The effect of time of shearing on plasma gamma glutamyltransferase levels after a facial eczema outbreak

M.E. Smith and N.R. Towers, K.H. Giles

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Private Bag, Hamilton and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Rotorua

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. 1979, 39: 103-105

Gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) level in the blood was monitored as a criterion of liver damage due to sporidesmin toxicity (facial eczema). The sheep monitored were shorn at different times. Fewer sheep, shorn 20 to 30 days prior to a period when sporidesmin spore counts were high, had abnormally high plasma GGT levels than was the case for sheep shorn after grazing dangerous pasture. Shearing shortly after the danger period appeared to be associated with a more rapid recover from liver damage.

Keywords: NZSAPAB;

Last Updated 12-09-1998