Donal Lynch: Slieve Bloom Veterinary, Co Offaly

“We are seeing problems with parasites on farms. Stomach worms and lung worms are becoming an issue.

“The weather at the moment suits grass growth and also suits the parasites. We’re advising farmers to monitor for signs of parasites.

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“Key signs to look for are coughing, lack of thrive, scour and poor coats.

“It’s best to use faecal egg counts and dung sample to inform your decision to dose. ”

Adam Conn: Riada Vet Clinic, Co Antrim

“We saw poor conception and submission rates in dairy herds. Heat stress caused issues, with cows showing poor signs of heat.

“I’ve seen a lot of people now putting ventilation systems into their sheds, things that nobody was investing in five years ago.

“The investments are starting to pay off as we’re seeing less issues due to heat stress on farms.

“There’s also a lot of E.coli and acute mastitis.

“Cubicle hygiene and teat preparation before and after milking has to be perfect.

“Mastitis can be costly, with the cost of treatment and loss of production going forward. Cows never get back to the production level where they were. Especially with the price of milk it can be a big loss.

“Farmers are in pretty good humour these days – prices are good but they do have an eye on the farm and what would happen if things drop, so they don’t get too carried away.

“Things can change pretty quickly depending on issues that are totally out of our control.”

John Nugent: Fahey Vet Clinic, Co Tipperary

“Calves were struggling, suffering from chills and pneumonia.

“The temperature changes between day and night were too extreme.

“We’re also seeing a trend of more worm burdens in young calves, it’s an unusually high level of worms. There has also been an outbreak of coccidiosis in calves.

“I’m advising farmers to monitor for cows coughing. There is a chance that this is signs of IBR or worms.

“Also, monitor calves for worms and dose if needs be. Test for worms before dosing to know what you need to treat with.

“With the good prices, people have looked after their stock much better as they want to get these good prices.”

Gerard McGovern: Derryginney Vet Clinic, Co Cavan

“Redwater is an issue at the moment. We get quite a bit of it in west Cavan.

“We’ve had a couple of cases of BVD. We’re in the windup of the BVD programme and it’s a bit concerning to have two outbreaks.

“We’re not involved in investigating the source, but we’re putting it down to TI [transiently infected] animals. It seems that these TI animals can carry enough virus to infect a pregnant cow and cause PI calves.

“Hoose is something that I’d say will be pretty bad this summer.

“We had a wet period and now it’s warm and it’s ideal conditions for larvae.

“We’ve had animals dying from hoose.”