Veterinary Services

• Bovine foetopathy due to Neospora, Campylobacter, Listeria and Aspergillus

• Pregnancy toxaemia in pregnant ewes
• Acute and chronic fasciolosis the most frequent diagnoses in sheep
• Meningitis in pigs due to Haemophilus, Streptococcus and Pasteurella
• Review of spironucleosis in game birds from 1996 to 2009

Disease alerts

The following conditions featured in the SAC C VS report for May 2009. Given similar climatic and management conditions, they could be important this year.

• Production disease in dairy heifers and cows due to ostertagiasis
• Further cases of bovine neonatal pancytopenia (bleeding calf syndrome)
• Nematodirosis in lambs (SAC issued an alert for disease in 2010)
• Suppurative polyarthritis due to Streptococcus dysgalactiae in lambs
• Increased mortality in broiler chicks due to E. coli septicaemia

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

February was another cold and snowy month. Mean temperatures were typically 2.0 to 2.5 degrees Celcius below the 1971 to 2000 normal. The west of the country was drier and sunnier than average, while the east had twice the average rainfall.

The Scottish Government advised that pregnant women should avoid close contact with sheep during the lambing season because of the risks associated with zoonotic infections such as toxoplasmosis, enzootic abortion of ewes and salmonellosis.

Financial support was also announced to off-set additional costs to farmers forced to move livestock following the collapse of buildings due to recent heavy snow falls.
SAC C VS were concerned that extended periods of snow cover could compromise feed intake in pregnant ewes. Farmers were advised to monitor the energy status of ewes around a month before lambing to avoid cases of pregnancy toxaemia. In order to encourage this, a discounted rate was offered to examine blood samples from a selection of ewes for the metabolites beta-hydroxybutyrate and urea.