I have had a message from our Divisional Veterinary Manager in Worcester. He says that although the numbers of cows with BSE has declined steadily over the past decade there were still 309 confirmed cases last year. This is something like just one percent of the numbers going down with the disease when it was at it’s peak in the early nineteen nineties. BSE has not gone away. It has been reported this week that there were three cases found on a single farm in Wales,although one of them was the daughter of the first case that was identified. The worrying thing is that more than two thirds of the cases now are not noticed on the farm but only show up when the tests are done at an abattoir. To be fair I think this disease is changing because we are not seeing dairy cows staggering across a slippery yard any more, the symptoms are far more subtle and varied. Sometimes all that you see is a small change in behavior a quiet cow may become irritable and agitated when something out of the ordinary happens. I think that we a seeing a different kind of disease to the one that was around ten years age. Some times it seems to progress only very slowly so many of the cows would have left the farm long before any symptoms were noticed.

The State Veterinary Service are still doing a wide range of tests on clinical cases. Part of the problem is that they cannot do all of their investigations on animals that have already died before the disease was suspected. In the past when we have reported suspect cases all that has happened is that the animal has been looked at and deemed fit to go on the Over thirty Months Scheme or to go to an abattoir. The balance of opinion is to rely on the statutory testing rather than fill in all of the forms and investigate thoroughly just in case. I wonder how many cases of BSE we will be seeing in ten years time. I do not think that we have got to the bottom of this yet as we are probably getting to the stage we were at before meat and bone meal was fed back to meat producing animals. Many of the clinical cases today would not have been noticed twenty or thirty years ago when there was no mechanism for investigating vague neurological disorders. Could it be that we need to look into the genetics of the animals that are now affected and try to detect susceptible cows before any changes develop in their brains.

No two years are ever the same. This year the spring seemed to start very early then slow down and almost stop. This has caused a great deal of problems for owners of horses that are prone to laminitis. Sometimes only a hint of grass at this time of the year is all that is needed to start the problem off. High levels of cereals in the diet makes some animals excitable and it primes them to be susceptible to laminitis when the grass is growing quickly. It is difficult to get the balance right to keep an animal in work and maintain the health of his feet. Feeding a high fiber low sugar diet does seem to help and might give you the opportunity to use more of the grass that is growing now in abundance. If symptoms do develop it is important to start treatment without delay as we get a much better response if anti inflammatory drugs are given before more permanent changes have developed in the feet.

It has been estimated that infectious disease can cost the average one hundred cow dairy farm as much as six thousand pounds a year in hidden costs associated with unplanned culling. Diseases such as Leptospirosis and Bovine Viral Diarrhea cause organ damage that affects the fertility of the herd and reduces the performance of the animals involved. High yielding dairy cows are working at the limits of their metabolic range so it is little wonder that it is sometimes difficult to get them back into calf or stop them getting significant levels of bowel or lungworm infections. They need help to keep the parasites under control and to stop the establishment of the production diseases. It is difficult when you buy in stock to be sure that you are not introducing new diseases to your farm. If you purchase adult cows regularly the chances are you will bring in some animals that are carrying leptospirosis and BVD as even cows that are vaccinated can pass on the disease. You may not be too concerned about digital dermatitis because the chances are you are familiar with this problem and regularly treat it during the winter anyway. At the moment we are more or less clear of Johnes Disease although there has been an alarming increase nationally and it is a disease that we keep looking for because of its human health significance.

It is very difficult to give advice about Tuberculosis. In many ways any purchased bovine animal is a risk and this will tend to increase with the age of the animal. It is always wise to try and find some information about the history of the farm and the parish where the animals have come from. Even if you have a recent test result to look at there is never any certainty that a purchased animal will not develop this disease. Few people are going to admit to having a disease problem on their farm when they are selling stock. You will need to take into account of what you already have on the farm and access the risk of introducing anything new.

At lambing time we tend to get involved more with small flocks and treat animals that are either pedigree or special because they are know as individuals in the flock. It is surprising how often we come across ewes that when they lamb down only have milk on one side because the other side has become infected after the lambs were weaned. This is a disaster because it realistically means that a potentially valuable ewe with the right genetics has to be culled, or a cade ewe that you brought up on a bottle either has to go or you will have to rear her lambs on a bottle each year. I think there is more of a tendency for pedigree ewes and ewes from small flocks to get post weaning mastitis because they are likely to get extra feed and produce more milk.

Few people would dry off a high yielding cow and leave the udder unprotected with either no antibiotics or no teat sealant so it is surprising that we leave ewes in this way. In some ways it is more difficult to wean ewes as even on a bare pasture they will find sufficient grass to produce milk. The dry cow tubes work well at weaning time. Take particular care to clean off the end of the teat and you only need half of a tube for each side. If you do not want to do all of the flock target the better ewes and the ones that do their lambs particularly well as these are producing the most milk and are the most vulnerable to infection.

Following its launch in the spring Scabivax Forte disappeared for a month because demand outstripped supply. Scabivax is back again now and it useful to clear any residual Orf infections that may have been causing you trouble.