Animal diseases on rise following poor Irish summer weather

Lasting effects of the 2012 weather include 97% condemnation of livers from adult cattle, and worm counts in sheep faecal results at 4,500 to 10,000 eggs per gram (1,000 eggs is enough to cause symptoms of infestation).

Other problems anticipated by Aidan Foley, veterinary consultant to the Osmonds animal health company, include increased incidence of Strep uberis mastitis in dairy herds, and raised somatic cell counts.

On the company’s stand at the Ploughing, he said rumen fluke increased in 2012, and is showing up in half of the sheep being slaughtered.