Hanspeter Meier

In the last two newsletters, we delved deep into the nature of Equine Piroplasmosis (EP), above all to find means for prevention, mainly for the sake of animal health, welfare and economy. However, in the case of EP, this target is difficult to achieve for several reasons. First of all because there doesn’t exist a vaccine and because the transmission occurs by means of vectors, mainly by ticks, but also by other insects and humans. These are speDear Breeders,

Aus der Klinik fur Nutztiere und Pferde (Direktor: Prof. Dr. H. Gerber) und dem Institut fur Tieranatomie (Direktor: Prof. Dr. A. E. Friess) der Veterinarmedizinischen Fakultat der Universitat Bern ... Zur bildlichen Darstellung der gemeinsamen Sehnenscheide des M.flexor hallucis longus ...

In a retrospective study the gestation lengths of two groups, each consisting of 193 "Freiberger" mares, were compared. The mares of the first group were bred by a donkey, those of the second group by a stallion of the "Freiberger" breed. On average, the gestation length of mares with "Freiberger" foals lasted 336.5 days, and that of mares with mule foals 343.1 days. The difference between both groups was significant (p < 0.001). The shortest and longest observed gestation length of mares with "Freiberger" foals was 307 and 361 days, and that of mares with mule foals 315 and 369 days, respectively. Additionally, we examined if the stallion, the mare, the age of the mare, the sex of the foal and the time of mating during the breeding season influenced gestation length of mares with mule foals and if the age of the mare, the sex of the foal and the time of breeding influenced gestation length of mares with "Freiberger" foals. The ti...

In a retrospective study the gestation lengths of two groups, each consisting of 193 «Freiberger» mares, were compared. The mares of the first group were bred by a donkey, those of the second group by a stallion of the «Freiberger» breed. On average, the gestation length of mares with «Freiberger» foals lasted 336.5 days, and that of mares with mule foals 343-1 days. The difference between both groups was significant (p < 0.001). The shortest and longest observed gestation length of mares with «Freiberger» foals was 307 and 361 days, and that of mares with mule foals 315 and 369 days, respectively. Additionally, we examined if the stallion, the mare, the age of the mare, the sex of the foal and the time of mating during the breeding season influenced gestation length of mares with mule foals and if the age of the mare, the sex of the foal and the time of breeding influenced gestation length of mares with «Freiberger» foals. The time of breeding and the mare had a significant (p &...

Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) is a reportable, eradicable epizootic disease caused by the equine lentivirus of the retrovirus family which affects equids only and occurs worldwide. The virus is transmitted by blood, mainly by sanguivorous insects. The main symptoms of the disease are pyrexia, apathy, loss of body condition and weight, anemia, edema and petechia. However, infected horses can also be inapparent carriers without any overt signs. The disease is diagnosed by serological tests like the Coggins test and ELISA tests. Presently, Switzerland is offi cially free from EIA. However, Switzerland is permanently at risk of introducing the virus as cases of EIA have recently been reported in different European countries.