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April in Scotland, with the exception of parts of the north west, was a dry month with 70 per cent of average rainfall. The mean temperature was 0.6°C above the long-term average. Sunshine was 98 per cent of average and it was sunnier than average in the south east, but cloudy in the north west.
Cattle
Generalised and systemic conditions
Thurso diagnosed salmonellosis in a housed herd of eight suckler cows with calves at foot. Three cows and three calves died and Salmonella Bovismorbificans was recovered from 10 faecal samples, two carcases that were submitted for postmortem examination and one starling. SAC C VS commented that this Salmonella strain has also been recovered from gulls and seals, but is only occasionally isolated from cattle.
Dumfries diagnosed two outbreaks of salmonellosis due to Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 in suckler herds. On the first affected farm, calves, heifers and cows had diarrhoea, which was occasionally haemorrhagic, and one cow and four calves under two weeks of age died. S Typhimurium DT104 was recovered from faecal samples from five clinically affected animals. On the second farm, three calves aged eight to 10 days died, one of which had diarrhoea before death. Postmortem examination revealed necrotic enteritis in two calves ( Fig 1 ) and S Typhimurium DT104 was recovered from tissues.
Ayr and Dumfries diagnosed nine cases of salmonellosis due to Salmonella Dublin. Clinical presentations included diarrhoea, pneumonia, neurological signs and abortions. Although most affected animals were in dairy herds, suckler herds were also affected. SAC C VS commented that, with S Dublin infection, calving pen hygiene is crucial in preventing spread between cows and calves (Henderson and Mason 2017).
Respiratory tract conditions
Six cases of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis were diagnosed across Scotland in April. Aberdeen diagnosed the condition in a group of 50 yearling Belgian blue-cross fattening cattle. The animals had been purchased three weeks earlier and at the time of sampling six had nasal discharge and increased respiratory effort. Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) was detected by PCR in nasal swabs from affected animals.
Ayr diagnosed the condition in an 11-month-old Aberdeen Angus-cross stirk, the only affected animal from a group of 20. However, many of the group had pneumonia when they were one to two months...