Dear Clients,

It will be no surprise to many of you

that, after thirty-plus years of working

in Central Scotland, I have decided to

hang up my wellie boots and stetho-

scope. I would like to take this oppor-

tunity to extend a massive thank you

to you all for your loyalty, support

and friendship through my junior

years and whilst building the business

up and, more recently, during my

health hiccups. I feel very fortunate to

have had such an enjoyable working

life. I have also benefited greatly from

the support of my partners and staff

past and present, including John Bail-

lie and Rod MacGregor, for which I

am very grateful. Whilst I am sad to

be leaving the practice, I am delighted

with our new young directors, who I

am sure will be an asset to the prac-

tice and continue to take it forward.

Wishing you all the best for the fu-

ture.

John Main

A Letter From John Main

Clyde Vet News

Farm Animal Newsletter December 2017 (CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!)

The Farm Animal Team at Clyde Vet Group would like to wish John a very happy

retirement. John has been a great colleague and mentor to us over the years and

will be sorely missed by the whole team. In particular, his advice and experience

has been extremely important in developing the great team of vets that we have at

the practice today. Congratulations and make sure you put all those golf balls

you’ve found walking to work to good use!

Health Plan Reminder

Remember that we are tightening our pre-

scribing of antibiotics in the new year. As a

result of this you may not be able to purchase

certain products over the counter from our

receptionists without a yearly veterinary

health plan. Our vets have been busy doing

health plans over the last few months and

have found carrying them out to be very use-

ful so far. If you need your plan updated then

give us a call to organise a meeting with one

of our vets.

New Directors

We’d like to congratulate Ross Wilson and

Chris McGregor on becoming directors of

Clyde Vet Group as of January 1st 2018, they

are joined by Jamie Christie (Equine) and

Lynn Whitefield (Small Animal). Ross and

Chris have been with the practice for four and

a half years now, having joined straight from

university and have built up a good following

within the client base. We’re pleased that they

will be with us for the long term future and

wish them luck in their new roles.

Upcoming Courses

We’re looking for numbers for a few courses

that we’d like to run in the new year. If we get

sufficient numbers we’ll go ahead with the

courses. So if you are interested in any of the

following then please contact us:

1) Foot Trimming Cattle

2) Lambing Course

3) Milksure: Managing antibiotic residues

in milk

Check Out Our CVG Twelve

Days Of Christmas on Page 3!!

P.1 A Letter From John Main P.2 Pneumonia In Housed Cattle

P.3 Fluke Update P.4 Lameness in Cattle and Sheep

INSIDE

THIS

ISSUE...

Recognise these two fresh faced lads?

The majority of cattle have been housed a lot earlier than normal

this autumn, and we have seen a corresponding increase in cases of

pneumonia, associated with housing and stress.

Most pneumonia cases occur within the first few weeks of housing,

and the youngest calves are most susceptible. During an outbreak

of pneumonia, most cases are initiated by viruses, which damage

the lungs allowing bacteria to infiltrate and cause further damage.

When confronted with an outbreak situation, an all too frequent

question we get asked is “what to jag a group of calves with” for

pneumonia. However, most often a simple ‘jag’ with antibiotics is

not the answer, due to the complex nature of pneumonia. In fact,

over the past few years there has been a substantial reduction in

antibiotic usage (nationally, and locally); in light of industry recom-

mendations around responsible antibiotic use and growing trends

towards antibiotic resistance in human medicine.

So what can you do when you have an outbreak of pneumonia?

• Use thermometers to identify sick calves and therefore

ones needing treatment, if unsure ask your vet.

• Use anti-inflammatories (e.g. Metacam). Long acting

anti-inflammatories have been shown to increase

speed of recovery from pneumonia

• Use antibiotics responsibly. The majority of

“treatment failures” are not down to wrong antibiotic

choice but rather the length of time the animal is treated

for. One injection of long acting antibiotic (lasting 2-3

days) is unlikely to be effective if bacteria are the cause.

