Sheep

Figure 1. Group housing of pigs, which allows for social interactions (courtesy of Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Pork).

Livestock cognition: stimulating the minds of farm animals to improve welfare and productivity

The cognitive ability of farm animals has been studied with increasing prevalence and it has become evident that many species have more complex abilities than previously thought (Nawroth et al, 2019).

Figure 2. Any flock that can breed its own replacements should consider doing this.

Enzootic abortion in sheep: a review

EAE remains the most common cause of abortion in the UK, responsible for 42% of diagnosed infectious fetopathies in England in 2020 (Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), 2020), and has been for...

Figure 3. Correct milking machine settings and parlour routine play an important role in the control of contagious mastitis. Animals should be milked in relative risk order, with younger animals milked first, and older, known infected animals last, after which the clusters should be disinfected. Post-milking teat dipping will also aid in control of spread of contagious mastitis.

Control of mastitis in dairy sheep and goats

The annual incidence of clinical mastitis in dairy sheep and goats is estimated to be around 5% (Contreras et al, 2007). This is much lower than the 13–40% incidence of dairy cattle (Jamali et al,...

Figure 6. Adjacent paddocks: the right one grazed by cattle with negligible parasite burdens, the one on the left grazed by animals with subclinical parasitic gastroenteritis.

Ruminant behaviour in subclinical parasitic gastroenteritis

In temperate regions, cattle and sheep graze diurnally; from late spring to early autumn between 65 and 100% of grazing typically takes place during daylight hours (Hughes and Reid, 1951; Hancock,...

Figure 1. Jaundice visible in conjunctiva of a sheep with subacute copper poisoning.

Copper poisoning in sheep

Acute copper poisoning usually leads to sudden death with a very jaundiced carcass with gun metal kidneys and a bronze coloured liver on post-mortem. If the animal survives long enough to develop...

Sheep farmers and vets working together. Why? What? How?

‘Vets are not interested and don't care about sheep.’ ‘Sheep farmers are grumpy and don't need vets.’ ‘The cost of a sheep is not worth the price of a vet…’ Comments, that you may have heard, but are...

Figure 1. Flock Health Club meeting considering pasture management with an invited grazing expert speaker.

Impact of Flock Health Clubs

This is the first study to analyse the impact of Flock Health Clubs on veterinary surgeon–farmer relationships and on the management practices of farmers who take part in the initiative, with a...

Figure 5. Demonstration, in a goat kid, of the technique for examining the conjunctival surface of the lower eyelid, the basis of FAMACHA© scoring.

Haemonchosis: dealing with the increasing threat of the barber's pole worm

Although the lifecycle of H. contortus is superficially similar to that of many other GIN, it has a significantly different epidemiology to the other GIN species commonly dealt with in UK livestock....

A practical introduction to the thoracic ultrasonography of sheep

It is possible to obtain diagnostic quality images using linear and curvilinear rectal-style transducers; however, the shape of the probe is difficult to hold and maintain contact with the convex...

Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma diagnosis and control in practice

Currently there are no serological tests available commercially because of the lack of detectable immune response to JSRV in infected animals. In the molecular blood tests that are available,...

Figure 1. Snowfall during late pregnancy can result in temporary feed restriction and the precipitation of clinical hypocalcaemia.

The recumbent ewe

Hypocalcaemia is commonly seen in ewes in late pregnancy (last 6 weeks of gestation), and may also occur sporadically in early lactation. The pathophysiology is similar to that of milk fever in cows,...

Figure 3. Ewe and 48-hour-old lambs in a ‘nursery’ pen.

Case report: failure of passive transfer and neonatal infections in a cohort of lambs

Over a 2-day period, in the first week of lambing, four 4–5-day-old lambs presented with weakness and unresponsiveness. A total of 10 out of 150 lambs died in this first week. The lambs were treated...