Case notes on veterinary investigations in sheep, cattle and other species
District Veterinarian Conference 2015
Sheep
Footrot: Past, present and future
Written by: Dan Salmon, Regional Veterinarian, Deniliquin
The Footrot Strategic Plan was relatively unique in the fact that there was very little government money
involved in the actual program and there were no incentives of compensation schemes for the producers, all
things that the textbooks proclaim are essential for successful disease control programs ... Read more
Intestinal adenocarcinoma in an emaciated first cross ewe
Written by: Patrick Shearer, State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Menangle and Bruce Watt, Central
Tablelands Local Land Services, Bathurst
Intestinal adenocarcinoma is a common tumour of older sheep. Most are discovered at slaughter as incidental
findings; if clinical signs are present, weight loss and occasionally ascites are usually the only findings
... Read more
Johne's disease B, S or C strain type: What does it all mean?
Written by: IB Marshaand RJ Whittingtonb, aElizabeth Macarthur
Agricultural Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Menangle , bFaculty of Veterinary
Science, University of Sydney
The term bacterial strain now exists in two broad contexts: bacterial taxonomy and bacterial epidemiology -
taxonomically, a bacterial strain is a population of bacteria that descend from a single organism or pure
culture, while the epidemiological definition of strain refers to a phenotypic ... Read more
A case of Mycoplasma ovis
Written by: Linda Searle, District Veterinarian, Deniliquin
M. ovisis a bacterial infection which may not cause any clinical signs but when numbers are large
enough it leads to massive destruction of erythrocytes and subsequently anaemia and jaundice ... Read more
Selenium deficiency on the Southern Tablelands in 2014
Written by: Alexandra Stephens, District Veterinarian Yass (South East LLS)
Clinical expression of selenium (Se) deficiency, in the form of white muscle disease in sheep and marked
ill-thrift in cattle was seen in the spring of 2014 in the Yass and Monaro districts ... Read more
Turning the worm
Written by: Stephen Love, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Armidale NSW
Turning the Worm is a twist on ‘the worm turns’ which refers to people, groups or things that,
after being badly treated for a long time, suddenly and forcefully resist. The worms we deal with can be a bit
like that ... Read more
What lice?
Written by: Narelle Sales, Microbiological Diseases and Diagnostics Research, Elizabeth Macarthur
Agricultural Institute
The problem with lice infestations on sheep is that by the time you can see them it may have already cost the
producer money and will certainly cost more before they are cleared up. Having a test that can detect 1 or 2
lice in a flock ... Read more
Cattle
A case of botulism in a dairy herd
Written by: Helen Schaefer, South East Local Land Services, Bega
This case demonstrates the challenge it can be to diagnose a disease which has limited diagnostic aids,
particularly when it does not present as classically recognised ... Read more
Cows and the big city - A survey into the nature and risks of beef cattle in Sydney
Written by: Dr Matthew Ball, Virbac Animal Health, 14 Ashland St, Alstonville NSW 2477
Beef cattle herds in Greater Sydney are non-commercial. The main motivations for cattle ownership are to
manage pasture and weeds, secondary income and as a hobby. A relatively high number are used for home meat or
milk consumption ... Read
more
Foot-and-mouth disease: A diagnostic challenge?
Written by: Steve Eastwood, District Veterinarian, Northern Tablelands LLS, Armidale
FMD is often described in context of the typical clinical presentation in pigs and cattle. What is less
recognised is that presentation in sheep can be varied and often difficult to diagnose in the field ... Read more
Johne's disease B, S or C strain type: What does it all mean?
