Farm Newsletter Winter 2014 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Teme Vets Farm dogs: To Worm or Not To Worm? There is an estimated £5 million cost to the sheep industry caused by condemnation of carcases infected with dog tapeworm. Dogs carry multiple gut parasites, with little to no symptoms seen, of which the dog tapeworm is of most concern to sheep farmers. Infected dog faeces contain thousands of tapeworm eggs which remain infective for up to a year. Inside this issue: Tapeworm in farm dogs 1 New vet 1 Calf Pneumonia 2 Fluke 2 Pregnancy scanning sheep 3 Dates for your diary 4 Cases in this area 4 These eggs are easily ingested by sheep where dogs have passed faeces on pasture or forage. The eggs hatch in the gut of the sheep and the larvae travel through tissue to reach their target – different species preferring different areas ( e.g. muscle, liver, heart) – where they form a cyst. The sheep show little to no clinical signs. Presence of these cysts at the abattoir results in part to whole carcase rejection. To prevent infection of sheep: Consult your vet for a regular worming plan for your farm dogs, some dog worming products do not actually treat tapeworm. Prevent dogs gaining access to fallen stock – ingestion of a cyst reinfects the dog and the cycle begins again Consider signs at regularly used footpaths on your land, informing the public of the risk untreated dogs pose. Meet our new team member! We welcome a new member to our veterinary team, Alice Paxman. She is new graduate from Liverpool University with a keen interest in farm animal medicine, particularly lameness in cattle and sheep flock health. She will be based mainly in our Tenbury Wells branch and is soon to start TB testing. We are currently offering a buy one get one free on wormers for farm dogs. Please ask us for more details. Page 2 Winter 2014 Prevention is better than cure — Calf Pneumonia Pneumonia in calves results in significant production loss, especially during the housing period. perature, ventilation, moisture levels 2. Multiple factors contribute: 1. Housing design – tem- 3. Mixed age groups – older animals are a reservoir of infection Animal’s immune status Many different virus and bacterial causes contribute. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE. By the time animals start to show clinical signs there has already been a production loss. Costs are estimated to be £30 for a mild case and £500 for an animal that dies. The biggest cost of all is the weight loss during illness, including that of the in contact animals, not just the sick animal! Vaccines are available to reduce risk of respiratory disease in calves and can be incorporated into your herd health plan. Please ask for veterinary advice for treatment of pneumonia in calves. Our vet Emily, has recently undertaken a CPD course regarding housing for cattle and is more than willing, along with our other vets, to provide simple, cheap advice on improvements to your cattle housing. The issue with Fluke in Cattle and Sheep Liver fluke in cattle and sheep can often go unnoticed but will result in inevitable production loss due to growth and fertility problems. This parasite is always an issue in late autumn and winter and the recent increase in liver condemnations at the abattoir suggests it is now becoming more widespread. The same parasite infects both cattle and sheep and an important stage of the lifecycle involves the mud snail. The stage of the lifecycle that takes place in the snail creates a strong link between the weather and risk of challenge of infection by the parasite, purely because the snail is only around in mild wet weather. This year’s dry summer has meant that there is a low risk from fluke at the moment however, with the sudden onset of rain we have seen some cases of sudden death associated with acute fluke infestation. This year’s wet and mild autumn may also contribute to a bigger problem next year. In a spell of mild, wet weather, there can be a sudden increase in the amount of potential infective stages on the pasture. This can contribute to immediate onset of the acute and subacute stages of the disease. If the amount of potential infective stages on the pasture is low, the animal is at risk of developing the chronic disease. Fluke can also cause sudden death from the clostridial ‘Black disease’ in unvaccinated animal. Symptoms 1) Acute Sudden death, more commonly sheep than cattle. Caused by sudden migration of large amounts of the immature stage of fluke through the liver. On post-mortem = severe liver damage and haemorrhage. 2) Subacute Again more common in sheep. Tend to see rapid loss of body condition and poor fleece quality with losses from December onwards. 