Sheep

It can be challenging for mixed enterprise farmers to stick to herd and flock health plans throughout the year. However, vet Emily Brown, of Marches Farm Vets, offers a number of practical suggestions to help balance the two, working closely with your vet.

A new guide from CIEL offers practical ways to help sheep farmers to achieve net zero on farm.

New survey data from Elanco suggests that only one in five sheep farmers are currently following SCOPS advice and incorporating a newer group 4 or 5 wormer active into their annual programme.

UK livestock producers who take the Rumevite survey by Rumenco will be entered into a competition to win a 3.0m Porta-Yards mobile sheep handling system from Wise Agriculture.

DAERA is offering sheep farmers the opportunity to travel to the Isle of Islay, Scotland, to learn about trial work being carried out on farms, relating to fluke detection and targeted treatments.

New research by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) indicates suboptimal vaccination practices in the UK sheep industry, and highlights the barriers faced by farmers looking to access training.

As well as offering welfare and efficiency benefits, recent research has shown improving disease control could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 10%. Norbrook veterinary advisor Douglas Palmer offers advice on liver fluke testing and treatment, and the wider benefits of a good control programme.

Sheep farmers are advised to be on their guard against Nematodirus and stomach worms as warm and wet weather sees egg counts spike.

Lambs can be prone to a great number of health and productivity problems while on pasture and many succumb to borderline trace element and vitamin deficiencies. Veterinary pharmacologist and advisor to Provita Ltd, Dr T.B Barragry, offers a guide to the most common deficiencies and the benefits of drenches.

NOAH has launched the Livestock Vaccination Guideline to help vets, SQPs and farmers improve the health and welfare of UK cattle and sheep – as well as farm resilience and sustainable improvements in productivity.

While many 2022-born lambs have developed immunity to nematodirus, there is still a ‘sting in the tail’ for younger lambs and in parts of the country where temperatures have been slow to increase this spring.

The Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group is continuing to offer its Nematodirus Forecast free of charge, providing a vital service for sheep farmers, vets and advisers to protect the health of lambs born this spring.