Production Disease

March case highlights

March showed the usual seasonal increase in submissions to both the central laboratory in Edinburgh and to the PM room at Thurso. As lambing and calving continues at pace there are understandably queries about Schmallenberg virus (SBV) presentations, sampling and incidence.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
25/04/2024

Lamb mortality in the first month of life

With the bulk of flocks getting through their lambing, and the weather not really improving, losses in the first month of life may well be higher this year than most. Gross postmortem examination can provide a quick answer for farmers, with diagnostic testing used to support the diagnosis.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
23/04/2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lamb dysentery risk

We are now entering the period where lamb dysentery risk is highest in the main April lambing flock. Risk may be higher this year for some flocks depending on Clostridial vaccine availability.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
21/04/2023