UK Vet Livestock - Articles

How to: ovine clinical examination

Personal protective equipment is required; typically consisting of disinfectable wellington boots (with the option of steel toe capped variants available), waterproof trousers and top (the author...

Ovine Caesarean sections and assisted vaginal deliveries: a clinical audit

Data from 209 procedures and the associated postoperative checks were recorded through the survey, with the following splits between location, time and intervention required (Figure 1)..

Figure 1. Red clover (Trifolium pratense), a perennial legume, that will last 3–5 years. It is higher in protein content and has greater nitrogen fixing capacity than white clover seen below in Figure 2.

Impact of phyto-oestrogens on reproductive health of sheep

Phyto-oestrogens are all non-steroidal compounds that can bind to oestrogen receptors. The compounds found in plants of agricultural and veterinary importance include isoflavones and coumestans. The...

Figure 1. Johne's disease is an important differential for low body condition score and poor performance that should be routinely investigated. Antibody serology tests have very low sensitivity compared with faecal polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Ovine Johne's disease

The two main groups of MAP strains are ‘type S’ and ‘type C’, named after the host species from which they were originally isolated, sheep and cattle respectively (Collins et al, 1990). This...

Figure 3. Increasingly, nematodirosis is seen in older lambs during late summer and autumn. This may involve an evolutionary change in the parasite's dependence on specific conditions for egg hatching, or may be an effect of climate or pasture management change on larval survival.

Changing patterns of Nematodirus battus infection

During the summer and autumn 2021, the FECs of lambs in a hill flock of about 500 ewes in the south-east of Scotland were monitored using a saturated saline and cuvette method with a detection...

Figure 1. A sheep with septic pedal arthritis. Note the severe lameness and the noticeable degree of swelling above the coronary band.

Digit amputation in small ruminants

In cattle digit amputation is indicated for septic pedal arthritis (infection of the distal interphalangeal joint) (Pejsa et al, 1998; Desrochers et al, 2008), pedal osteitis (infection of P3), toe...

Ewe colostrum quality on commercial Welsh sheep farms

A total of 1295 samples were submitted from 64 farms in total, which represented 43.5% of the recruited farms. The median number of samples per farm was 20 (interquartile range 11–22). Forty three of...

Figure 1. Adult cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) — heavy infestations can cause anaemia in lambs.

Ectoparasites in sheep

Among all the listed diseases that are related to ectoparasites, some are particularly relevant in the UK. To find out which diseases are common in a particular area, the surveillance tool developed...

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...