Heat stress in dairy cattle is one of the most underestimated seasonal risks on North West farms, and it can turn a routine summer week into a sudden welfare and compliance problem. High-yielding cows generate enormous metabolic heat, and once humidity climbs across the Lancashire plain and the Cheshire dairy belt, even a few days […]

Summer grazing livestock losses often arrive with no warning at all. A herd that looked perfectly healthy at the morning check can produce a dead animal by afternoon, struck down by bloat on lush clover, grass staggers on fast-growing leys, or nitrate poisoning after a flush of growth following rain. For cattle and sheep keepers […]

Drought and livestock losses are becoming a more familiar combination as hotter, drier summers stretch grazing and water supplies across the North West. While the region is rarely the driest part of the country, prolonged dry spells now bite even in Lancashire and Cheshire, parching pasture, lowering troughs and putting real pressure on stock at […]

Horse health emergencies in summer place a particular strain on equine keepers, because the season that brings the best riding weather also brings two of the most dangerous conditions a horse can face. Rich summer grazing fuels laminitis, while heat, dehydration and sudden feed changes raise the risk of colic, and both can become fatal […]

Flystrike in sheep is the disease every shepherd dreads through the warm months, and across the upland and lowland flocks of the North West it accounts for a real share of preventable summer losses. Greenbottle flies lay eggs in damp, soiled or wounded fleece, maggots hatch within hours in warm weather, and an animal can […]