Farmers are being urged to be vigilant for signs of listeriosis or ‘circling disease’ in animals when feeding silage this winter.
Teagasc animal health expert Riona Sayers and nutrition specialist Dr Siobhán Kavanagh have warned there was a higher risk of listeriosis this winter because of extremely difficult silage-making conditions during the summer.
“Farmers who made silage in wet conditions had a higher risk of contaminating their silage crop with clay,” said Dr Kavanagh. “If clay got into the silage, there is a higher risk of listeriosis.”
Analysis of more than 1,000 silage samples by FBA Laboratories has shown up a higher than normal number of silages with high ash content, which is an indicator of soil contamination.
FoodWorld 