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NEWSLETTER APRIL 2008

MAY MEETING  THURSDAY MAY 15th

We make a welcome return to Yorkshire for our May meeting which will include a focus on two highly topical isssues,   Scrapie, and the monitoring scheme, and Bluetongue, where policy for the summer should be much clearer by the time we meet.

Leading the session on Bluetongue, we are privileged to welcome Dr Chris Oura from Pirbright,  who will give a resume of  recent advances in our knowledge of the disease,  in both animals and midges. It has been a rapid learning curve, and this will bring us right up to date.      

Whether or not to vaccinate in the case of goats is the burning question for many of you. There are currently issues being looked at  concerning milk withdrawal, age of vaccination of young stock,  vaccination regime, and effects on such things as movements of animals and semen, where a number of you have been concerned about the effect on exports.

Our treasurer, Robert Ankcorn will ge there to give us the definitive answers, in his capacity as an Intervet veterinary adviser, and Nick Clayton will then spend a few minutes looking at the practical implications of where we are from the standpoint of the Bluetongue Forum.  I know that there are many questions you would like to see answered, and we plan to break into groups after hearing the presentations to allow all of you to  discuss WHAT are the burning questions. The panel of three will then do their best to answer them!

Andrew Gresham will make a welcome return to bring us the latest on Scrapie in goats.  The  current Scrapie monitoring Scheme is being wound up.  As I write, all I can really say is that  it is virtually certain that a replacement scheme will be in place quite shortly,  though it as yet not possible to say just exactly will be running it. By Mid May, we should know the answers and the way forward, and we shall

Nick Perkins will be presenting a paper on  an ectopic pregnancies in the goat, and Nick Brandon will  talk about his experience of lameness in his commercial milking herd, which again should lead to a lively discussion!. It will be a particular pleasure to hear Nick, who has been a great supporter of the GVS  in recent years,  and it epitomises the ethos of the society, an exchange of ideas to improve the lot of the goat,  and this view from the sharp end will be invaluable, and  will I hope lead to  further talks at future meetings.  It is said in racing circles, “No foot, no horse”.  In goat circles this might be, “ Lame Sue Smith and Kat Bazeley have been looking at  the costings of rearing replacements for the herd, something which seems to overlooked in many species!!

Finally, and what a great finish!  Geoff Pritchard from the VLA at Bury St Edmunds, will speak. Geoff is about to retire, and will look back on his career and  concentrate in particular  on his  interest in where zoonoses that originate in goats, should demand our attention. It will be an invaluable talk.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Much of the work of the society has centered on keeping goat concerns on the agenda at the various BTV fora.  We have also held meetings with DEFRA to discuss the future of the SMS scheme, and another one to discuss the risk of TB in goats. In that case it seems that while TB can affect goats, and it  can spread rapidly in a large herd, 

incidence overall is very low, probably since goats as browsers are less likely to eat contaminated grass than are cattle. Probably the biggest danger to goats would be a badger riddled with TB entering  goat housing. The widespread use of Johnes disease vaccine in goats would make it difficult to interpret the tests for TB due to cross reaction.

I also attended an England Implementation Group meeting as an invited observer. There is an interest in setting up a goat welfare group of the EIG.  This would be a low key affair, but  is being seen as a useful way of being able to highlight to the EIG where as it were the goats need sorting out from the sheep.  Ear tagging problems would be a good example. It will be interesting to see what develops and when.

BLUETONGUE VACCINATION

Courtesey of GVS treasurer Robert Ankcorn, Intervet  have stated that their recommendation for vaccinating goats will be two doses of 1 ml each,  given about a month  apart, and revaccination will be recommended every 6 months. They tell us that the vaccine is totally safe for use in goats.

According to the letter of the law, as the vaccine will have no marketing authority for use in goats, a milk withold period of 7 days after each dose would be required, as would a 28 day withold period for meat.  This is a catch all situation designed to protect the consumer from the possible effects of a large number of medicines, and the relevant authorities are currently looking to see if the requirement can be removed, given that  the vaccine has been accepted  as not needing any product withdrawal in its official target species of sheep and cattle.

FUTURE MEETINGS

The Sheep Veterinary Society will be meeting at Lancaster on September 10th to 12th.  One of the days will be a joint day with the GVS to highlight areas of difference.

I will post details on the website when they are to hand.

The GVS autumn meeting will be on Thursday November 20th at Chepstow Racecourse.

GVS JOURNAL

The 2008 edition of the journal has now been sent out. We have had a close look at membership this year to cut down on the waste of sending the journal out by default, and I have had to adopt a rather complicated system to show who should receive what according to payments made.  If you have  NOT received a journal yet, please let me know  in case I have inadvertantly failed to send you one.

We look forward to seeing you at Todwick.

Nick Clayton

29, Winfield Newent Glos  GL18 1QB  01531 820074      nickclayton2@mac.com

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