BOOK REVIEW

A beautifully illustrated tale of cattle conditions

Anthony Shakespeare

Department of Production Animal Studies, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

Book Title: Color Atlas of Diseases and Disorders of Cattle (3rd edition)
Authors: Roger Blowey A. David Weaver
ISBN: 978-0-7234-3778-9
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences UK, 2011, US$150*
Review Title: A beautifully illustrated tale of cattle conditions

This is a great book: Why? It usually takes me a while to page through another book on bovine diseases and, therefore, I was reluctant to review this one. However, once into this atlas of bovine abnormalities I was kept pleasantly occupied for a couple of months.

On almost every page the pictures divulge something new or interesting and this encouraged me to read the accompanying text, which either supported or disproved my interpretation of the presented disorder or condition.

The lower limb and claw section is extremely well covered, but knowing a little about the authors' interests this is not surprising. It is about time that veterinarians and farmers become better acquainted with the many and various problems of the bovine digit, and what better way than with brilliant pictures and a few explanatory notes.

There are contributions from a number of other countries, which show some of the specific diseases and disorders that affect their indigenous cattle. If these well-illustrated lesions are detected in South African cattle, the early warning 'red flags' should be triggered, thus alerting us to a possible breach in biological security across international borders.

This excellent quality, hardcover, third edition of Atlas of Diseases and Disorders of Cattle can be recommended to all those in the cattle business and industry, especially those in the diagnostic field. In this book, the practising veterinarian, student and farmer have easy access to confirming or differentiating the various cattle diseases and disorders when handling and treating patients.

Correspondence:
Private Bag X04
Onderstepoort 0110
South Africa
Email: tony.shakespeare@up.ac.za

*Book price at time of review