As we start the new year I have had a sharp reminder of the old saying ‘Where you have livestock you get dead- stock’. There has been an outbreak of a mystery illness in my mouse shed. Hopes of success at Doncaster are dashed. When I get time I will have a chat at shows and see if anyone else has suffered a similar outbreak.
I employed a few strategies to deal with this illness. One of them must have worked because all seems well again. I would have had them lab tested but it isn’t as straightforward as you would imagine. You have to specify what you want the provided sample tested for. The lab will test for only that one specified thing. You will be charged individually for each test even if negative so it’s vital that you have an educated guess, based on symptoms of what they might have, otherwise you could stump up a lot of money and get no results.
A few years ago I did get lab tests done with success for another illness that afflicted my stock. An illness that fanciers bandy all sorts of theories about. I partially wrote and submitted an article to the magazine but never got round to the second part. So I thought I would put that right now for all those who have been afflicted, and most definitely will be afflicted in the future.
I hope it helps, and remember, we all suffer setbacks, otherwise it would be no challenge at all.