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Farmers urged to report cattle abortions and stillbirths
Investigating cattle abortions and stillbirths can improve herd planning and disease control.
RH&W has issued resources to make reporting easier.

Ruminant Health & Welfare (RH&W) has called for livestock farmers to report all abortions and stillbirths this block calving season.

The group says that accurate reporting and investigation is vital to help veterinary teams understand disease status and identify how to protect herds in future.

To support the thorough investigation of all abortions and stillbirths, farmers are being asked to send abortion tissues and blood samples for testing. This will assist both farmers and veterinary teams with herd planning, as well as identifying what was causing abortions.

This health planning includes assessing the status of infectious diseases and identifying the risk of zoonotic disease on the farm.

The current strain of bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3), as well as Schmallenberg, means that thorough investigation is particularly important. Both of these notifiable diseases can cause late term abortion, stillbirth or deformities in calves.

Investigating the causes of abortions will also enable the effective monitoring of prevalent zoonotic diseases, such as Q fever and Salmonella Dublin. Through regular testing, scientists will be able to assess whether they are active on-farm or passive on-farm.

Submitting abortion cases will also uncover the status of brucellosis, increasing confidence that the UK is free of brucella.

To reduce the barriers for farmers submitting abortion and stillbirth cases, RH&W has produced a flyer and an online hub. The resources have been created in consultation with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and Animal Health NI.

The flyer should be printed off and fixed onto farm notice boards and saved on the phones of members of the farming team.

RH&W is encouraging workers, farmers and veterinary teams to stay informed of disease risks on farms in order to better manage the risk of people coming into contact with diseased herds.

Colin Mason, a veterinary investigation officer and centre manager at SRUC’s disease surveillance centre, said: “Ultimately, the more you can find out about your animals by investigating these unexplained abortion losses, the better for your farm, your animals and the industry.”

Information about cattle abortions and stillbirths can be found here.

Image © Shutterstock

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Practices urged to audit neutering data

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has called on vet practices to audit their post-operative neutering outcomes.

It follows the release of the 2024 NASAN benchmarking report, which collates data from neutering procedures performed on dogs, cats and rabbits.

The benchmarking report enables practices in the UK and Ireland to compare their post-operative outcomes to the national average. This includes the rate of patients lost to follow-up, which in 2024 increased to 23 per cent.

Anyone from the practice can submit the data using a free template. The deadline for next report is February 2026.

Visit the RCVS Knowledge website to complete an audit. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
RCVS pays tribute to well-loved equine vet

The RCVS and the Riding Establishments Subcommittee has paid tribute to well-loved veterinary surgeon and riding establishment inspector, Rebecca Hamilton-Fletcher MRCVS.

Linda Belton MRCVS, RCVS President, said: "I, along with my colleagues on the RESC, RCVS Council, RCVS Standards Committee, as well as RCVS staff, was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Rebecca, or Becca as we knew her, last week.

"She was a true advocate for equine welfare and in her many years on the RESC worked to continually improve the quality and consistency of riding establishment inspections, all in the interests of enhanced horse welfare and rider safety."