Sheep

Figure 4. Yew (Taxus spp.) contains cardiotoxins.

A brief overview of acute poisoning in sheep

Grayanotoxins are found in Pieris spp. (Figure 1a) and Rhododendron spp. (Figure 1b, which includes azaleas). These plants contain several grayanotoxins in the nectar, flowers, leaves and stems but...

Figure 1. Chronic mastitis may be detected by palpating the udder. Lumps, abscesses, draining tracts, and scar tissue in the teat canal can all feature.

Mastitis in meat sheep

Mastitis is a problem encountered in all sheep flocks, although incidence can vary widely. Grant et al (2016), performed mammary examinations on 4721 ewes across 10 suckler flocks over a 2-year...

Figure 1. Granuloma. Proliferative tissue is visible on the sole and hoof horn has become overgrown as a result of the sheep not bearing weight on this leg.

Lameness in sheep: a practical guide to non-contagious foot diseases

Several other foot diseases may occasionally be encountered, for which further reading on diagnosis and treatment is available in Winter (2004a and 2004b). In summary these conditions include:.

Figure 7. Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHBD) estimates of rates of vaccination for ovine abortion. Courtesy of Kynetec, MSD and AHDB Vaccine Report.

Sheep abortion – a roundtable discussion

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) performs surveillance to monitor the health of the UK's breeding flock in order to detect undefined or unexpected trends and to enable timely mitigation of...

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....