Date for your Diary – Our evening meeting at Sutton Staithe Hotel is on November 9th at 7 for 7.30pm. Richard Payne from Rossdales is an expert in the field of equine colic surgery and he will be helping us to understand the complexities of this all too common condition. Places are limited now so to reserve a seat, please contact the office as soon as you can on 01603 899930. Light refreshments will be available.
Horses – At last we are seeing less bots! The adult Bot flies (Gasterophilus intestinalis) don’t bite or sting but they are a cause of annoyance to horses whilst they are depositing their eggs on the hairs of the body coat.  The migration of bots to the stomach starts with the horse rubbing and licking the eggs from their coat.  Larvae then attach to the stomach lining and can cause ulcerative lesions although it is very rare they cause clinical signs.  However hold off Bot treatment until November after the first frost when the eggs are killed and the entire Bot population exists within the horse’s stomach.  Bot eggs can be seen as small yellow/white flecks on the legs of your horse and can be removed by careful  grooming or by the use of a Bot egg knife.  Sponging with warm water can be a useful trick to stimulate artificial hatching of the eggs rendering them non – infective to the host.
Acorn time is here again and horses and ponies seem to love them! We do not see many cases of acorn poisoning when there is good access to water and there is also a good quantity of grass, but if you have got a lot of acorns in your fields, it is wise to either fence them off , rake them up and remove them or  roll them into the ground with a heavy roller when the ground is soft.
Poultry – We have recently seen an increase in the number of birds affected with the Poultry red mite.  The mite burrows into cracks and crevices within housing and is very difficult to eradicate.  However there is hope with a new drug on the market; Elector.  Elector can be sprayed directly onto the housing and causes hyperactivity of the mites, encouraging them to move out of their hiding places, become exposed to the drug and they then die shortly afterwards. It is important to collect eggs and remove/cover  all foodstuffs and drinking water before spraying.
Camelids – We recommend vaccination for clostridial diseases should be carried out biannually in both the autumn and spring time.  This is to fully protect against tetanus in addition to clostridial diseases.
Pigs – Erysipelas caused by the bacteria Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae usually affects pigs at >12-16 weeks.  Clinical signs not only include the characteristic diamond shaped lesions on the skin of pigs but joint problems and chronic arthritis can commonly be seen.  Heart conditions are also a rare occurrence.  Erysipelas can be prevented by vaccination, which consists of an initial double course separated by 1 month and then boosters every 6 months from then. The erysipelas vaccine can also be bought as a combination vaccine to include Parvo virus too.
Cattle – As usual at this time of year, we will start to see cases of pneumonia in beef cattle. This is extremely costly to treat and the resulting loss of weight gain for the prolonged period of recovery is also a financial disaster. We cannot recommend strongly enough the benefits of vaccinating animals with Bovilis IBR, Rispoval IBR, both of which are injectable or intranasally with Tracherine or Rispoval RS+PI3. Quarantining  new animals is not very convenient, but can help to prevent the spread of pneumonia and it is worthwhile making a plan for housing new arrivals whilst they are most susceptible to infection ie after coming home from a market or just travelling long distances. If you are buying your cattle direct from the breeder, it is also worth asking them to make arrangements for the cattle to be vaccinated before they travel.