Humid conditions in some parts of Gippsland have gifted farmers with a lot of crop growth before summer, but the weather has also brought swarms of mosquitoes that risk infecting cattle with diseases not normally seen in Victoria.

What’s happening? The Victorian government has warned that an increased number of mosquitoes this season could bring viruses and diseases from northern parts of Australia, and Gippsland farmers are already seeing the impact on the health of their cattle.

Why more mozzies? University of Melbourne School of BioSciences research fellow Dr Perran Ross told the Monitor the number of mosquitoes in Victoria is above average this season due to a combination of higher than average rainfall with warmer temperatures.

  • Mosquito-borne viruses can affect livestock including horses, pigs, sheep, cattle and dogs.

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Irritation: Stratford farmer Ben Gebert told the Monitor the humid conditions this season has brought more moisture in the grass. And while that's good news for crop growth, it’s also ideal for insects.

“We've certainly noticed the sheep have been less happy with the amount of bugs - both mosquitoes and horse flies - which I've seen a lot more of this season than I've seen in the past,” he said.

Nasty bites: Mosquitoes are able to transmit viruses such as bovine ephemeral fever and Japanese encephalitis virus in cattle as they travel across the landscape.

Gebert said he’s noticed this increased prevalence of diseases carried by mozzies on his farm, saying: “A few sheep have started to have some itching issues around their faces.”

Westbury dairy farmer Stuart Griffin told the Monitor he’s already noticed a few diseases that he doesn’t normally see on his farm.

“If the conditions are ripe for [mosquitos] to spread, we normally get some issues,” said Griffin.

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One of those diseases is theileria, which can cause infections in cattle with a range of symptoms including  anaemia, lethargy, depression, jaundice, fever and death.

“The issue is that we have a population that's not exposed to this,” Griffin said. “When you introduce a new virus to cattle that haven’t built up immunity, that's when you can see some pretty big impacts.”

What to do about it: Griffin and Gebert said to prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes they focus on removing unnecessary open water troughs that mosquitoes will congregate near.

Gebert also applies a preventative pour-on product over his cattle that wards away biting insects around this time of year, but said no solution completely stops mosquitoes from spreading.

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