We will be in attendance at the SW Dairy Show at the Bath & West again this year on the 1st October. Please call by for a cuppa and cake, while we catch up for a chat!
We are seeing some cases of lungworm in sheep, generally lungworm in sheep is thought of as a low-grade infection which we occasionally diagnose. However, this year, we are seeing actual disease with coughing sheep (adults and lambs) with snotty noses and some off colour. We are able to diagnose cases in the practice with a 24-48hr turnaround time, depending on the time it takes the larvae to develop and be seen. I can only assume that where sheep are grazing tightly, they are ingesting larvae in larger numbers than they would normally. We haven’t yet seen many cases in cattle but I would expect to start seeing some cases shortly at this time of year. In case you hadn’t noticed, it has started to rain! I would expect some rapid grass growth which may well pre-dispose to a form of non-infectious pneumonia; Fog Fever.
Fog Fever is a confusing name for a condition that doesn’t require foggy weather or cause a fever! Typically, adult cattle are affected after moving onto fast growing lush grass. The rumen doesn’t adjust quickly to new diets and in this case; grasses rich in the amino acid Tryptophan are converted to a toxic product, 3-methylindole that affects the lungs rendering them impermeable to gas exchange. There is little effective treatment although anti-inflammatories may help. Cattle should be introduced to high-risk pastures slowly. Removing affected cattle from their fields may cause additional stress that will be detrimental to them. Severely affected cattle may progress to death, others will recover with time.
A few years ago, we invested in an ‘Ovacyte’ machine to improve and standardise our in-house offering of faeces testing for worm eggs. It is an amazing piece of kit that we use daily in the practice. It is able to use AI to identify worm eggs from a series of photos sent to the cloud for analysis. The AI part has just improved its ability and is now able to identify and differentiate haemonchus (barber’s pole) worm eggs in minutes; a process that previously required external labs and a 7-10 day turnaround. If you are worried about Haemonchus in your flock then please get in touch, we can then advise on the appropriate samples to take and get them tested.
I have written previously about new rules that are being imposed on us around booking your routine herd TB test. We are required to give 3 working days’ notice of any TB test for which APHA are funding. This ruling has come in to enable spot audits to take place, so auditors will know where each Vet/TB tester is meant to be testing at any given time. With this there is obviously an increase in the level of auditing, having had several spot audits in the practice over the past few weeks. We thank you for your support in accommodating safe, efficient TB testing but ask you to give us as much notice as possible. Where sufficient notice isn’t given, we may have to charge as a private test.