Weekly Livestock-Equine News: November 10, 2025

Poland reports outbreak of bluetongue disease in cattle

Bluetongue disease continues to spread across Europe. Poland reported an outbreak in cattle near the Czech border, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Oct. 27. Bluetongue can be deadly for domestic ruminants such as sheep, cattle and goats. It does not affect humans or the safety of animal meat or milk. One head of cattle was affected by the virus on a farm with 39 animals in the town of Kędzierzyn-Koźle, according to WOAH.

Piglets get gut health boost from amino acids

Piglets that ate feed with L-glutamate or L-aspartate grew faster and gained more weight than those that didn’t get the supplements, according to researchers at UC Davis. L-aspartate helped reduce diarrhea and supported the structure of the intestines, making them stronger against infections. L-glutamate helped the piglets’ guts fight off harmful bacteria and encouraged the growth of “good” bacteria in the intestines.

The Vaccine Group reports promising results for vaccine candidate for BRSV

The Vaccine Group (TVG), a University of Plymouth (England) spinoff, announced a trial of its novel vaccine candidate for bovine respiratory syncytial virus demonstrated outstanding results. Three to six-week-old calves were immunized intramuscularly with TVG’s bovine herpesvirus-4 vaccine platform technology. They demonstrated immunity when measured by clinical disease, virus shedding and lung pathology.

Royal Veterinary College launches study on musculoskeletal injury in racehorses

A Royal Veterinary College research team announced that over three years, it will conduct studies in flat and national hunt (jump) Thoroughbreds in training. The researchers will estimate the incidence of the most common types of musculoskeletal injuries; develop novel measures of training workload that can be used to monitor training over time; and investigate how training regimes can be optimized to reduce the risk of exercise-induced injury. British Veterinary Association

Dr. Andrew Fidler named Arkansas state veterinarian

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture announced the appointment of Dr. Andrew Fidler as the new state veterinarian. Most recently, he served as director of pre-clinical sciences at the University of Arkansas Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research. Prior to that, he spent seven years with the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, where he specialized in animal biotechnology and veterinary drug development.