Livestock parasites

September case highlights

Parasitic disease dominated the diagnoses made in Aberdeen in September with lungworm and Ostertagiasis diagnosed in cattle and gastrointestinal parasites in sheep causing ill thrift and death.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
31/10/2023

Making the most of testing for sheep scab

As part of Scottish Governments ‘Preparing for Sustainable Farming’ initiative, farmers can claim £250 per intervention for undertaking up to two animal health interventions per year in 2023 and 2024. One of the interventions included in the scheme is to investigate sheep status in a flock by screening 12 animals per management group using the sheep scab ELISA test.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
22/09/2023

High lamb worm burdens this month

High worm burdens have been found in many of the lamb carcases received for post-mortem examination since the start of August through our Dumfries disease surveillance centre.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
16/08/2023

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

It’s not Fluke it’s Worms

Diagnoses that we make in the post mortem room can sometimes give us a skewed picture of livestock health locally and are often assumed to be the tip of the iceberg. A run of similar cases might therefore suggest quite a big iceberg!…

SRUC Veterinary Services
10/11/2022

Type 2 ostertagiasis – Is there an impact and are we missing it?

We have had a few submissions, case reports and post-mortem examinations recently regarding scour in groups of older cattle that grazed last year.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
06/06/2022

The ticks are rising

SRUC Veterinary Services has examined two post-mortem cases in cattle so far this week that have presented as sudden death and pneumonia after recent turn out to hill pasture.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
25/03/2022

Tick borne fever in suckled calves

Recently we were presented with a four week old suckled calf for investigation of excessive calf mortality. Although it has only been recorded a handful of times during the last few years, it was confirmed to be tick borne fever.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
01/12/2021

Using the liver fluke antibody test

Now that we are at a time of year when liver fluke can be a problem, here is some information on the liver fluke ELISA and how it can be used. …

SRUC Veterinary Services
28/10/2021

Autumn liver fluke update

Liver fluke risk will not be high this year, but infection will still occur on some farms.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
12/10/2021

Lungworm alert

We have seen a few cases of lungworm in cattle in the post-mortem room this autumn, possibly precipitated by the recent rainfall that followed a rather dry summer.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
11/10/2021

Look out for Haemonchus in sheep and goats!

Colleagues in Aberdeen have seen several sheep and goats with Haemonchus over the last few weeks.…

SRUC Veterinary Services
11/10/2021