Scrapie Monitoring Scheme

Some of you might remember when the Scrapie Monitoring Scheme for sheep and goats started in 1993. The idea was to monitor flocks for scrapie so that they could have the oppertunity to export animals without having to have check done every time animals were sent abroad. To remain in the scheme members have a flock inspection each year to determine that there are no animals showing signs of scrapie and one animal that was due to be culled was required to have a detailed examination of the brain to ensure there were no signs of either Scrapie or now BSE.

Better Tests

Things have changed since 1993, there are in fact few flocks now that export breeding stock and the National Scrapie Plan has taken over as a better way to breed the tendency to develop the disease out of a flock so the chance of a breakdown are low. The Scrapie Monitoring Scheme has continued more as an assurance scheme for pedigree animals that are sold in this country to make sure that the relevant veterinary checks have been done before replacement breeding stock are purchased.

London Meeting

DEFRA is not sure what to do with the Scrapie Monitoring Scheme. There are fewer than 350 members now and they do not seem to want to administer it any more. They propose either to close the scheme or to transfer responsibility for operating it to its members so that they will not have to cover any of the operating costs. I know that I have several clients that have stayed in the Scrapie Monitoring Scheme and you might like to contribute to the consultation process. The easiest way to do this is to read the web version of this newsletter and follow the link to the consultation document. DEFRA are planning a meeting of members in London on Thursday the 28^th of February, but I am not sure if they will get many people interested enough to attend.

Lungworm Vaccine

Sadly there is another thing that I can see will come to an end in the near future if it is not used more and this thing I think we will miss if it disappears. Each year fewer calves are vaccinated to give them lifelong protection against lungworm, the chances are that it will soon become un economic to produce the vaccine each spring and it will go for good. Apart from having a facination for the way the vaccine is produced by irradiating live lungworm larvae and for the thought that it still is the only vaccine in the world that is made by that method. It does seem useful to me that you can with two simple doses fully protect a calf against this serious disease for the rest of their life. Part of the problem is that we are more used to waiting for a problem to occur and then reacting to it.

Long Term Planning

Vaccinating against lungworm is more like taking out an insurance policy. It might be some years before your calf is seriously challenged with the infection and you will have forgotten by then what you could have done to prevent it.

Scientific Approach

I am a little surprised that there is not more demand for Bovilis Huskvac especially on farms that are trying to cut right down on their use of wormers and on organic farms. There was a time when it was thought that larval vaccines could play a significant role in the control of internal parasites, but they have never really been developed to their full potential. If you should want to go against the trend and make use of this unique vaccine this is the time of the year to order it.

Blind Calf

Last week end I was called to see a weaned calf that would not come to eat. Looked at with the rest of the group there was nothing particularly remarkable about this calf. When we tried to catch him I realised something was wrong as he was reluctant to move and did not seem to be able to see from his right eye. The calves are fed on hay and they were is a building that has been used to house cattle for a number of years. They did not have access to any painted surfaces. Putting the whole picture together the suspicion was that this animal was starting to suffer from listeriosis. This is a bacterial infection that originated from the soil. Cattle and sheep develop it from eating either contaminated silage, or when they eat their bedding. In the early stages of the infection, because this is a bacterial disease, I would expect to get a reasonable response to high doses of antibiotic given by intravenous injection in the first instance. Sometimes symptoms are slow to develop and you may not realise the animal is not able to see properly. Sometimes the first thing that is noticed from adult stock with listeria is that they will abort.

Traditional Treatments

Listeria is not a sophisticated bacteria in the way that it is always sensitive to penicillin and oxytetracycline. Indeed it responds better to these treatments than to the more modern drugs as they are able to penetrate through into the tissues of the brain where the newer drugs cannot get to because of their larger molecules. Some of these products have not been relicensed for use in meat producing animals because of the costs involved so our options for treatment are more limited now than they were thirty years ago.

Using Barren Ewes

How is the lambing going? It might well not have started yet or you might have got through the first lot. If you have had a poor crop or if there seem to be a substantial number of barren ewes it is sometimes worth investigating individuals that you were expecting to be pregnant. A simple blood test will tell us if there is any indication that Toxoplasma is responsible for the failed pregnancy, or the poor growth of the lambs. It is not easy to correct this problem at this time of the year, but we will be able to stop it happening again next time.

Blood Testing

So far we have not had any problems blood testing for Bluetongue. The tests are done on a serum sample and it is taking three days for the results to come back. There is a chance that from time to time there will be a positive result from this test and then further samples will be needed to determine if infection really is present in the herd or flock.

As far as I can determine there has been little or no monitoring for Bluetongue in Shropshire until now so it is possible that infection will be found in some animals that are due to be moved out of the surveillance zone into the cleaner areas.

Should this happen close to us all movements might well stop for a while and there is no clear indication when the vector free period will be declared as over. The midges we have seem to be a hardy lot and there has been some activity from them since Christmas. If you want to move anything it would be better to get on with it while we still can.

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