National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) has called on the Scottish Government and the livestock industry to tackle the growing threat posed by cattle psoroptic mange – cattle scab – which is the bovine equivalent of sheep scab.

image expired

The disease, which causes significant skin irritation and serious discomfort to infected cattle, was eradicated from the UK almost half a century ago, although cattle scab has recently been discovered in twenty over 20 herds in the UK and Ireland. Though there have been no identified cases in Scotland, union president, Nigel Miller, called for pre-emptive action to avert a crisis.  

Speaking at the AgriScot event at Ingliston near Edinburgh, Mr Miller called for the government and industry to adopt a new approach, stating “prevention is better than cure”. He recommended closer examination of the risks involved in buying cattle, backed up by veterinary surveillance and screening. He said that government intervention and movement restrictions should be used where infection is detected to prevent the disease spreading to other cattle.

In the run up to the event, Mr Miller, who is also a qualified vet, said, "The cluster of cases [of cattle psoroptic mange] in parts of Wales, Ireland and England are a wake-up call to our livestock sector. However, by taking action now we still have the potential to prevent this disease infecting and spreading amongst Scottish cattle.

"We need to develop a code of practice on cattle scab linked to the risk of importing the disease. A risk assessment regarding cattle scab for any cattle being brought on to Scottish farms may help establish if the animals may benefit from a pre-movement treatment for cattle scab."

He said blood tests being developed by Scotland’s Moredun animal disease research institute and free skin sample testing service, already available through SAC’s vet labs, would go a long way towards ensuring preparedness and reducing the likelihood of the disease taking hold.  

Though he went on to warn, "The reality is that, with the disease being difficult to detect in its early ‘silent’ phase, it may already be in some Scottish herds. If that were found to be the case, then we need Scottish Government intervention to restrict movements from infected herds in order to protect others."

The disease can result in lengthy withdrawal periods from the market; for a dairy farm milk could be withheld from sale for 60 days, which Mr Miller pointed out "would have a huge, financial impact on any affected dairy."

He concluded, "We need to remind ourselves of the lessons learned from sheep scab – a disease that we thought we had eradicated but, since compulsory dipping was stopped, has once again become endemic in some parts. We have to take the threat from cattle scab equally seriously if we are to avoid introducing a major health and welfare disease to our cattle stocks."