Can pheasants transmit diseases to horses?

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Marigold4

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I'm probably losing my current grazing next summer and have been offered a lease on another field. Field is in a perfect location for me so I would very much like to take it. However, this year a gamekeeper has been rearing pheasants in pens on it and would like to continue to do so on one acre of the field but needs to move the pens around each season to a different acre. There would be enough acreage to do this however I would like to use the pheasant area in the winter when the pens have been packed up. Can pheasants pass diseases on to horses? If so, what type? Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Pheasants are very prone to causing 'Lippazaner-itis,' an illness marked by the sudden tendency of the horse to become airborne at odd moments.

No, we've grazed around pheasants for years and no problems.
 
Actually not entirely true. Avian species harbour the influenza virus which can mutate and be passed to humans - remember the Bird 'Flu scare a few years ago? But more generally, other than "Lippizaner-itis" as described above, I've not heard of any issues with co grazing alongside pheasants. I would have thought anything a pheasant could pass to a horse would be passed equally by any other bird species anyway?
 
Sounds like the pens would be more intensive than just a few pheasants flapping around, assuming they are being used to rear birds for the shooting season. Pheasants in large numbers make a huge mess, rather like chickens would, and they stink! Having had an experience with nearly losing my horse to salmonella (although we don't know where it came from), I personally would not want to directly graze my horse on land which had been recently used to raise any kind of poultry in any significant intensity.
 
Thanks, khippo. This is exactly what I'm afraid of. Salmonella or ecoli. I've spoken to the farmer about my concerns and he has agreed to move the pheasant rearing operation elsewhere, so now I need to work out how long the salmonella or ecoli bacteria live for. Would I be better off ploughing that bit up and reseeding I wonder. If anyone has any idea who to ask about this, that would be very helpful.
 
I think you are being a bit paranoid. My horses were always grazed next to a rearing pen, with a huge overspill of pheasants into their paddock and never had a problem. I imagine for a horse to contract salmonella it would have a compromised immune suystem in the first place? Our pheasants have, thank goodness, never had salmoenlla either. (Touches wood). It is not intensive like a chicken farm, they are only in the pen until they are savvy enough to escape.
Bird flu mutated in a very different atmosphere to a field in England.
You are very lucky the farmer has agreed to move the pen. May I suggest you make every effort not to fall out with the keeper on day one of your move!
 
Clodagh said:
I think you are being a bit paranoid. My horses were always grazed next to a rearing pen, with a huge overspill of pheasants into their paddock and never had a problem. I imagine for a horse to contract salmonella it would have a compromised immune suystem in the first place? Our pheasants have, thank goodness, never had salmoenlla either. (Touches wood). It is not intensive like a chicken farm, they are only in the pen until they are savvy enough to escape.
Bird flu mutated in a very different atmosphere to a field in England.
You are very lucky the farmer has agreed to move the pen. May I suggest you make every effort not to fall out with the keeper on day one of your move!
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No compromised immunity in our case, 2 horses contracted it & both were in good health. Sadly we lost the other horse. I appreciate the likelihood of it happening is rare, but having been in that situation & not knowing how it came about, I wouldn't want to take the risk.
 
Not being paranoid, just asking about the risks of a situation I've not come across before. I've no intention of falling out with the gamekeeper. What an odd thing to say!
 
Marigold4 said:
Not being paranoid, just asking about the risks of a situation I've not come across before. I've no intention of falling out with the gamekeeper. What an odd thing to say!
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I'm really sorry OP but a couple of points for you; Clodagh is very well versed in the rational and thinking process which commands the brains of most 'keepers, and having previously spent 10 years, as a 'keeper, I can only support her!

No one would suggest that you would intentionally set out to cause offence, but trust me on this one, the term 'Walking on eggshells' applies! :D

Alec.
 
I think he will be well gone before I take over the field, so hopefully limited opportunity to upset him, but I take your point. He has got somewhere else to go to though.
 
Marigold4 said:
I think he will be well gone before I take over the field, so hopefully limited opportunity to upset him, but I take your point. He has got somewhere else to go to though.
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I wasn't meaning to be flippant, but keepers can be sensitive souls. They are in a low paid, high pressure job, dependant on the whims of wild animals and birds, rich landowners and the weather. They take offence very easily.
 
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