The Badger Cull

I should imagine that there will not be many people who keep cattle that have not welcomed the recent announcement by Caroline Spelman that her intension is after a six week period of consultation to give the go ahead for a limited badger cull on two sites next year. In her announcement right at the end of the parliamentary session she acknowledged the rising cost of tuberculosis to the government, the distress caused to farmers who keep cattle and the fact that no country in the world has ever been able to control tuberculosis in cattle without first controlling the disease in wildlife first.

The Target Numbers

What ever happens things will only move slowly as just two trial areas will be allowed initially where the badger numbers will be reduced over a period of four years. It is not at all clear how long it will be before the cull is found to be successful so that it can be undertaken in all of the problem areas. It seems that the aim is to cage catch and shoot or free shoot up to 70% of the badgers in the areas and maintain these reduced numbers for the period of four years.

The Aims of the Cull

There have been so many reports from DEFRA that it is difficult sometimes to believe all of the things that they are saying. About the badger cull they state ‘Scientists agree that if culling is conducted in line with the strict criteria identified from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), we would expect it to reduce TB in cattle over a 150 km² area, plus a 2 km surrounding ring, by an average of 16 per cent over nine years.’ Just how they can be so precise about these matters is beyond me. If you take this at face value it means that if you are loosing eight animals each year to tuberculosis at the moment in nine years time you could expect it to go down to seven.

Control Methods

It would seem that the decision has already been made that when it happens the badgers will be shot and not gassed. I realise that which ever method is used there will be controversy. During the last avian flu crisis DEFRA were happy to use carbon dioxide gas to dispatch chickens as it is easy to generate and can be used humanely. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and I would have thought it could be used quietly and safely on badger sets. It might well be that under field conditions some badgers would not succumb to the gas and could live on to infect more cattle, but it is not likely that shooting will be able to clear all of the badgers from a set either. The problem with shooting is that it will be too easy for protesters to find out what is going on and film the process. If gas was used as the destructive agent it would be safer for the operators involved, this operation would be discreet with little to see or up load onto Youtube.

Treating Orf

In the spring Intervet had a problem with the manufacture of their Orf vaccine Scabivax and many farms were unable to protect their lambs because there were no available supplies. Orf is a viral disease that causes an infection on the lips and nose of sheep. Older animals are sometimes only mildly infected, the condition is aggravated if the flock is grazing rough pastures contaminated with thistles or if the lesions become infected by pathogenic bacteria. After a time infected sheep will build up immunity to the orf virus and the lesions will heal. It does help if antibiotics are given to limit any secondary bacterial infections and the terramycin spray will help to dry up the lesions. I have been assured that the vaccine will be available again next year. Untreated the disease tends to get more severe each year so it is important to use the vaccine when it becomes available to stop it spreading next year.

The return of a Milking Cow Tube

It must be getting on for three years since Ubro Yellow, better known as Leo Yellow was freely available. Just as we were all thinking it had gone for good it has made a comeback. This is welcome news as we have a limited choice of available milking cow tubes and this one used to work well on some farms in the past so the chances are it will do so again.

Fit for Breeding

It is often the smaller flocks that have fat ewes at this time of the year and fat sheep will not be fit for breeding. Once the lambs have been weaned a ewes daily energy requirements will be easily met by modest quantities of grass, silage after math will be fine as it is the lambs that need the better grazing. It is important that when the rams are let into the ewes the ewes should go onto better pastures and start to put on weight again. To achieve this it is better to restrict them now or it will be difficult to flush them next month. Also have a close look at the feet of the rams. Rams will cover a lot of ground when they first start to work. For early lambing flocks the ground will usually be dry and hard when the rams are working so it is important to get their feet right now or they will not perform to their full potential.

Summer Mastitis

August is the time when traditionally we used to see heifers and dry cows with mastitis. The dry udder has several defence mechanisms against infection creeping in from the end of the teat. Biting flies pick up bacteria which can multiply in their salivary glands and can start an infection if they get established in the end of the teat canal. It is not always easy to notice the early stages, when you can expect a good response to stripping out the gland twice daily and inserting a broad spectrum antibiotic tube. Once the infection spreads to the gland itself the cow will soon develop a temperature and stand away from the others in the field. Now to limit the damage the cow will need anti inflammatory drugs a well as antibiotics to control the infection in the udder.

Controlling the Flies

Dry cow mastitis can occur throughout the summer months. This year we were treating cases in April and we would expect to still be dealing with some animals until the end of October. Don’t forget the dry cows and soon to calve heifers when you are applying your spot on fly treatments and to renew the dose especially if the weather has been wet. It is often the later calving animals in the group that are the ones to go down with summer mastitis.

Meningitis

When the weather is warm there is an increased risk of sheep and cattle developing meningitis. Listeria is a soil organism that can multiply in the blood stream and find its way across the membranes that normally protect the brain. Affected animals push their heads into dark places and will eventually have difficulty seeing as the pressure builds up around their brain. Look out for animals with the early signs of meningitis as established cases are difficult to treat.

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