August sees rise in haemonchosis diagnoses in sheep in Scotland

This monthly summary is produced for Vet Record by Scotland's Rural College Veterinary Services (SRUC VS) and is based on reports from its surveillance centres in Edinburgh, Perth, St Boswells, Ayr (Auchincruive), Dumfries, Aberdeen, Inverness and Thurso and in collaboration with the Moredun Research Institute and the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine.SRUC VS monthly reports are available online at https://bit.ly/37jet6zMEAN temperatures in Scotland remained above average in many areas in August with the exception of the north-west Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.Rainfall distribution was patchy with some areas significantly below average but others recording average amounts.Only Orkney and small pockets of the far north west were wetter than average.It was a dull month for most of Scotland with average sunshine hours in the south east.Overall, August figures equated to 87 per cent of average rainfall, 81 per cent of average sunshine and a mean temperature of 13.8ºC, which is 0.5ºC above the 30-year (1991-2020) average. Cattle Parasitic diseasesThe carcase of a five-month-old Aberdeen Angus cross calf was submitted from a dairy herd to investigate the third apparent sudden death in the course of a week.It was part of a group of February-born calves that had been turned out to grass 10 weeks earlier.Postmortem examination found bacterial bronchopneumonia affecting 50 per cent of the lung parenchyma and large numbers of live Dictyocaulus viviparus within the airways.A pour-on doramectin product had been applied two weeks before and the findings indicated lack of efficacy.