Farm Animals Archive - Page 4 of 6

Spring Pasture

16th February 2021

Cattle, Farm Animals, Home Page News, Lungworm, Parasites, Ridgeway Research News, Sheep, Tapeworms, Worm Egg Counts

Spring Pasture: What to consider before letting your animals out to pasture With lambing season upon us, there are many things to consider when grazing animals on spring pasture. Many cattle herds and sheep flocks are housed indoors over the winter months for various reasons. Indoor housing during the winter months provides protection from the elements and cold conditions, as well as conservation of energy that would have been spent keeping warm – meaning the energy can be better put…

FEC: What is a faecal egg count and why should I use it?

10th February 2021

Georgie Atton

Farm Animals, Home Page News, Parasites, Ridgeway Research News, Worm Egg Counts

What is a FEC? Faecal Egg Counts, also known as FEC, WEC or EPG count assesses the worm burden within an animal. A FEC does what it says on the tin – a technician will look at the faeces and literally count the number of eggs in a set amount of the faeces. This is then taken as a representative for the burden of the animal. Results are typically presented in EPG or eggs per gram, allowing you to compare…

Nematodirosis in Lambs

2nd February 2021

Georgie Atton

Farm Animals, Home Page News, Parasites, Ridgeway Research News, Sheep, Worm Egg Counts

Nematodirosis in Lambs What is Nematodirus? Nematodirus spp. are thread-like roundworms that infect the small intestine and cause nematodirosis in lambs, goats and occasionally cattle. Nematodirus spp. infection largely affects lambs in springtime as adult sheep develop a natural resistance to the infection. Due to its unique development and life cycle, a phenomenon known as the spring flush can occur. Three species of Nematodirus spp. can affect sheep, with N. battus as the most pathogenic. Other species are N. filicollis…

Foot and Mouth Disease: The UK Outbreak of 2001

25th January 2021

Georgie Atton

Cattle, Farm Animals, Home Page News, Ridgeway Research News, Sheep

What is foot-and-mouth disease? In 2001 the UK went through an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) which led to the slaughter of 6.5 million animals and a cost of £8 billion.1 What have we learned from it, and what has changed to stop it from happening again? Foot-and-mouth disease is a viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals such as sheep, pigs and cattle. It is present all over the world and has had a large impact on agriculture for many years.…

Lice infestations in Cattle and Sheep: Indoor Winter Housing

12th January 2021

Georgie Atton

Cattle, Farm Animals, Home Page News, Parasites, Ridgeway Research News, Sheep

Lice infestations in Cattle and Sheep: Indoor Winter Housing What are lice? Lice are ectoparasites that live permanently on their host. They either feed off blood meals or on the skin, hair, fleece or any other debris on the skin. These are named sucking or chewing lice, respectively. Bovicola ovis and Bovicola bovis are chewing lice which are found on sheep and cattle, respectively. In the UK, three species of sucking lice commonly affect cattle — Linognathus vituli, Solenopotes capillatus, Haematopinus eurysternus…

Sheep Scab and Psoroptes ovis

7th January 2021

Georgie Atton

Farm Animals, Home Page News, Parasites, Ridgeway Research News, Sheep

What is Sheep Scab? Sheep scab is a endemic disease caused by Psoroptes ovis, more commonly known as scab mites. Scab mites defecate on the skin which causes an allergic reaction. With a short life cycle of only 14 days, scab mite populations can increase fast and can infect an entire flock. Even more so when kept indoors and in close proximity. The mite can survive for up to 17 days off the sheep, but needs a sheep to complete its…

Happy New Year: A round up of all of the parasites we have seen this year

31st December 2020

Georgie Atton

Farm Animals, Home Page News, Lungworm, Parasite Resistance, Parasites, Ridgeway Research News, Tapeworms, Worm Egg Counts

Happy New Year: A round up of all of the parasites we have seen this year We’ve been lucky enough to see quite a range of parasites at Ridgeway this year, including some new ones and some that we’ve encountered many times. We thought we would share a few of these with you to sum up some of our work this year. We look forward to seeing what new and exciting species 2021 brings us! Dictyocaulus filaria A new parasite…

Cystic Ovarian Disease

10th December 2020

Georgie Atton

Cattle, Dairy, Farm Animals, Fertility Management, Home Page News, Ridgeway Research News, Ridgeway Science

Infertility in Cows: Cystic Ovarian Disease What is Cystic Ovarian Disease in cattle? Cystic ovarian disease (COD) is a major problem associated with poor fertility in dairy cattle. Reportedly, from 6 to 19% of dairy cows develop cysts. It is possible, however, that the incidence of the disease is as high as 60%, as many heifers recover without intervention1, meaning they may go undetected. It is characterised by the presence of at least one enlarged anovulatory follicle on one or…

Bird Flu: How to spot Avian Influenza and what your next steps should be

19th November 2020

Georgie Atton

Farm Animals, Home Page News, Poultry, Ridgeway Research News

Bird Flu: How to spot Avian Influenza and what your next steps should be In our last article, we explained what bird flu is, the types of strains, categorisation of low and high pathogenicity and reports of recent outbreaks within the UK. In this article, we will look at recognising signs of bird flu, how to then report it to DEFRA, increased biosecurity measures you should be taking whilst the UK is an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone, and what to do…

Bird Flu: What is Avian Influenza and is it present in the UK?

13th November 2020

Georgie Atton

Farm Animals, Home Page News, Poultry, Ridgeway Research News

Bird Flu: What is Avian Influenza and is it present in the UK? What is it? Bird flu is a disease that most birds can catch. It is caused by the Avian Influenza virus and occurs naturally in aquatic birds such as wild ducks, geese, swans and gulls. It can also infect domestic poultry and other animal species too. Occasionally, it has also been known to infect humans. For instance, the strain H5N1 continues to infect humans sporadically. It is…