Sheep health: Small changes for big returns

After the government recently launched the rst stage of its Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, Sarah Kidby spoke to sheep vet Charlotte Mouland, of Synergy Farm Health, about how sheep farmers can get the most out of the funded annual vet visit.

After delays to the roll out of some government grant schemes, it was announced in February that livestock farmers can register for a funded annual vet visit under the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. For sheep, £436 funding is available for eligible farmers with 21 or more sheep. Whilst the government has key health priorities for each livestock sector, the review will be highly speci c to each farm, and is designed to go above and beyond normal health planning. Areas that sheep farmers may want to explore include iceberg screening of ewes; investigating lameness; nutrition work, particularly at the time of lambing; or trace element pro les. Alternatively there may be more speci c issues such as neonatal lamb losses, growth rates or fertility (e.g.

barren rates etc). Practical things farmers may wish to do with the vet time include ram MOTs, semen testing, blood sampling or body condition scoring of ewes.

To make sure you get the most out of the scheme, Charlotte recommends trying to nd a sheep-interested vet and having a discussion ahead of the review visit, using some key performance indicators to ascertain the areas you need to focus on.

Under the scheme farmers are required to complete faecal worm egg counts. Ninety-eight per cent of farms are thought to have anthelmintic resistance to at least one of the products available. “Gut worms are a huge drain on lamb growth rates and using drenches that aren’t working properly is a waste of time and money. We need to come up with a sustainable plan for using the products that work for that farm, in that location, at that time of year. And the only way to do that is to establish what’s working for you.”

After the review farmers will receive a report with recommendations on how to target key health priorities. “Small changes in management can lead to big changes in productivity, whether that’s chasing down a barren percentage or working on strategies to increase lamb survival, lameness strategies or working to increase the body condition score of ewes. It’s about making hopefully subtle management changes to increase ock productivity and pro tability,” she said.

One ock Charlotte works with managed to reduce their neonatal lamb losses from around 30% to less than 10% after some fairly simple bloodwork revealed an iodine de ciency. “That’s a huge increase in lambs for sale at the end of the season from not a huge amount of investment.”

Similarly, treating lame sheep is costly both in terms of medication and time so investing in a vaccination programme could lead to greater return on investment, she added. “We know that in ocks with higher than 2% lameness, there’s a cost bene t of using Footvax, the only UK licensed vaccine for foot rot. Simple changes like that can make a big di erence.”

Whilst the review will be speci c to each farm, the government’s key health priorities are:

• Internal and external parasites, mastitis, iceberg diseases and those inducing abortion

• Lameness – as the biggest driver of antibiotic use, this is high on the agenda from a welfare and antibiotic guardianship point of view, Charlotte said

• Ewe sustainability and optimising body condition

• Improving pain management during tail docking and castration.

Biosecurity, while not speci cally mentioned on the government’s priority list, is another area sheep farmers may wish to consider, particularly if they’re buying and selling sheep.

Industry reputation and global trading, for example with EU countries, could also bene t from making improvements in some of these areas. “Lame sheep are very visible on the side of the road,” Charlotte noted. “There is also a big conversation to be had around opinions on tailing and castrating,

Eprecis contains Eprinomectin, a highly effective endectocide against gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep(1)

Highly effective in lactating sheep compared to an eprinomectin pour-on(2)

With >99% efficacy in lactating ewes compared to untreated animals(3)

Eprecis injection is associated with increased milk yield in treated ewes compared to untreated(4)

Zero milk withhold(5), ideal for milking flocks

Subcutaneous injection with good syringeability and low dose rate 0.1ml/10kg(6)

No need to part the fleece along the animal’s back consumer perceptions on that and what we can do to improve –whether we can o er better pain relief and nd ways to reduce, re ne and replace those methods.”

There are, however, limitations on available pain relief as there are no licensed products for sheep – although products like Meloxicam can be used via the cascade under veterinary direction.

To nd out more speak to your vet or to register visit https://applyfor-an-annual-health-and-welfarereview.defra.gov.uk/apply/registeryour-interest FG

Injectable wormer now available for sheep

The targeted, zero-milk withdrawal injectable wormer Eprecis is now available for use in sheep and goats as well as cattle. Eprecis contains eprinomectin as its active ingredient and is an easy to administer, highly e ective endectocide with broad spectrum activity against gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep, according to Ceva Animal Health.

In sheep, the e cacy of Eprecis injection against gastrointestinal nematodes is 99.6% versus 86.1% for a pour-on formulation (Bordes et al, 2020). Furthermore, the same study showed Eprecis is associated with higher plasma levels of eprinomectin and has a higher e cacy compared to eprinomectin pour-on in dairy ewes naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes. This is also achieved using ve times less active than a pour-on formulation.

The injection can be given subcutaneously and there is no need to part the eece or coat along the animal’s back. It has excellent syringeability and a low dose volume (0.1ml/10kg) allowing accurate dosing of animals, Ceva says.

It is available in 100ml and 250ml CLAS vials, which research shows are 33% better for the environment than glass vials, are shock resistant and ergonomically shaped for ease of handling (references available on request).

For further information contact your local Ceva Animal Health territory manager or contact Ceva directly.