Preventing Disease

This is the time of the year when there are sheep movements onto farms replacing older ewes and rams. Take some care when new stock comes onto your farm as they can sometimes bring diseases that you might not have had to deal with before.

Sheep scab can be difficult to spot in the summer as the mites are often inactive and only start to stir as the weather becomes colder. Wool loss and itching occurs because sheep have an allergic reaction to the mites that feed on the surface of their skin. Once the itching starts the problem is obvious as there is wool loss and the worst affected animals will park themselves by a solid object and rub all day to relieve the irritation. Dipping can be effective against sheep scab, but the available products are not as potent as they used to be and you will often need to dip the sheep twice to control the parasites. Often the preferred method of treatment is a single injection of Dectomax into a muscle when the sheep first arrive. The drug will treat roundworms as well, but has no effect on tapeworms, fluke or lice.

It is also wise to give new arrivals a dose of Heptavac P to boost their resistance to the clostridial diseases and Pasturella as you can never be certain that they are protected against these diseases.

Infected Mouths

Orf is a difficult disease to detect on brought in stock. It is a skin disease caused by a parapox virus that lingers in small scabs on the wool free areas. Ewes often have scabs on their teats, rams can sometimes have them on their sheath as well. Lesions that are shed onto the ground can survive for several years in a dry environment. Orf is highly contagious if there are any abrasions on the skin that is why it tends to get established on the lips and face. Serious outbreaks will occur if there are thistles in the fields when the infection first spreads. Some rams will be reluctant to serve ewes if they have lesions on their sheath.

Increasing Prevalence

It is difficult to determine how many flocks are affected by Orf each year as it is not the sort of disease that would normally be investigated by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and many cases are not brought to the attention of Vets.

The impression I get is that it is a growing problem. Orf can be a difficult disease to treat, there are no drugs that kill the virus itself, the usual treatment is to use Scabivax, a mild field strain of the virus, to boost immunity against the disease. The aim of vaccination is to raise the level of immunity so the scabs are shed and no virus will be active in the spring when the lambs are first born.

Remember we can get Orf as well, about fifty cases a year are reported from people each year, and the true numbers are far higher. It is always advisable to wear gloves when handling or vaccinating sheep with Orf, and to avoid touching your face if at all possible.

Liver Fluke

It has been quite noticeable how there has been an increase in the number of both sheep and cattle diagnosed with fluke in the past three years. As you know liver fluke have a complicated life cycle involving a small snail which is able to thrive on wet summer pastures. Fields do not need to be waterlogged to carry fluke. Fluke tends to build up over the years, to control it we need to break the breeding cycle by treating animals that are carrying the adult stages and managing pastures as far as practical to avoid any persistently wet areas in the summer months. It is not always obvious that fluke is starting on your farm, you might get reports from an abattoir about liver damage, or suspect some individuals are not doing as well as they might and get a diagnosis from a faeces sample. Cattle tend not to show clinical signs of fluke until they have a large number of adults in their bile ducts, cattle have large livers which can still function when parts of it are damaged. The bulk milk test for fluke is working again now and has proved to be a valuable tool to detect the disease in milking cows.

New Pour On Treatment

In the past it has not been easy to treat fluke as most of the treatments have a long meat with hold time and none can be used on milking cows. The newer drugs eliminate the juvenile stages of fluke before they can do much damage and lay any eggs. It is not an easy task to drench cattle so it is often better to use an injection or the new pour on Closamectin which is able to treat worms and lice as well. Fluke treatments for both cattle and sheep should be used from now onwards. If you suspect that you have a particular problem with fluke the last treatment should be given in February or March.

Our New Shop

Have you looked at the Minsterleyvets online shop yet? Over the past few months we have gradually extended the range of products that we sell from our website to include cattle and sheep wormers and vaccines. All of the products are at competitive prices, the idea is that you order and pay for the drugs before you collect them from the surgery the following day. With regular customers we will allow payment on collection, but please note we do not keep any of these drugs in stock so they must be ordered in advance. Our web site is also useful if you want to work out how much to order and to compare prices for the different products.

Working Dogs

Every year we have problems with gun dogs coughing because they have picked up kennel cough at a shoot. Kennel cough can be slow to respond to treatments so it is better to use the vaccine and not miss any working days.

New Contact Number

DEFRA have now reorganised their regional offices and some of the administration and tuberculin testing is coming from a new regional office in Stafford now. Whatever the reason it is causing a great deal of confusion in our office as we now have to send reports back to Stafford, Worcester, Caernarfon or sometimes Carlisle. The main thing to remember is that the telephone number has now changed to 01785 231900 and that if there is any doubt as to where to send letters try Animal Health West Midlands, Beacon House, Stafford Technology Park, Dyson Way, Stafford ST18 0AR. They should be able to redirect any correspondence that goes to the wrong place.