Veterinary Services

• Sudden deaths due to hypomagnesaemia in adult cattle
• Outbreaks of parasitic bronchitis in cattle doubled compared to 2009
• Louping-ill confirmed in adult cattle and young sheep
• Copper poisoning in Lleyn ewes associated with access to clover herbage with high copper and low molybdenum levels
• Polyarthritis due to Mycoplasma hyorhinis in  growing pigs

Disease alerts

The following conditions featured in the SAC C VS report for December 2009. Given similar climatic and production conditions, they could also be important this month.

• Outbreaks of salmonellosis due to Salmonella Dublin in cattle
• Coccidiosis in three-month-old dairy calves
• Highest numbers of liver fluke disease in sheep for over 15 years
• Encephalitis due to Listeria monocytogenes in lambs fed haylage
• Losses in pigs due to Streptococcus suis infections

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

September was a changeable month, with some warm days in the first half but localised frosts in the last week. Mean temperatures ranged from close to the 30 year average over the Northern Isles, to about one degree Celsius above average over the south and west.  Rainfall was average in most areas, but over 150 per cent of normal fell in north Moray, Aberdeenshire and parts of Fife.

The Scottish Government unveiled a programme to eradicate bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) from Scotland’s cattle herds. The programme will be undertaken in three phases. The first stage, starting immediately, will be voluntary. An annual testing requirement will be introduced from September 2011 and, from September 2012, all cattle identified as persistently infected will need to be housed in secure facilities or slaughtered. SAC C VS welcomed the initiative, having provided technical information for the industry submission to Scottish Government supporting BVD eradication.

SAC C VS alerted veterinary practices and their farmer clients to a worrying increase in maedi-visna (MV) infection in sheep flocks. In the year to July 2010 there were 11 breakdowns amongst flocks in the MV Accreditation Scheme. This contrasts with an average of three in previous years.