Vet Watch: roundup of regional health issues
Sid Parker, Scarsdale Veterinary Group
The torrential rain has obviously resulted in short-term problems with field work but may yet result in further problems in the next few months. In Derbyshire several major rivers have flooded the surrounding fields. As the water recedes many fields have been left covered in a layer of mud and silt. While this may improve the fertility of the land, it also carries dangers of Clostridial disease, particularly blackleg.
Clostridial spores like to exist in environments devoid of oxygen and are therefore highly suited to living in the thick mud at the bottom of rivers. When this mud is deposited on grazing pasture the field the field may become infected for several years to come. The first signs of a Clostridial outbreak may be sudden deaths of several animals. It could be useful vaccinate all animals, but particularly youngstock that may have to graze fields that have been flooded this winter.
Kate Brodie, Drove Veterinary Hospital
Dwindling farm staff numbers can mean that acutely lame cows (mobility score three) are the only ones who have their feet picked up and treated. However, we know that cows scoring one or two are also in need of attention. It is this early treatment of lameness that has been shown to be the key in reducing the prevalence of lameness in a herd.
We hope that a professional foot trimmer associated with the practice will provide a regular routine approach to dealing with feet. With regular mobility scoring and trimming sessions, lameness will be treated earlier and resolved quicker. This should result in fewer chronically lame cows and a reduction in culling due to lameness.
The trimmer feeds back the information gathered on farm to the practice leading to increased awareness, treatment protocols and prevention programmes.
This whole team approach should have a positive effect on lameness, fertility and general health in the herd.
Alistair Couper, Capontree Veterinary Centre
Liver fluke has been a serious problem for cattle and sheep on many of our farms this autumn. The problems include poor performance in beef and dairy cattle, not just the more obvious sudden deaths in ewes and lambs.
Bulk milk samples show a two to three times increase in exposure compared to last year. Cow’s faeces are showing active fluke present, despite many dairy cows only grazing for a few weeks this summer.
Sheep livers especially were shredded by the massive challenge of immature fluke and treatments were hampered by increasing levels of apparently triclabendazole resistant fluke. Even indoor finishing lambs are sadly still dropping down with liver failure from the effects of the autumn’s fluke challenge. The knock-on effects on surviving ewes have been slow tupping, poor conception and poor scanning results. I don’t think we will have too many oversize lambs to worry about at lambing time but twin lamb disease could be a major issue.
Catch up with previous veterinary reports