David Attenborough has said that 99.999% of all living creatures on the planet are insects or arthropods. This time of year, especially with the relatively warm spring we’ve had, it’s easy to agree with him.

Flies, ticks, midges and an abundance of other flying and crawling creatures are multiplying fast and, as vets, we are seeing the downside of the fine weather in animals under our care.

Summer mastitis is an old and very nasty disease of dry cows and heifers and can turn into epidemic proportions if farmers aren’t careful managing their stock in the face of an outbreak.

Flies carry the disease between infected cattle and infected farms. You can reduce the risk of a case by keeping the fly away from the at-risk animals. Pour-on insecticides and stockholm tar on the udder are very useful; make sure all the cattle in the group are treated with the pour-on, not just the dry cows and heifers. You want as few flies as possible circulating the at-risk animals.

If you have a case, that’s when you really need to be careful, as we often see rapid spread of infection among at-risk animals. Isolate and treat the sick cow and to ensure the strippings are not accessible to any flies, dispose of them in a plastic bag in your refuse bin. One case of this severe form of mastitis is very costly. An epidemic could be catastrophic. Hygiene around handling, treating and isolating the infected cow are paramount.

Redwater, another old disease, is making a comeback. Last year suited the tick, and farms that have not had a case in quite some time are seeing it emerge again. Catching the affected animal on time is the key to success with this disease. On day one, you need to be very sharp to spot the red urine and/or the dramatic pipe stem diarrhoea. If treated at this stage, prognosis is very good.

By day two, the cow is significantly off-form and is starting to get bound up. By day three, the animal is dying and treatment is often unsuccessful. Bought-in animals are particularly at risk, as they are more likely to be completely naive to infection.

Be particularly careful with bulls. In the face of an outbreak, we always recommend that all at-risk animals be injected with imidocarb prophylactically if possible, having given due consideration to the very long withdrawal times involved. Quite a few people routinely inject all their young cattle as they go to suspect pasture, experience has taught them not to wait for the first case.

*Conor Kilcoyne owns Kilcoyne Veterinary, Wolfe Tone Sq, Tubbercurry, Co Sligo.