You may have read that we are now in the ‘vector low period’ for Blue Tongue Virus (BTV). This is a big relief as we have escaped the disease for this season, although the restriction zone did reach Wiltshire, having crossed the channel into England in August last year; too close for comfort or complacency. Data from Europe has shown this strain (BTV3) to be more virulent than other strains of BTV. Although the vector low period has been declared, it is highly likely that the disease will over-winter now and so will re-appear earlier this year as temperatures rise, midge activity increases and virus replication increases. It is also uncertain what will happen to restriction zones; those in the East suffered significant financial burden to protect the West. It is unclear how the Government will respond to calls to allow more movement within England or indeed, remove the zones altogether. This will obviously allow the virus to arrive here much more quickly.
Control measures are hard to implement; housing with positively ventilated buildings and 0.5mm screens may be beneficial but not very practical! Insecticides have a very short-lived activity against midges and have been proven ineffective at reducing spread. Vaccination is now available in England, the cost and hassle have to be weighed up against the potential losses. Obviously higher value stock are more economically viable to vaccinate, sheep tend to be affected worse than cattle, infection in breeding males can have long term effects on fertility. We obviously can’t predict the weather this summer! Vaccination in the coming months could be a sensible step to protect you for the year ahead, the vaccine issues caution around using the same needle for multiple animals as this is a risk of transmission (as indeed it is for any group treatment with shared needles) vaccinating now minimises this risk, also we will have immune animals when the virus arrives (it takes up to 3 weeks after vaccination for full immunity), fertility problems will be avoided this breeding season and last but not least we currently have stock of vaccine that we can use, I wouldn’t want to guarantee that if we see a disease explosion. The vaccine we have chosen to supply is Bultavo-3, this requires a single 1ml dose in sheep and a course of 2 injections of 1ml 3 weeks apart in cattle, it is priced around £3 per dose. Please get in touch if you would like to know more and we will endeavour to help guide you through.
On the theme of vaccination, we now have release dates for Huskvac so please call to book your vaccine. Lepto vaccine is in tight supply once more this year but I have enough in stock for now. Yes, turnout is on the way!
We have seen some severe cattle pneumonia outbreaks over the past few weeks, undoubtedly initiated by weather conditions. A large number of the severe cases we see are in unvaccinated calves. Please get in touch to discuss pneumonia control, preferably in time for next year. We have subsidised blood testing available and we can roll some of our fees into an Animal Health and Welfare Pathway visit for which there is grant funding available. It is extremely easy to apply, a quick google will get you to the right place, you just need your SBI number and CPH.
We have been informed that XL Farmcare who administer TB testing in England are stepping up their audits. Obviously, we are delighted about this! We now have to ensure we give them 2 working days’ notice for all Ministry TB tests that we are doing. This means we will find it very hard to accommodate tests at late notice, if not impossible. We ask you to be organised and try to book well in advance of your due date to avoid any issues. We thank you for your understanding and accommodation when we are being audited.
Last year we helped a few farms achieve better fly control with the novel, natural approach of parasitic insects. We are now looking to the coming fly season so anyone who would be interested please call the office for more details.
I would also like to invite you to an online meeting, covering fluid therapy and twin lamb disease treatment in sheep. This is on Tuesday 25th February at 6pm and is run by Nimrod. Please email pearson.k@nimrodvet.co.uk to register quoting Tibbs & Simmons.