Veterinary surveillance blogs

Parasite risks this spring

The weather conditions this spring could increase the risk of coccidiosis with some very high oocyst counts already recorded in earlier born lambs and suckled calves.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
19/04/2024

Keep a watch out for Salmonella Dublin in beef suckler herds

Although only ten per cent of our diagnoses of Salmonella Dublin come from beef herds, on farms which experience an outbreak, it can have a significant impact on health and mortality rates during a calving season.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
17/04/2024

Managing nutrition for cows after turn out

Spring is proving challenging for spring calving and lambing so far with the long-range weather forecast looking tricky. Keeping cows and calves at foot inside for longer periods brings challenges with hygiene and disease build up which will need to be very carefully managed.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
15/04/2024

Campylobacter abortion in sheep

Although too early in the season to finalise the numbers Campylobacter abortion in sheep is a common diagnosis this season, a continuation of trends set in recent years.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
14/04/2024

Abortion sampling

You may find it useful to review our sampling guides for ovine and bovine abortions this calving and lambing season.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
12/04/2024

December case highlights

Bacterial pneumonia dominated the December cattle diagnoses, although two high morbidity pneumonia outbreaks associated with IBR were also investigated.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
29/02/2024

Rickets in hoggs

A suspected case of rickets was submitted for postmortem last week and are waiting for histopathology to confirm the diagnosis. It is worth keeping an eye out for this condition over the next few months.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
26/01/2024

December liver fluke update

We last sent out our liver fluke forecast and thoughts in November, so thought that now would be a good time to update things given that we are approaching or already in a handling window for ewes in mid pregnancy.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
21/12/2023

Rearing wagyu cross dairy calves (meeting)

There has been a recent increase in the number of traditional beef suckler units that have started rearing Wagyu cross dairy calves as an addition to their current business. With this, a largely unfamiliar set of challenges regarding the management of these animals arise.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
21/12/2023

Hypomagnesemia in housed cattle

Over the past few weeks since housing we have diagnosed and discussed several cases of hypomagnesemia in housed beef suckler cows. While usually associated with grazing, a diagnosis of low magnesium causing death or clinical signs should not be discounted in housed animals.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
20/12/2023

Investigation of high barren rates at scanning

It is common to see sheep scanner’s trailers on the road just now for earlier lambing flocks. Hopefully early indications of scans are good, but the check list below which we issued two years ago is a useful reminder if called to investigate problems with poorer scans through this winter and put in plans to manage this going forward.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
04/12/2023

October case highlights

Case highlights from the PM room in October include: - Enterotoxaemia associated with Clostridium perfringens type D infection - Mesenteric torsion in a dog - Acute Streptococcus suis Type 1 septicaemia in piglets…

SRUC Veterinary Services
01/12/2023