• Avoid treating all calves with antibiotics, contact one of

our vets for advice instead(blanket treatment).

• If things don't proceed as planned and calves are not get

ting better, let us know as soon as possible.

In order to establish the cause of the pneumonia in an outbreak situ-

ation, calves can be blood sampled (twice over two weeks), which

can identify the viruses involved. In cases of sudden death, lung

tissue samples from a post mortem can identify the virus and/or

bacteria involved.

If we know what has caused the outbreak in the first place, we can

then recommend a farm specific vaccination protocol to help pre-

vent future outbreaks. Preventing pneumonia makes good sense as

losses associated with reduced weight gain and deaths can be sub-

stantial in an outbreak situation.

Unfortunately, there isn't a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to vaccinat-

ing cattle against pneumonia. There are many different causes of

pneumonia- e.g. IBR, RSV, PI3 & Pasteurella, and these present

themselves in different ways depending on environmental condi-

tions. There are also many different vaccines available on the mar-

ket, all with different timing protocols. This makes it imperative to

understand which animals are at risk of pneumonia, when they are

at risk and the viruses

involved (among other factors) before a vaccination programme can

be recommended and put in place.

A herd health plan can go a long way

towards understanding the situation

on your farm and preventing respira-

tory disease outbreaks, so discuss this

with your vet at your next opportuni-

ty.

What can we do to help you to treat and prevent pneumonia?

• We can help to identify the cause of the outbreak by taking the

right samples at the right time.

• We can prescribe the right treatment to speed the recovery of

sick animals.

• We can assess your housing and make suggestions on improve-

ments to ventilation

• We can develop a prevention strategy and herd health plan to

prevent future outbreaks.

Pneumonia In Cattle This Winter

Fluke Update

On the Twelfth day of Clyde Vets gave to me…

Twelve Farm Vets Eleven Semen Tests

Eight Dairymen Milking Seven Cows A-Calving

Four Feet Trimmed Three Tup Vasectomies

Ten Lambs A-Leaping Nine Late Night Caesars

Six Calves Disbudded Five Litres Of Blood!

Two Rectal Gloves And a health plan to get

you BVD Free

Cvg 12 days of christmas

Unfortunately, I’m sure nobody needs reminded of how wet a season we

have just experienced over the summer/autumn. With levels of rainfall

similar to that of 2012 (even ’85 I hear!!) it seems obvious the SAC has set

the liver fluke forecast as HIGH going into the winter.

Throughout the practice we

have seen a large number of

sudden deaths in sheep over

the last 6 weeks. On post

mortem examination, many

of these animals have shown

signs of acute fluke infections

with many immature fluke

present in their livers.

Acute fluke infection usually presents as sudden death in lambs, so it is

vitally important to investigate these deaths as soon as possible. Acting

quickly in this scenario will not only help to reduce further losses but

also help to secure the productivity of these lambs heading towards

Christmas.

We have a variety of tests we can use to diagnose fluke infections in live

animals. However regular dung sampling is the quickest and cheapest of

these and all of our vets can perform this at the surgeries. Handing in a

teaspoon of dung from 6-10 animals allows us to check if fluke eggs are

present and if fluke is active on your farm.

Having done this, discussing with you what is happening with the ani-

mals, their body condition and looking at test results will help us to come

up with the best treatment plan for your unit, not only for sheep but

cattle as well.

Stand Up To

For many UK flocks, lameness is an endemic problem and prevalence has probably in-creased following the change in weather patterns to mild winters and wet summers. As well as being a considerable welfare issue, lameness is an important source of produc-tion loss. Estimates of costs vary but can be £5 per lamb or £7 per ewe.

Control of Lameness in sheep can be prob-lematic, particularly in wet years like this one. It’s important to discuss control options with your vet as each farm is different.

