Cattle

Acorn toxicity

Acorns and oak leaves contain phenols and tannins, such as gallic acid and pyrogallol, which when ingested in excess will bind and precipitate proteins leading to renal failure in cattle and sheep.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
26/10/2023

Bluetongue and Epizootic haemorrhagic disease update

Bluetongue and Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease are viral diseases circulating in Europe that are a risk to UK cattle and sheep, with both being notifiable in the UK. Both of these viruses are species of the Orbivirus genus and are transmitted between animals by midges.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
20/10/2023

Making the most of testing in calf respiratory disease

One of the interventions included in the Scottish Government's ‘Preparing for Sustainable Farming’ initiative is to carry out a calf respiratory investigation, and provide a written prevention and control plan, including biosecurity measures.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
18/10/2023

August case highlights

August was another steady month in the Aberdeen PM room, with the predominant submission being thin or dying lambs with parasitic gastroenteritis.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
04/10/2023

Haemonchus contortus - is the picture changing in your area?

Over the past ten years, SRUCVS have made a total of 46 diagnoses of haemonchosis on Scottish holdings with all DSCs seeing at least one case. Although the number of cases remain small, 46% of these diagnoses have been made in the past three years and there is a general upward trend on a yearly basis.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
04/08/2023

June case highlights

The submissions through the Aberdeen PM room remained steady throught the month of June. In cattle, bacterial pneumonia caused by the Pasteurellaceae family featured strongly, alongside abomasal bloat/rupture in calves and parasitic disease including ostertagiasis and chronic fluke. In sheep we diagnosed Nematodirus in five submissions, as well as pasteurellosis and Mannheimiosis in lambs. Several bird cases of interest are also included in our case highlights.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
04/08/2023

Sustainable farming initiative: Sheep and cattle roundworms

As part of Scottish Governments ‘Preparing for Sustainable Farming’ initiative, farmers can claim £250 for undertaking up to two animal health interventions per year in 2023 and 2024. Two important interventions which will receive funding are the control of roundworms in sheep and cattle.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
28/06/2023

A recent case of Babesiosis in a suckler cow herd

Whilst not uncommon in some parts of the UK, until a recent case, Babesia has not previously been diagnosed at SRUC's St Boswells DSC.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
28/06/2023

Have you seen MyHerdStats on ScotEID?

MyHerdStats from ScotEID is a free programme that gives basic herd data from the national animal movement database to all cattle keepers in Scotland.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
25/05/2023

Late term abortions and small calves

Our St Boswells Disease Surveillance Centre is aware of five herds having problems with small calves so far this year, which are either aborted late in pregnancy, stillborn or alive.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
28/04/2023

Gastroparesis syndrome in dairy heifers

Since the second quarter of 2022 the UK Surveillance Network has reported cases of apparent gastroparesis in nine to twenty four month-old, Holstein Friesian, bulling and in-calf dairy heifers. To date the majority, or all, of the affected heifers have had the same sire.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
28/04/2023

Effect of calving difficulty on suckler cow performance

All farm animal vets are calving suckler cows at the moment, helping to reduce as much as possible the impacts of calving difficulty on herd performance.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
06/04/2023