Articles

In many parts of the UK cows are entering the winter in very good condition. This is unlikely to be the case for herds in southern England following the severe shortage of grass from the August drought.

Herds using tissue tags can achieve negative status once ALL calves born in a 12 month period have been tested for BVD virus with negative results.

A hot topic at this time of year is straw availability and housing strategies for the winter. But is there any other option to housing sheep?

Analysis of lambing records show loss increases after the first cycle for ewes have lambed. Later lambing ewes have higher mortality as diseases build and lambing staff get tired.

MV has a long incubation period and it can spread unnoticed within, and between, flocks for many years before the non-specific signs are seen.

Fog fever is a condition usually seen in the autumn in adult cattle at grass. It is thought to be caused by the ingestion of a substance called L-tryptophan, which is converted in the rumen to substances which are toxic to lung tissue. The condition is most commonly seen within two weeks of a move from sparse to lush pasture.

Grazing red clover or eating red clover silage at tupping time can affect ewes fertility. Breeding ewes should avoid eating red clover for six weeks before and after tupping.

C.Ovis is the larval stage of a tapeworm that affects animals such as dogs, foxes, etc. This does not transfer to humans. The adult tapeworm called Taenia ovis lives in the intestine of the dog/fox and eggs are shed in the faeces.

Low risk grazing can be described as field where there are few or no infectious worm larvae on the grass. It is sometimes called clean grazing. The opposite would be high risk, or dirty, grazing which is a field with large numbers of infectious worm larvae on the grass.

Since September 2015 there have been 288 outbreaks of bluetongue disease in France. As things stand the north of France remains clear of infection.