Badger Vaccine

Over the past ten years DEFRA has spent over £11million pounds modifying the human BCG vaccine so that it can be used in badgers. It is now licensed as a prescription only medicine for intra muscular injection in badgers to protect them against tuberculosis. The vaccine is being used now in the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project in the six worst areas of England affected by bovine tuberculosis. DEFRA is willing to allow the use of the vaccine in other areas as long as land owners are prepared to pay for the vaccine and the cost of a trained person to administer it. The problem at the moment is that it can only be used by licensed contractors and  these are in short supply. Are there any volunteers who would like to be trained to use this vaccine?

Tuberculosis and Alpacas

Last year there were twelve farms where bovine tuberculosis was identified in Alpacas and several more are under investigation this year. Alpacas come from high altitudes in South America where there is little oxygen in the air. As a consequence they have developed efficient lungs which have a huge oxygen carrying capacity. Alpacas are known not to show any signs of weakness until they reach the terminals stages of an infection so that the do not reveal any signs of illness to potential predators. Because of this they will not show any hint of illness until the disease is well advanced in their lungs. There are no movement controls in place on Alpacas so they are a real threat to other animals susceptible to tuberculosis as they can move freely when infected. It is difficult to identify Alpacas with Tuberculosis. They do respond to the skin test which is usually administered on the body wall near the elbow as there is little coat cover here. It is known that some infected animals will not react to this test, but it will detect the disease when a group of animals are tested. It is best to assume that if you get one reactor there will be others present on the holding.

No Movement Controls

There are still no movement controls on Alpacas. No requirement to register animals or record their movements. It has been found that some Alpaca owners have confidence in combined antibiotic treatments that they have been assured will cure their animals. There is no evidence that antibiotics used on people will cure the disease in Alpacas. They have little effect on the excretion of the tubercular bacilli and will encourage the spread of the disease to other vulnerable animals and their human companions. It makes little sense to have such strict movement controls on cattle and sheep when potentially infected Alpacas are able to move freely throughout the country. There is clear evidence that in at least one case tuberculosis has been transmitted between two different Alpacas. Also there has been a significant increase in the numbers of Alpacas in England and Wales since the last foot and mouth outbreak. I think it is irresponsible that there is no requirement to notify DEFRA if you keep these animals as they will be able to spread infection at the expense of other animal keepers.

Animal Health and VLA Merge

Over the years both the State Veterinary Service, now Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency who do investigations into diseases on farms have contracted down considerably in size. Most of you will remember the days when each county had its own Animal Health Office and Divisional Veterinary Officer. Until recently all animal health matters were controlled from Worcester, now it is Stafford who run this huge region with fewer and fewer Veterinary Staff.

We are fortunate in a way that when the Veterinary Investigation Centre closed in Wolverhampton a new one was opened in Shrewsbury. This is one of only fourteen laboratories in England that investigate disease on farms. There are only two Veterinary Laboratories in the whole of Wales. It is not so long ago that these laboratories were fully funded and each dealing with large numbers of blood samples from cattle when brucellosis was starting to be eradicated. More post mortems were undertaken at that time as no charges were made for the laboratory services farmers were encouraged to have problems fully investigated. Now the laboratories are only open for five days during the week and the one in Shrewsbury takes samples from a huge area from Herefordshire to Anglesey. It is a long way to take a dead ewe if you want to find out what it has died from.

Ministerial Announcement

Mrs Spelman the secretary of state for the environment has now announced that Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency would be merged into one agency as soon as possible.

“These two agencies both work to combat animal diseases, and by bringing together their services, expertise and scientific capability, we will improve our resilience and create a strong organization that provides a range of services from on farm advice and emergency response to the world-class laboratory work and science for which we are rightly recognised.”

Although there is some overlap in what   Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency do it is disappointing that the Veterinary Service is contracting yet again. We will be further removed from the people who make the decisions on how diseases are managed on our farms.

Calf Survey

Thinking of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency the Truro Office is carrying out a study into the cause of Bovine Neonatal Pancytopaenia the bleeding calf syndrome. At the moment there has been no definite progress as to the cause of this syndrome. It is still very rare, it seems to affect just one or two new born calves on mainly large dairy farms. The study will involve a detailed interview to see if anything can be determined about the way that calves are managed on farms that might leave them vulnerable to the syndrome. It would be helpful if you could co operated with this survey if asked.

Pfizer have now withdrawn their BVD Vaccine Pregsure because they fear there might be a link with their vaccine. This is not a vaccine that we have ever used. This is not something that the Veterinary Medicines Directorate that controls animal medicines has asked for as it does not think there is sufficient evidence to link the small numbers of losses to the vaccine. Exactly the same vaccine has been sold extensively in America for many years and they have had no cases of the Bleeding Calf Syndrome reported so far from that country, it is not easy to understand.

Minsterley Bridge

It seems to be a long time since February when the contractors first started to work on the bridge. I am pleased to say that the bridge is now fully open. We are grateful for your patience as it has not always been easy to get to our Surgery in the past few months.         

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