Liver Fluke

[sussex 5,776]

HI all ,was up & out by six this morning for a meet with a guy who booked a morning out with me,i checked with him last night , all still on,sat in car park meeting place for forty five minutes trying to get him on the phone , he eventually answers to tell me he was'nt coming incase he got stuck in the car because of the ice& snow....muppet !! As i was out anyway i decided to have a look at a small plot of land i stalk(not were i was going) close by ,its only about 100 acres but there is a fair amount of deer movment on there,and in the snow ,which had blanketed it , any movment would be obvious .

Its made up of seven fields with high hedges ,set on a slope surrounded by woodland ,at one time it was a stud but now they just use it for hay , its ideal for deer.

I made my way along the top field , through the gate to the back field ,all the time mindfull i'm late & stick out like a fairly big sore thumb.,as i got to the end of the field after staying as close to the hedge as possible iopened the gate as quite as i could (which was'nt that quite) and moved forward a couple of

metres to look left & down the hedge line,there was a fair bit of slot going down the hedge & tracks criss crossing the field down to the wood,where i expected to see the deer.There were about a dozen does & fawns,just under the tree line at 184m (rangefinder).As i glassed up & down the line there was only one candidate a tiny buck fawn,much smaller than the other other youngsters, & considerably smaller than the other buck fawn .He clearly had a problem made worse i guess by the bad weather.I lay down opened the bi pod loaded the rifle,as soon as he was clear i squeezed the trigger, heard the thump , it just shook , did half a turn and fell.Waited a few minutes ,partly in case the others came back for a look as they often do, they did'nt.I walked down to check it, tiny animal ,skin and bone really.

It clearly was'nt going in the chiller,i gralloched it anyway,just to see if there was something obvious ,there was.Liver fluke, the worst case of it i had seen in ages.The liver was absolutely full of the bloody things ,i baged it up,checked all the lymph nodes ,all ok.disposed of the carcass .

Cut the liver up when i got home 14 full size fluke in it....not had a problem on here with fluke before but have noticed an increase on another big piece of land i look after were there is a high density of deer ,very damp (made worse with this years weather) & low quality grazing,has any one else noticed an increase in the cases of fluke ?......Sorry this ended up a long post.

[sniffer 167]

Interesting post thank's my dad killed a hare a few week's back he said it's liver wernt right reconed it was a fluke it was scin and bone, he said it was down to the wet weather..

[The one 8,401]

thats what i was thinking this wet summers done a lot of damage to the wildlife

[sussex 5,776]

I'm sure its added to the problem as the fluke starts as a snail it must be beneficial for it, intresting to see if any one else has seen an increase

[seprim 32]

Sussex

Sorry to hear of your no-show - down right rude not to call you though :/

Will the frost and/or snow kill off the fluke stages living in the grass ?

Andrew

[sussex 5,776]

Dont think so.given the ice & snow we had over the last few years it does'nt seem to impact on it ,i wonder if the reverse would , really dry & hot..dont know ! Will ask my vet pal

[Outofnowhere 93]

I've seen a considerable increase in Wilts and Dorset over the last few years, once it was rare now it seems rare not to see some blemish or other on/in the liver which is mainly fluke. I have seen an increase in the amount of sheep grazing here abouts and I have put it down to that.

[tegater 789]

Interesting post Sussex

[sussex 5,776]

my mate from essex is of the same mind, he hasseen a big increase in sheep grazing and in fluke,on my bit there are no sheep at all ,but it is as i said very wet in places.

Onthe subject of sheep they are my pet hate,lots of sheep = not so many deer,I dont think deer likethem 1st or last.

[martin 332]

Just out of interest Sussex,why didn't you put it into the larder,was it just because of the size?

 

Martin

[sussex 5,776]

It was just a very poor sick looking animal,allthough fluke is not considered a reason to discard this one was in my opiniun not good enough to put in thefood chain,gralloched out it would'nt have weighed more than 18lb.I work on the 'would i want to eat guide' ....no..it just did'nt look good enough..

[sussex 5,776]

Littlle up date on the fluke , spoke to a couple of vet friends and they both agree that a hot dry summer would see a reduction in the cases of fluke,

[SNAP SHOT 194]

This is an Area i deal with regular through the type of work i do,

 

This year fluke have thrived with the wet weather conditions, but i'd suggest also that rumen fluke had a massive part to play in this animals condition,

never been a problem really in the past, although always there is SMALL Numbers, this last 5 years it really has become an issue,

 

An will greatly detract for the overall health of the animal,

 

As you know wetter areas will always carry a greater risk of fluke, as the host the mud snail thrives in these ideal conditions,

 

 

Snap.

[sussex 5,776]

Snap shot , i 've never come across rumen fluke before but given its emaciated condition you may well be right in future i will look past the obvious .many thanks ........i,l be a vetinary soon for sure............Ps funny how a lot of vets shoot .& stalk ....

[sniffer 167]

You have a pm sussex..