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Know How / Livestock diseases

Expert advice on identifying and treating livestock diseases such as BVD, Johne’s disease, leptospirosis in cattle, navel ill in calves, orf in sheep, watery mouth in lambs and swine fever in pigs. See the latest thinking on controlling parasitic diseases and worms such as liver fluke and lungworm.

Advice and tips

POULTRY

Advice on protecting flocks from Newcastle disease virus

It was in 2006 when Great Britain last had an outbreak of Newcastle disease. With cases now confirmed in western Europe, it is possible that this highly contagious avian virus…

SHEEP

Practical advice on reducing lamb losses from joint ill

Washing hands, wearing gloves, and sterilising tubes and taggers are simple steps in maintaining excellent standards of hygiene at lambing. And they could go a long way to protecting flocks…

DAIRY

Advice on dairy biosecurity to minimise endemic disease risk

Assessing risk, asking the right questions and designing an ongoing, farm-specific management strategy are the foundations of good biosecurity when buying in stock. According to vets, buying in animals remains…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

Advice on winter measures to keep bluetongue virus at bay

Although falling temperatures will now curtail midge activity and bluetongue virus replication, farmers can still take measures to reduce infection pressure this winter by disrupting the midge life cycle. Poorly…

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Case studies

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

How timely bluetongue vaccine prevents dummy calves

A bluetongue vaccination uptake of only 50% among the suckler herd clients of a South East vet practice has been followed by several cases of dummy calves in unprotected herds.…

BEEF

How a vaccine transformed crypto control for one beef system

A new vaccine for cryptosporidium has markedly improved calf health and eased labour demand on a Perthshire beef farm – but it relies on excellent colostrum management to be effective.…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

Orf disease: Two ways sheep farmers are tackling the virus

Orf is the more common name for contagious pustular dermatitis, and is considered endemic in the UK, and prevalent on most sheep farms. A recent study by the Royal Veterinary…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

How Johne’s management cut disease to less than 2% of herd

Consistent efforts to prevent Johne’s disease in a high-yielding Wiltshire dairy herd have resulted in cases falling from a high of 25% (cows identified as Johne’s positive or high risk)…

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Community

LIVESTOCK

Farmer Focus: Calving difficulties cause extra work

Calving is nearing completion on our farm, with just five cows to calve at this stage. I’m ready for a break! The problems we had with difficult calvings on heifers…

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Insights

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News

POULTRY

Poultry housing order to be lifted in Northern Ireland

Free-range poultry producers in Northern Ireland will be able to let their birds out on the range from next Tuesday (5 May), when the mandatory housing order is officially lifted.…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

Vaccine ready to counter emerging bluetongue BTV-8 threat

Farmers looking to protect their livestock against the BTV-8 bluetongue variant have another tool at their disposal, with the Syvazul BTV-8 vaccine now available for use in England, Scotland and…

BOVINE TB

TB exposure in Exmoor deer highlighted by study

More than a quarter of wild deer tested on Exmoor show evidence of past exposure to bovine tuberculosis. This is according to a new government-funded study, which raises fresh questions…

POULTRY

Breeding ducks in Lincolnshire confirmed with avian influenza

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has struck again, with a farm housing breeding ducks in Lincolnshire the latest to succumb to the disease. The outbreak, confirmed on Saturday (11 April) on…

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Opinion

BOVINE TB

FW Opinion: Wider review of slurry role in bovine TB needed

Queen guitarist and animal rights campaigner Brian May has shared with Farmers Weekly in some detail how, working with vet Dick Sibley, he has helped a Devon dairy farm regain…

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Test and reviews

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Buyer's guide to ketone testers for dairy farmers

Simple and quick tests that measure ketone levels in dairy cows are allowing farmers to act promptly with interventions to protect milk yields and herd performance. Subclinical ketosis can’t be…

DAIRY

Buyer's guide: Teat disinfection technology

As herd sizes increase and labour sourcing continues to create challenges, more farmers are turning to automated teat disinfection technologies to ease pressure in the parlour and promote efficiencies. Although…

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Video

BOVINE TB

Dairy farmer who suffered bovine TB hell exits industry

A Pembrokeshire farmer has made the difficult decision to sell his dairy unit and leave farming after suffering at the hands of bovine TB. Steve Evans, a fourth-generation farmer based…

BOVINE TB

Brian May - ‘Badgers are irrelevant in cattle TB spread’

Queen guitarist and animal rights campaigner Sir Brian May has staked his life on badgers playing no role in the bovine TB nightmare for farmers. He believes badgers do not…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Video: Farmers plunge dip a mammoth 6,300 sheep in one day

Sheep farmers and contractors have carried out a mammoth 6,300-ewe plunge dipping day as part of a new joint venture between two businesses. Neil Fell, owner of NR Fell Mobile…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

Video: How to use orf vaccine correctly on sheep

About one in five lambs – 900,000 – are affected by the highly contagious orf virus in England’s sheep flock each year according to MSD Animal Health. Added to that…

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