Treat

Treat lame sheep as soon as they are seen

Identify the disease

Do Not Trim the feet - this can help spread the bacteria

Mark the affected leg and separate from the main flock if possible

Cull

Cull sheep with more than two marks as they will likely infect the rest of the flock.

Use eartags to identify repeatedly lame sheep so they can be culled when sound

Vaccination

This can be an important part of a foot-rot control programme, discuss whether it is suitable for you with one of our vets.

WARNING. Cydectin 1% injection should not be given to vaccinated sheep

Footbathing

Use a footbath for the sheep to walk through or stand in every time they are gathered

This may be useful in three circum-stances:

1. Simple cases of scald in lambs only.

2. As an additional measure for all sheep to walk through or stand in fol-lowing any gathering for other manage-ment reasons.

3. For the group of sound sheep (after the lame ones have been separated off) assuming that they are then turned onto pasture that has had no sheep for 10 days.

Quarantine

Quarantine all replacements for three weeks.

Inspect all feet during this period, treat cases as above and footbath before mixing with the home flock

Quarantine affected sheep that have been treated and keep them in a sepa-rate group.

Grade 1 Digital Dermatitis Lesion

Bacterial Foot Disease In Cattle

Hyndford Road

Lanark, ML11 9SZ

01555 660000

farm.animal@clydevetgroup.co.uk

www.clydevetgroup.co.uk/farm

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Grade 4 Digital Dermatitis Lesion

Given the wet weather we’ve seen in the Summer and Autumn this year there is likely to be an in-creased risk of bacterial foot disease such as Foul or Digital Dermatitis in cattle this Winter. And it’s not just in cattle grazed during the winter that we are likely to see an increase in the risk of lameness caused by bacterial infections, many farms have been left short on bedding this year. The most common forms of bacterial foot disease in cattle are digital dermatitis and foul in the foot.

Digital Dermatitis Bovine digital dermatitis is an infectious condition of the foot caused by bacteria called Treponemes. The classic digital dermatitis lesion is located on

the skin around the heel, however “Digi” can also be found elsewhere including at the coronary band,

the dew claws and even the udder! The lesions can range from mild stage 1 lesions to spectacular stage

4 lesions (see above).

Foul In The Foot

Foul in the foot is another bacterial infection of the foot found in cattle. Foul is caused by a combina-tion of two different bacteria called Fusobacterium

necrophorum and Dichelobacter nodosus. It is general-ly found in the inter-digital space between the two claws and causes a foul smelling lesion and sudden onset lameness. The bacteria tend to in-fect cattle when there

is damage or softening of the interdigital skin. Therefore environments ranging from dry hard ground to wet muddy areas around gates and troughs can lead to increase in cattle affected by foul. Treat early with antibiotics and complete the course! Complications, such as joint involvement or super infection with digital dermatitis, are much more common if treatment is delayed.. Treating with Metacam can improve recovery times and make the cow much more comfortable.

Prevention Of Bacterial Foot Infections

i. Washing the cows feet before footbathing ii. Regular foot bathing (4-5 days week) iii. We are happy to advise on the best options for

design and placement of footbath on farm so as to minimise disruption to cow flow.

iv. Footbathing options include: -Recycled Hot Wash - Copper Sulphate (10% solution) - Formalin (3-5% solution) v. Frequent and effective scraping of cubicle

passages and feed areas to keep slurry levels low

vi. Avoiding wet muddy areas and stony areas

around gateways, tracks and water troughs vii. Clean and disinfect the foot trimming area

and equipment to prevent further contamina-tion

viii. Keep feet trimmed to avoid cows walking on

their heels ix. Footbath all new animals before they mix with

other cattle x. Keep bull pens, out of parlour feeders and A.I

pens clean

Treatment Options - clean thoroughly before treating!

1. Tetracycline/Chloramphenicol spray

regularly

2. Copper sulphate paste held on with a

bandage, which must be removed after 3

days.

3. More severe cases may require

antibiotic injection.