Dairy Vet Clinical Quiz

Congratulations to Miss M Gibson, Dumfries and N R Tucker, Somerset.

Answers:

Q1. What is the condition? Mange
Q2. What is it caused by? Mange mites
Q3. What is the treatment? Pour-on fly treatments and avermectin type wormers. Sunlight appears to work, but not fully.

This month Chris Watson from the Wood Veterinary Group challenges us to make our own diagnosis from
the case notes he has compiled. So why not have a go?

A client recently complained that many of his cows were looking “scruffy” around the “back-end”. They had skin problems around the tail and with a few there seemed to be some irritation as they kept standing to be mounted, which was playing havoc with heat detection in the herd.

The cows were more than a little “poor” and had lost a lot of body condition after calving. The tail head showed a clear area of affected skin on either side which mostly looked quite benign but in a few it had become reddened and sore with evidence that the animal had been rubbing the area due to irritation.

The affected skin was in a quite distinct location in the hollow on either side of the tail head formed by the ligaments between the tail head and the pin bone.

This hollow is accentuated in cattle that have lost condition as the underlying fat and muscle are lost allowing more of a depression in the tissues to form.

The overlying skin in this hollow was covered in a loose grey scurfy material which looked like cigarette ash. It could be fairly easily rubbed off and the skin below was only very mildly affected.

However, in some cattle the skin had been damaged by rubbing producing hair loss, superficial loss of skin exposing the tissue below, and severe inflammation. One cow was seen with evidence that the skin condition was extending down from the tail head to affect the top of the udder.

The first two correct entries out of the hat will each win one of our sat-navs kindly provided by NWF.

Terms and conditions

• The competition is open to residents (age 18yrs or over) of the UK only, with the exception of ‘employees’ or ‘relatives of employees’ of UBM Information Ltd and NWF Agriculture Ltd.
• Inclusion in the competition is subject to registration.
• Entry to the draw will close Friday October 9th 2009.
• The winners will be announced in the December 2009 issue of Dairy Vet.
• The winners will be selected at random.
• The judge’s decision is final. No correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.
• Prizes are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. No prize alternative available.

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