Warmer weather patterns are having an influence on the animal health challenges facing livestock, a group of NI farmers has been told.

At a meeting in Antrim last week, Professor Elisabeth Innes from the Moredun Research Institute briefed the organisation’s NI regional board about its current research agenda.

This includes development of a new vaccine for Louping Ill, a tick-borne disease that mainly effects sheep and grouse in upland areas of the UK.

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“Tick numbers have been increasing as the climate changes and Louping Ill outbreaks are on the rise,” Innes said.

Common signs of the viral disease in infected animals include staggering and twitching. Mortality rates in sheep flocks can be as high as 50%.

Innes said scientists at Moredun have developed a new vaccine for Louping Ill in sheep which has proved “highly effective” in research trials.

However, pharmaceutical firms have been reluctant to invest in the initial stages of vaccine development due to the relatively small market for the vaccine.

Instead, a crowd funding campaign has been launched to help in the initial stages of scaling up production of the new Louping Ill vaccine.

Innes said over £250,000 has been received in donations so far, plus the Scottish government has committed to giving £100,000 to the project.

Barber’s pole worm

Another area of research at Moredun relates to development of a new vaccine for the barber’s pole worm.

The parasite has blood-feeding behaviour, which can lead to blood disorders, weakness and death in sheep and goats.

It has historically been an issue in warmer climates, but more cases have been occurring in the UK in recent years.

For example, the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute recently confirmed that Barber’s Pole Worm was confirmed in 12 different sheep submitted for post-mortem in NI this summer.

Existing wormers are an effective treatment for Barber’s Pole Worm in NI at present, but there are concerns that resistance issues could develop, as this has already happened in other countries.

Innes explained that scientists at Moredun have used an emerging technology that finds a weak spot in the parasite’s gut which can then be targeted by vaccination.

She said the advantage of this approach is that the vaccine for the barber’s pole worm can be manufactured in the laboratory at “a relatively low cost”.