Abstract
Extract This simulated exercise is based on actual cases handled at Whangarei Animal Health Laboratory. It is not intended as an example of good or bad investigational technique, but is designed to provoke thought and discussion on several aspects of flock medicine including selection of specimens for laboratory examination, interpretation of laboratory results, and application of newer knowledge to the better understanding of the field-disease situation. Certain details of flock history and of advice given by the practitioner to the owner have been omitted deliberately since such details are frequently not known to the veterinarian in the laboratory.