Sadly, we were told this week from one of our local farmers, that recently, he has heifers who have aborted their pregnancies...it has been confirmed by DEFRA that this is due to a parasite called Neospora...we'd never heard of it before so decided to delve a little further...

 

The Neopsora parasite can infect cattle and can cause serious disease in pregnant cows and result in abortion. It is a problem worldwide and it is on the increase in the UK. The pregnant cow may show no outward signs but when the parasite passes to the unborn calf it can cause abortion. Some calves survive the pregnancy but are stillborn, others may look healthy but are infected with the parasite.

 

Neospora is the most commonly diagnosed cause of abortion and there are no licensed drugs or vaccine available, thus an infection within a herd means an inevitable financal loss.

 

What can we, as responsible dog owners, do to help prevent this....

 

The only known route of infection is from dog faeces. If this is left on a field, the herd will digest this along with the pasture and the parasite is  ingested.  The simplest way for us to help stop this is to collect any of our dog poo and take it away with us. Dogs become infected by eating placenta or abortion material, so always be aware of where your dog is, if they are not too good at recall, then keep them on the lead.

 

I leave you with the words from another farmer who has had to learn about this parasite the hard way...