The Foot and Mouth SAGA continues
Almost got Foot and Mouth in Somerset!!! not really but a farmer (my first farm call!!!) had to call up DEFRA (british agriculture police) because he had two cows with crusty noses, drooling, high respiration, and acting a bit funny (just so ya know, the symptoms of Foot and Mouth are ulcers in the mouth (which cause drooling), on the nose, and along the skin above the hooves (hence "Foot and Mouth", woot!), and general depressed behaviour (the cow goes all EMO!) and walking stiffly.
DEFRA basically stated it was not F&M, but didn't bother to diagnose beyond that. So the Vet and I get called out to give it a look, and basically we decided it was a contact burn from a chemical or plant...... woot! Because it is so rainy the Vet assumes that it is just something that usually is rare in the field had gotten common enough to affect two cows (out of 500) woot.
But because we are still under DEFRA martial law, we had to disinfect our boots and hands with what was probably chlorohexane (smelliest, paint eatingiest, makes you smell forever! kind of liquid) and wash down the vet's truck (who stated that after the last F&M outbreak, he had to sell his truck because it was literally being melted away by the various chemicals the farmers used. So I smell ALOT! to the point that the nurses kept thinking a bottle of ammonia was open when i stood near them.
All for two cows eating something that bit them back! sheesh. (It sounds from the reports that the farms affected were all close to the DEFRA laboratory that was working with a particular strain, so this should be wrapped up quick)
DEFRA basically stated it was not F&M, but didn't bother to diagnose beyond that. So the Vet and I get called out to give it a look, and basically we decided it was a contact burn from a chemical or plant...... woot! Because it is so rainy the Vet assumes that it is just something that usually is rare in the field had gotten common enough to affect two cows (out of 500) woot.
But because we are still under DEFRA martial law, we had to disinfect our boots and hands with what was probably chlorohexane (smelliest, paint eatingiest, makes you smell forever! kind of liquid) and wash down the vet's truck (who stated that after the last F&M outbreak, he had to sell his truck because it was literally being melted away by the various chemicals the farmers used. So I smell ALOT! to the point that the nurses kept thinking a bottle of ammonia was open when i stood near them.
All for two cows eating something that bit them back! sheesh. (It sounds from the reports that the farms affected were all close to the DEFRA laboratory that was working with a particular strain, so this should be wrapped up quick)