 begin to appreciate England, or other countries of Britain. So much we take fro granted before we leave, and only see its value once we're gone!
I actually did realise how much I loved England before I left, and didn't plan to end up living in USA for almost three decades!
I've lived in England three times on different occasions. In London 1963/64 as a temporary immigrant from Australia, outside High Wycombe in 1975 while waiting for our son to be born and our Kombi van to be fitted out, and on the hill south of Bath in 1977 while figuring out where to go to next. Each of those times, and every visit since (on holiday from here and visiting our son at Boarding school in Derbyshire), has been sheer pleasure. I also drove my Mum around Britain on two occasions (1965 and 1976); she fell in love with the place, immigrated at the age of 70, and died in Hereford aged 86.
The Island's beauty is grossly underrated. It's variety - of regional cultures, scenery, and styles of living - beats anything that Europe has to offer, even France. What's not to love?
Do you believe Scotland would be able to survive on its own, and if you’ve lived in Bulgaria for many years, why do you hate being part of the UK? I’ve never hated Scotland, but then, I’ve never been there. Have you been down to the west country?
"Hate" is an unnecessarily harsh word, Aries. Scot47 is a very well-travelled man and (therefore) very well-educated. As such, he's entitled to his preferences, as we all are. It's rare for preferences to amount to hatred, surely. A word best avoided, I suggest.
Scotland could certainly stand alone. Could England?
Last edited by scot47; Nov 2nd 2018 at 8:16 pm.
But can you imagine the negotiations that would follow any attempted break-up of the UK? They'd make the UK-EU negotiations look like a ten-seconds argument over how long to cook toast! Even without a revived independence movement from within the Shetlands, under the banner of "It's Shetlands' Oil!"... Yikes.
I have never identified myself as " a Brit" maybe that is what this comes down to. How you feel about your own identity.
I am English first and very proud of that but we really cannot express our identity/ culture as in other UK countries are able to...as we seem to have to be British first to keep the status quo and that's a shame in some ways.
What prevents you celebrating the reality of being English?
Then of course there are those of us who have no option but to call ourselves "British". My wife and I are both British by virtue of our status as residents of a British colony, when the UK (not even "Britain"!) offered us UK citizenship ten years or so ago. My ancestral lines are English and Irish (from the days when Ireland was part of the domestic British Empire), and my wife was English and Scottish. My neutral accent tricks most Brits into thinking I'm English ("from somewhere down south", which is technically correct...), and I usually let it ride.
The signs of Scabby Mouth can appear around the mouth and/or on the legs and feet.
The infection is more common around the mouth than on the legs or feet.
Young sheep are more susceptible (mainly because, once animals have recovered from the disease, they are immune to it thereafter).
The first signs of Scabby Mouth are small blisters discharging pus. These then dry and create a scab which may be yellowish brown at first and then become dark.
Where Scabby Mouth affects the legs, it is usually on the lower part. If the infection spreads down to between the claws of the hoof, the animal will be severely lame.
Scabby Mouth is not a fatal disease and will rarely cause major secondary problems.
The disease can affect the udder and teats of a lactating ewe. As a result, the ewe may prevent the lamb from feeding until the pain goes away. This would be a major setback for the lamb.
In some circumstances, Scabby Mouth and Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) can present very similar signs, so check your sheep against the signs of FMD and if you have any doubt that it is Scabby Mouth, contact your local vet or the DPIPWE Emergency Animal Disease hotline (1800 675 888 all hours) immediately.
The Scabby Mouth virus can survive in the soil for years. However, it cannot enter the sheep unless the sheep has some kind of wound or abrasion. Puncture wounds from grass seeds, thistles, blackberry etc can be sufficient to allow entry of the Scabby Mouth virus, as can shearing cuts or any wounds from lamb marking, ear tagging etc. Sheep grazing a stubble can get minor abrasions around the mouth that would expose them to the virus as well.
If left untreated, the lesions generally heal in around three weeks. As yarding the sheep in order to treat them may actually make the disease worse, no treatment is usually the best option. You should ensure affected sheep have soft, palatable feed, water and plenty of shade during this natural recovery phase. Depending on the time of year and seasonal conditions, you may need to keep a close watch for flystrike on the lesions.
You should not attempt to remove the scabs, as this will delay the sheep's recovery.
Antibiotics are not necessary, unless there is some secondary infection.
Vaccination is not a treatment option.
A sheep that has recovered from Scabby Mouth is immune from the disease for several years. Note, however, that this immunity is NOT passed from the immune ewe to her lamb via the colostrum.
A preventative vaccine is available. In most cases, vaccination is only a viable option if the sheep are intended for the live sheep trade. Apart from this, vaccination for Scabby Mouth is not usually part of normal sheep management. The effect of the vaccine is to introduce the disease into the sheep in a controlled on-farm environment so that the sheep are then immune for the export market.
The vaccine is a live virus and is therefore not recommended for any property where the Scabby Mouth virus is not already known to be present.
The risk of Scabby Mouth is reduced if you remove blackberries, thistles and other potentially wounding plants (and, of course, any wire, nails etc that may be lying in the pasture) from the areas to be grazed. In particular, avoid running young sheep in paddocks where there are these risks.
Scabby Mouth is transmissible to humans, where the condition is known as Orf. People most at risk are shearers and people using the Scabby Mouth vaccine in their flock.
Presents as scabs on the lower leg. If the scabs are removed, the bleeding sores resemble strawberries - hence the name Strawberry Footrot.
Lambs stillborn or die soon after birth.
In lambs and hoggets, stiffness in the gait and/or lameness, which increases markedly if the animals are driven any distance.
Selenium deficiency. It is only a significant issue in Tasmania in high rainfall areas with sandy soils, especially where pastures are clover-dominant and heavily fertilised.
The same as for prevention.
Add selenium to the sheep's diet - through selenium drenches, slow release bullets, injections, stock licks or including selenium in the pasture fertiliser. But remember that, if you use stock licks, not all sheep will necessarily get the supplementary selenium.
In risk areas (ie high rainfall, sandy soil types), pregnant ewes should be supplemented with selenium four weeks before lambing in order to protect the newborn lamb.
Note that selenium can be poisonous and overdosing can cause death. So, if adding selenium into drench, make sure you get the quantities right and that you do not "double drench" any animal by mistake.
Many of the "5 in 1" vaccines that are used at lamb marking are available with a selenium supplement. As the "5 in 1" vaccines require a booster for lambs 4-6 weeks after the first injection, using a "5 in 1" with selenium supplement should normally be sufficient to prevent WMD in lambs. This is a convenient way of preventing selenium deficiency in lambs. It is important to ensure your vaccinator is set correctly so it is not overdosing and that you do not double-vaccinate any lamb by mistake.
There are several types of arthritis in sheep. The information below is general and provided to assist sheep and goat owners in differentiating the various possible causes of lameness in their livestock.
More common in lambs, but can affect all ages.
Lameness, the affected animal usually "carries" the infected leg.
In many cases, the affected leg has a swollen knee joint.
In "post dipping lameness", the lower leg is inflamed.
Infection arising from lamb marking under dirty conditions or lambing in unclean paddocks. Infection usually enters via the umbilical cord or wounds from lamb marking or mulesing. Infection can also enter through unbroken skin.
"Post dipping lameness" is caused by the build up of an infecting organism in sheep dips. The organism enters the sheep via abrasions or grass seed sites in the skin.
For most types of arthritis, the only treatment is a course of massive doses of antibiotic and may only be