Written by: IB Marshaand RJ Whittingtonb, aElizabeth Macarthur
Agricultural Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Menangle, bFaculty of Veterinary
Science, University of Sydney
The term bacterial strain now exists in two broad contexts: bacterial taxonomy and bacterial epidemiology -
taxonomically, a bacterial strain is a population of bacteria that descend from a single organism or pure
culture, while the epidemiological definition of strain refers to a phenotypic ... Read more
Lightning strike in the Riverina
Written by: Rahul Shankar and Elizabeth Braddon, Riverina LLS, Young
Every year thousands of animals worldwide succumb to lightning injuries. Animals are particularly vulnerable
as they are usually placed outside during severe storm events. Animals that have a large separation between
their front and back legs (such as cattle) are vulnerable ... Read more
Mad cow disease in hindsight: Lessons learnt about disease control programs - A short literature
review
Written by: Dermot McNerney, NSW State Coordinator TSE, NSW DPI, Dareton
BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, "Mad Cow Disease") was first reported in November 1986 in the United
Kingdom and was thought at that time to be similar to Scrapie in sheep and goats ... Read more
Pestivirus (BVDV) economics and management options for NSW beef herds
Written by: Alex Stephens, District Veterinarian, South East LLS, Yass
This paper describes various economic models that show the cost of pestivirus management to be worthwhile. It
then discusses the various control methods being recommended in the field and aims to present a methodical
approach to recommendations ... Read more
Quantitative PCR as a tool for the diagnosis of bovine theileriosis
Written by: Cheryl Jenkinsa and Daniel Bogemaa,b
aElizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Camden NSW
bithree institute, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway NSW
The pathogenic genotypes of bovine theileriosis have become enzootic in herds over large areas of the eastern
seaboard and are now commonly observed in subclinical as well as clinically-affected animals. Recent
developments in quantitative PCR technology provide further aids to laboratory diagnosis ... Read more
Reflections on selenium in the Lower Hunter
Written by: Digby Rayward, Regional Veterinarian, Hunter Local Land Services, Tocal
Selenium is the most common trace element deficiency seen in the Lower Hunter. In non supplemented cattle we
see the GSHPX levels bouncing along below or near the accepted normal range 40-300 and it takes very little
changes in pasture conditions to push these stock into the clinically deficient zone ... Read more
Review of cases submitted to investigate the cause of cattle deaths in western New South Wales (so called
3D syndrome)
Written by: Graham Bailey, Cattle Health Coordinator, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange and
Erika Bunker, Veterinary Pathologist, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Menangle
A syndrome with the key signs of drooling and diarrhoea leading to death has been reported by graziers with
combined losses across all properties where 3D syndrome has been investigated in the hundreds ... Read More
Salt poisoning in cattle
Written by: Scott Ison, Murray Local Land Services, Albury
Salt toxicity in ruminants occurs most frequently when salt-rich solutions are consumed during a period of
restricted access to water, followed by unrestricted access to fresh water ... Read more
Theileria transplacental transmission
Written by: Shayne Fell* Cheryl Jenkins*, Jade Hammer+, Gaye
Krebs# and Emma Swilks#
*Microbiological Diseases and Diagnostics Research, EMAI Menangle NSW
+Main Street Veterinary Clinic, Bairnsdale Vic
#Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga NSW
A number of calves in this study showed evidence of infection with T. orientalis based on blood smears
as early as four days of age. This led to the proposal that infection can be passed to the calf in-utero which
is a potential source of continued transmission of disease within the herd ... Read more
Other
Classical swine fever virus in Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste
Written by: Kate Sawford, Greater Sydney Local Land Services
Many of the pig diseases exotic to Australia are spreading in neighbouring countries representing a threat to
Australia's pork industry as pig products from these regions could be imported illegally and fed to pigs ...
Read more
Monitoring the prevalence and impact of enteric disease in pigs
Written by: Alison Collins, NSW DPI, EMAI
While histopathology is the gold standard in diagnosis for many enteric diseases, only very sick pigs are
necropsied, so mild clinical and sub-clinical disease are often undiagnosed ... Read more
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea
Written by: Amanda Lee, Senior Veterinary Officer (pigs and poultry), NSW DPI, Menangle
Porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) is characterised by acute, rapidly spreading viral diarrhoea. Pigs are the
only known hosts of PEDv. There are no public health or food safety concerns ... Read more
Trypanosomes - A millstone for the developing world and an insidious threat to Australian
livestock
Written by:Bruce Watt, Central Tablelands Local Land Service, Bathurst NSW
Pathogenic forms of trypanosomes are the major constraint to livestock production in much of Africa and also
cause losses in South America and Asia. In Australia, the species found in livestock are not obviously
associated with disease ... Read
more
Turtle mortalities on the Bellinger River
Written by: Sarah Britton, Animal Biosecurity & Welfare, NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI)
In mid-February 2015, an increasing number of sick and dead turtles were reported from a section of the
Bellinger River, presenting as emaciated and with severe eye lesions causing blindness ... Read More