Newstone” comments Jenny.

Mark Lewis of Symonds & Sampson said “The long-established firm of chartered surveyors, Symonds & Sampson, have bought a Robo pet and will be donating it to residents in a dementia home in Sturminster Newton. We are delighted to be involved in this initiative with regional law firm, Porter Dodson. Their pet is called Porter and ours, of course, is Sampson!”

Chloe Hooper who works as a residential negotiator at Symonds & Sampson says “The Robotic Companion Pets are hugely beneficial for people living with dementia, people with Parkinson’s, children with special needs, the elderly, and anybody suffering from mental health issues. Patients in NHS dementia wards who had previously been anxious, frightened, and who tended to wander, suddenly calm down, and start to interact with their new companion. The pressure taken off staff was immediate and made them feel good too.”

Richard Baker, Head of the Family Team and CSR Partner at Porter Dodson, said: “Porter Dodson is committed to putting the needs of clients and the local community first. During what has been a particularly challenging time for families, especially for those with loved ones in care homes, we are delighted to be supporting this initiative and hope that both Porter and Sampson bring much joy to those they come into contact with. “

By: Porter Dodson

The grocer’s boy who won the VC | Looking Back

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Editorial team

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8 June 2021

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Only 1,358 Victoria Crosses have been awarded since the first one in 1857 and few have deserved it more than World War One hero Jack Counter.

His remarkable courage was also commemorated on a postage stamp and led to him becoming the first honorary freeman of Blandford, where he was born in 1898 and educated at the National School.

Jack Counter was a humble grocer’s apprentice at Blandford’s International Stores before he joined the King’s Liverpool Regiment in February 1917.

At Boisleux St Mare in France the following year, his battalion found itself facing an enemy breakthrough.

‘It was necessary for information to be obtained from the front line in which the enemy had effected a lodgement,’ says the official account of Counter’s heroism.

‘The only way was from the support line along a sunken road and thence down a forward slope for about 250 yards with no cover, in full view of the enemy and swept by their machine-gun and rifle fire.’

A small party tried to get through but their leader was killed and another man wounded.

Officers then decided that a lone runner would stand a better chance.

This was attempted five times but each time the runner was killed in full view of his comrades.

‘Private Counter, who had seen the five runners killed one after the other, then volunteered to carry the message,’ the citation continues.

‘He went out under terrific fire and succeeded in getting through.

‘He then returned, carrying with him the vital information with regard to the estimated number of enemy in our line, the exact position of our flank and the remaining strength of our troops.

‘This information enabled his commanding officer to organise and launch the final counter-attack, which succeeded in regaining the whole of our position.

‘Subsequently this man carried back five messages across the open under a heavy artillery barrage to company headquarters.’

Counter’s courage in the face of ‘almost certain death’ was officially described as ‘extraordinary’.

He received the VC from King George V at Buckingham Palace on June 22, 1918, and came home to a hero’s welcome.

Counter gets a hero’s welcome before a large crowd in Blandford Market Place. Pictures from Blandford Forum: A Pictorial History, by Ben Cox (1995)

A huge crowd gathered at Blandford station, where detonators were exploded as Counter alighted from his train.

He was met by the Mayor and other dignitaries and more people lined the streets as he was taken to a crowded Market Place in a procession led by the Town Band.

Glowing tributes were paid by the Mayor and others and Counter received a £100 war savings certificate and inscribed gold watch and chain as well as the Freedom of the Borough.

The soldier modestly replied that he had only been doing his duty to king and country.

After the war Counter settled in Jersey, where he worked for the Post Office, but he actually died in Blandford during a return visit in 1970.

His heroism was commemorated on a Jersey postage stamp in 1971.

By: Roger Guttridge