3) Chronic Signs seen in both cattle and sheep are similar occurring from mid winter onwards. Chronic weight loss, scour, poor fertility, little milk and increased risk of infection and metabolic disease in late pregnancy/early lactation. The disease typically occurs in late autumn which is when we need to be treating the immature stages with products containing triclabendazoles (e.g. Combinex, Fasinex) . This is a less effective drug at other times of the year and so we should consider using products that kill the mature stages of fluke such as nitroxynil and oxyclozanide (e.g. Trodax, Zanil) to tackle the sub-acute and chronic parts of disease which would otherwise result in production loss. Please consult your vet for more information on which product to use. Winter 2014 Page 3 Pregnancy Scanning Ewes Scanning for pregnancy in sheep is an extremely useful management tool in modern sheep farming. It allows for a more productive and cost effective lambing period on both the individual sheep and flock basis. Scanning is recommended to take place between 70 and 105 days of pregnancy (please contact the scanning company to check what stage of pregnancy they prefer). The majority of sheep scanning services provide an idea of number of lambs per ewe and will find barren ewes within the flock. Please don’t just sell those barren ewes straight away! They could potentially be an early indication of an abortion problem within your flock! The 2 most common causes of abortion in sheep; Enzootic and Toxoplasma, both can cause barren ewes from early pregnancy loss. These can both be tested for by sampling the ewe’s blood. Any positive results will allow plenty of time for your vet to work with you to produce a plan to reduce lamb losses in the event of an abortion outbreak at lambing time. We recommend that, if you have a greater than 2% barren rate at scan, these ewes should be blood tested. Once the blood sample as been taken, these ewes can be sold to take advantage of the winter mutton prices. Scanning allows us to know the number of lambs carried by each ewe allows for cost effective nutrition of the flock. This also reduces lambing difficulties by ensuring each ewe is in the right condition to lamb and is less likely to develop metabolic issues such as twin lamb disease. Knowing what to expect gives you the advantage during the lambing period. Lamb losses will be reduced if you are aware that that ewe with 2 lambs has another on the way and therefore should still be monitored. Grouping singles and triplets next to each other also makes fostering lambs on to another ewe easier. MSD are offering a free barren ewe blood test in January 2015 run through the SAC to look for infectious causes of abortion in your barren ewes. Please ask us for more information. “Scanning is recommended to take place between 70 and 105 days of pregnancy” Dates for your Diary 17th December 2014 –Our vet Emily will be speaking at an ADAS/EBLEX meeting on the evening of the 17th at the Ludlow Rugby Club. Contact Details Early February 2015—We will be holding an evening on ‘Preparing for Lambing’ with The Casemill Temeside Ludlow Shropshire SY8 1JW MSD. Date and venue will be confirmed Free Tests Available Phone: 01584 872 147 Fax: 01584 874 523 Please visit our website: www.temevets.co.uk MSD are currently offering free tests through the SAC. DairyCheck and BeefCheck are currently on offer, to screen your herd for BVD, IBR and Leptosporosis. Additional charged tests offered through the programme include Johne’s, fluke (dairy only) and Neospora (beef only). In January 2015 they will also offer FlockCheck, to screen barren ewes for infectious causes of abortion. Please ask one of the vets of how this could benefit you. Diseases seen in this area: Laryngeal Chondritis We have recently seen multiple cases of this disease in the area. There is frustratingly little known about this condition and it can lead to sudden death in sheep Laryngeal chondritis is a known disease occurring most commonly in Texel sheep but has been seen in the Charollais and Beltex breeds. There is thought to be a genetic link in these breeds. Not much is known about the disease but other potential suggested causes include drenching injuries, rough handling and dry, dusty feed. Symptoms seen with affected sheep include struggling to breathe, noisy breathing, swelling of the throat and even sudden death. The disease is thought to be caused by an infection (although no-one knows the exact bacteria involved) which causes chronic infection of the throat and sudden swelling. This swelling blocks the airway and which can cause sudden death. Symptomatic treatment can be given but must be administered in the early stages to be of success. Frustratingly it is often fatal.