Farming Friends

In September bluetongue was detected in British livestock.

The signs of bluetongue in sheep are;

• Eye and nasal discharges.
• Drooling as a result of ulcers in the mouth.
• High body temperature.
• Swelling of the mouth, head and neck.
• Lameness.
• Tiredness.
• Fever.
• Haemorrhages into or under the skin.
• Inflammation at the junction of the skin and the horn of the foot.
• Respiratory problems – difficulty with breathing and nasal discharge.
• A blue tongue is rarely a clinical sign of infection.
• Deaths of sheep in a flock may reach as high as 70 per cent.
• Animals that survive the disease can lose condition with a reduction in meat and wool production.

Source Defra.

For more detailed information visit the Defra website.

“Bluetongue is a disease of animals affecting all ruminants, including sheep, cattle, deer, goats and camelids (camels, llamas, alpacas, guanaco and vicuña). It does not affect horses. Although sheep are most severely affected, cattle are the main mammalian reservoir of the virus…… Bluetongue does not affect humans.” Defra.

How are these animals infected?

Bluetongue is caused by a virus which is carried by midges. The midges transmit the virus from one animal to another.

“Foot and mouth disease is an infectious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer.” Defra.

Signs of Foot And Mouth Disease In Sheep

• Sudden, severe lameness.
• Lies down frequently and is very unwilling to rise.
• When made to rise stands in a half-crouching position, with hind legs brought well forward.
• Reluctant to move.
• Blisters may be found on the hoof where the horn joins the skin which may extend all round the coronet and in the cleft of the foot. When they burst the horn is separated from the tissues underneath, and hair round the hoof may appear damp.
• Blisters may appear on the dental pad and sometimes the tongue.
• Fatigue in young lambs.
• Higher rate of lamb mortality and abortions.
• Ewes unwilling to allow lambs to suckle.

Source: Defra.

For more detailed information visit the Defra website.

Farm animals can sometimes get frightened but what is it that frightens them?

Farm animals need to be managed and handled with care at all times.

The foot and mouth disease is back in the UK. It was reported yesterday that a farm in Guildford, Surrey has cattle infected with foot and mouth.

This is very worrying news for farmers like ourselves. Not only are we having to deal with ruined potato crops and the difficult harvest brought on by the recent floods and bad weather but now the threat of disease is once more a burden facing farmers.

A ban has been placed on the movement of livestock and farmers are being asked to inspect their livestock closely.

Lets hope that this is an isolated outbreak and that livestock farmer’s including ourselves are not affected by this disease.

Visit Defra for more information about foot and mouth.

Read the Farmer’s Weekly report on the foot and mouth outbreak.

Back in January my husband and I went to film some lambs being born, which was a story in itself (Nature Waits For No Man, Not Even A Camera Man).

Watch this video clip of an assisted lambing with two lambs being born and then the ewe bonding with her lambs only minutes later.

I hope you enjoyed watching Lazy Bones The Ewe giving birth and bonding with Sootie and Charcoal the Lambs.

What is Grass Staggers?

• Grass staggers is a metabolic disorder of cattle and sheep.
• The correct medical term for this condition is hypomagnesaemia and it can also be referred to as grass tetany, lactation tetany, milk tetany or calf tetany.
• This disorder occurs when there are low levels of blood magnesium.
• Staggers results from an inadequate absorption of magnesium from the digestive system.
• It is a difficult disorder for the animals to control since there is very little magnesium reserves in the animals skeletal structure, and thus a daily intake is required.
• It commonly occurs in lactating cows when they have just been turned out to grass in the Spring.
• It can also occur in Autumn when there is a late flush of grass growth.
• The disorder can be chronic in beef cattle that have been fed a poor quality Winter feed and in outwintered animals.
• The condition typically occurs on a cold/wet day when the cattle do not consume as much grass as normal.
• This disease can occur in both adult cattle and calves of beef and dairy breeds.

Symptoms

• Nervousness.
• Restlessness.
• Loss of appetite.
• Twitching muscles, particularly in the face and the eyes.
• Grinding of teeth.
• Hyperirritability.
• Staggering gait.
• Violent convulsions.
• Paralysis.
• Death.

Reduction in milk yield may occur in milking cows before an attack.

Often the attack comes on so rapidly that the animal shows no symptoms. (more…)