These social little critters are Psoroptes ovis mites - aka SHEEP SCAB. They live and lay eggs inside sheep skin and cause intense itching, leading to weight loss and abortion if untreated. They are too small to see with the human eye, and so require a skin scrape and microscope to diagnose. Here they can be seen breeding, with several young nymphs and adults visible. We have seen several outbreaks of sheep scab in the last 6 months. The mites pass readily from sheep to sheep and can survive in the environment for a few weeks, on fence posts shared equipment! Please be aware of the symptoms and avoid bringing the mites into your flock. Good biosecurity measures and isolation policies will help reduce the risk. Please contact the practice if you have concerns that your flock are being affected.
#sheepscab #sheep #teamsheep #farmvet
Come and join @northparkfarmvets and @hobbington88 at @gooseford_dairy, together with @herdvision and @elanco4animals for an exciting day to learn about all things transition cow and how to maximise health, welfare and efficiency on your farm.
Breeding season in full swing with @gooseford_dairy and they’re seeing excellent results. #teamworkmakesthedreamwork
These photos show the case of a goat who presented collapsed and extremely weak. His mucous membranes were noted to be almost white in colour, and heart rate was severely increased. Aneamia was suspected and due to the poor prognosis the kid was euthanized for its own welfare. Blood samples taken from the kid revealed a PCR of 12% (should be >30%). Examination of the abomasal contents confirm the suspected diagnosis of Haemonchus. This worm is known as the barbers pole or blood worm due to the fact it attaches to the abomasal wall and feed on the animals blood. It does not cause scour like the traditional ‘gut worms’ so can be hard to diagnose until disease has progressed to anaemia, weakness or death. This worm can be found in the UK any time from mid spring to late Autumn, but it thrives in warm ‘tropical’ conditions like we experienced this summer, resulting in a much higher incidence of cases than normal this year. 1000 adult worms are capable of consuming 5% of a goat kids blood volume PER DAY, so anaemia can quick in very quickly, these kids were treated with a Group 3 wormer just 3 weeks previously. These worms are susceptible to products usually used for fluke treatments, allowing us to avoid using any of the normal ‘gutworm’ treatments and avoid increasing resistance pressure.
Did you see our vet Jonathan Hobbs on BBC Spotlight yesterday? He was discussing the Agriculture Bill and championing the UK’s approach to antibiotic usage in livestock! #backbritishfarming #AntibioticGuardian
WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER FOR YOUR FARM ANIMALS
• Herd health planning, including
- Regular herd health visits at a reduced rate
- Herd health plans
- Parasite control
-5-point plan for lameness
- Red Tractor Herd Reviews
- Accreditation schemes: BVD, Johnes, CLA, CAE...
- Ultrasound scanning
- Pregnancy diagnosis
- Mastitis, nutrition and poor performance investigations
- Bull & ram fertility testing.
- Heifer pelvic internal measuring.
- Client meetings and training days
- Sheep Health Action Group
- Milksure course and Red Tractor Medicine training
- Lambing and calving courses
- Mobility scoring
- Dehorning / disbudding / castrating
- TB testing
- Ministry tests
- Private tests
Our farm animal facilities include:
• Operating and Hospitalisation facilities at North Tawton
• In-house laboratory
- Faecal parasite testing
- Blood biochemistry
- Soon to be available complete embryo transfer service.
We’re busy with Bull Breeding Soundness Examinations at the minute.
Often these are only done pre-purchase, but we recommend checking all bulls ahead of breeding, even if they have worked well previously, as things can certainly change!
Sub-fertile bulls will:
1. result in lots of empty/barren cows at the end of breeding
2. Prolong your calving period, when actually you want over 65% of your cows calving in the first 3 weeks
3. Extend your calving intervals
All of which directly and indirectly have huge economic consequences. Get your bulls checked - it’s more than worth it!
Another happy outcome in the sun! This cow was seen “messing about” at calving and generally “not getting on with it.” It turned out she had a 360 degree uterine torsion which is where the uterus or womb twists on itself, preventing the delivery of the calf. The history of slow and non-progressive calving is typical with torsions. Fortunately the farmer noticed something wasn’t right early on and quickly called for help. Vet Jonathan was able to correct the twist and deliver a bright and happy calf who was soon trying to get up and run around with its mother! Left unattended this would have been a very different outcome.
Out of hours has been very busy recently with lots of calvings and c-sections in the early hours, but moments like this make it all worthwhile!
