Originally from: lina
                        
NADIS disease forecast – cattle
(October)Source: FWi 22 October 2003
The NADIS disease forecast is based on detailed Met
Office data, and regional veterinary reports from 37
farm animal practices and the large animal units at
six UK veterinary colleges.

NADIS data can highlight potential livestock disease
and parasite incidences before they peak, providing a
valuable early warning for the month ahead.

October 2003
Richard Laven BVetMed MRCVS

NADIS Cattle Disease Focus

Adult cattle

Fertility
In most areas of the country, the poor grass growth in
the second half of the grazing season combined with
coming change to winter rations is likely to mean that
many animals will be under stress in the next few
months, which is likely to lead to a rapid rise in
problems.

As soon as your cows are used to the winter ration
check their condition score, and ensure that they’re
producing what the diet calculations say they should.

If they’re not a metabolic profile can identify the
areas where nutrition is lacking. Acting early will
prevent future problems.

Calving problems and whites were all around the
average in September, despite the relatively good
weather in most areas. October usually sees an
increase in both of these of around 25%, so plan now
to prevent problems occurring.

Abortion levels have been significantly above the
normal all year. With the return of Brucellosis to
mainland UK, it is important to remember that all
abortions should be reported to your local veterinary
office.

Additional investigation on top of the Brucella tests
is always valuable. As herds become larger, the
situation will become much more like sheep, with
infectious agents causing more abortion and even more
economic disruption.

Now is a good time to get the vet in to pregnancy
diagnose suckler cows as the costs of keeping barren
cows rise considerably in the winter period.

Lameness
Despite the relatively dry weather the levels of
lameness remained average, although white line disease
and solar ulcers were both much lower than normal.

Digital dermatitis levels were about average. Now is
the perfect time to start your control programme for
the winter, particularly if your cows are not yet
housed all day.

However, if you have housed your cows but not
instigated a control programme it’s not too late as if
you can footbath your cows before the problem reaches
its normal winter level you will gain a significant
benefit.

Plan a daily footbath regime of copper sulphate,
formalin or similar product for at least two weeks.
This will treat many of the cows with active lesions
and may also eliminate the infection in ‘carrier’ cows
that are not showing disease.

Mastitis
The number of summer mastitis cases seen in September
was 18% down on the previous month. It is therefore
unlikely that summer mastitis will remain a problem
this month. However, next month is likely to see a
significant rise in the number of toxic mastitis
cases. If you’ve had problems before ask your vet
about vaccinating.

Cell count problems are widespread but in many herds
it seems that the present price of milk means that in
many cases nothing is being done about it. As Staph.
aureus seems to becoming more common, this may be
false economy.

Waiting until cell counts are near penalty levels
allows the bacteria time to spread between cows so
that when treatment is started far more cows are more
affected and the problem is that much harder to get
rid of.

Metabolic disease
October is a peak month for many metabolic diseases,
particularly milk fever and hypomagnesaemia.

However the levels of both these diseases were lower
than normal in September. However that is not a reason
for complacency and prevention should still be a
priority.

In most cases, milk fever problems are associated with
dry cows being left at grass, but poorly balanced dry
cow diets can cause just as bad a problem. Get your
vet involved in planning your dry cow strategy.

Grass staggers is just as important in October as it
is in May. It’s therefore important that both suckler
cows and dry cows have an adequate intake of
magnesium.

If this does not occur serum magnesium levels can go
down to extremely low levels before signs develop and
often they are even more difficult to treat than the
spring cases. Low magnesium intake is also a major
factor in the development of milk fever. Discuss with
your vet the best method of magnesium supplementation.

Left displacement of the abomasum has been running at
twice normal levels all years. We now seem to have a
similar problem to that in the US with the disease
being common all the year round.

The reason for this is not clear, but it’s almost
certainly associated with changes in feeding. If
anyone has come across a good prevention method we
would be very interested to hear.

Other Disease Problems
Husk was common in September, particularly in adult
cattle, and this is likely to continue into October.
It is important to remember that one of the first
signs of lungworm problems is drop in milk yield which
can occur before coughing is seen.

If you do get lungworm in adult cattle, you should
discuss your vaccination and worming regime with your
vet.

The number of liver fluke problems has continued to
increase. In traditional fluke areas, despite the
relatively dry summer, the number of fluke eggs on the
pasture in Spring (and thus infected snails) means
that fluke is likely to still be a significant problem
this year (though, thankfully, not as bad as last
year). Plan your treatment strategy with your vet now.

New Forest eye has remained a significant problem in
some dairy herds, in all ages of animals. The cooler
weather is likely to reduce fly activity, but it is
likely to remain a significant problem on particular
farms.

Check dry cows and heifers regularly. New Forest eye
can be simple to treat when picked up at an early
stage, but delayed treatment can result in severe
problems and a significantly reduced response to
treatment. Silage eye has also remained a significant
problem this year. Ensure that you only feed good
quality bagged silage, unless you have a very
extensive feeding system

Early reports suggest that the number of cases of fog
fever seen in September were high. Check your grazing
programme, to make sure that you’re not turning cattle
onto potentially dangerous pastures

Growing Cattle
Calving problems were common in September. Many
problems were the result of too fat heifers with fat
in the birth canal restricting the size of calf that
can be passed easily.

As with the adult cattle, New Forest eye liver fluke
and husk are causing more problems than usual. These
problems are likely to increase over the next month.
Other problems were seen at relatively low levels but
October is likely to see a rise in respiratory
problems other than husk. Early identification of the
cause of such problems can pay dividends over the
winter period

Calves
The low calf numbers currently present on most farms
helped ensure that there were only a few diarrhoea
problems.

Overall the number of pneumonia outbreaks was low,
though several farms had severe outbreaks of acute
pneumonia. Now is the time to check your housing and
see if there any short term improvements. Vaccination
with appropriate vaccines should also improve matters.

As with all the other age groups New Forest eye was
common. Early identification and treatment is vital.

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