Animal Health

Defra has announced the loosening of bluetongue virus measures due to the drop of midge activity during colder months.

The latest lamb energy and gut development supplement has been launched to give newborn lambs a strong start.

Vets are urging farmers to be vigilant for Schmallenberg virus (SBV) – which can mimic other diseases including bluetongue – as a rising number of early lambing flocks are hit with deadly SBV this season.

Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in dairy and beef calves and costs the industry around £50 million a year. In its most recent GB Calf Week, AHDB hosted a range of expert panels to offer top tips on how to tackle the disease. Sarah Kidby reports on improvements made on two farms.

Dairy farmers are being encouraged to vaccinate youngstock and naïve cattle against lungworm (husk) ahead of the 2024 grazing season after a significant rise in cases in recent years.

Poultry farmers have won a landmark legal challenge against the government in a battle over the proper compensation payable to poultry farmers affected by avian flu.

For the first time since 2021, broiler intestinal integrity scores have remained consistently stable, highlighting a reduction in coccidiosis levels throughout the year, according to the Elanco Health Tracking System (HTSi) 2023 latest report.

A quarantine dose for all incoming sheep, regular faecal egg count (FEC) testing and monitoring animal growth weights and the weather, are key to managing worms for Perthshire sheep farmer and agricultural consultant, Emily Grant.

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is reminding the farming community of the importance of looking out for farming friends and family this January, as the start of the year has presented several challenges to the industry. 

All too often, treatment rather than prevention is the focus of lameness management programmes in dairy herds. Prevention using regular footbaths is a key device for moving forward, argues vet and veterinary pharmacologist, Dr Tom Barragry, who explores a proven alternative to copper sulphate and formaldehyde.

Selective treatment of clinical mastitis (STCM) is becoming increasingly popular and offers a range of benefits.

Farmers have made significant improvements in dairy herd fertility, production, and somatic cell counts, according to the National Milk Records’ latest Key Performance Indicator (KPI) report.