UK Vet Livestock - Sheep farmers and vets working together. Why? What? How?

Abstract

‘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 ‘The cost of a sheep is not worth the price of a vet…’ Comments, that you may have heard, but are thoroughly out of date in the current sheep industry where keen sheep veterinary surgeons are valued as pivotal members of the flock team. This presentation explored the relationships between veterinary surgeons and sheep farmers. It identified how veterinary surgeons can optimise their value with an emphasis on good preventative medicine and how sheep flocks can improve their performance to deliver mutual benefits and maximum job satisfaction.

The UK sheep industry occupies an important role on the world stage, as the fifth largest global producer of sheep meat and, with over 90 different breeds of sheep, it is wonderfully varied. Sheep farming in Britain is integral to our rural landscape so that every year, over 30 million sheep graze extensively and in full view of the British public. As key guardians of animal welfare (Figure 1), veterinary surgeons have an obvious role to play but they are also being in-creasingly involved as active business members of the flock team, advising and supporting improvements in productivity.

Figure 1. Sheep veterinary surgeons are key guardians of animal welfare. Photo courtesy of Kirsty Sutherland.

Sheep farming economics are challenging and when compounded by all the other immediate demands on a shepherd, it comes down to the keen sheep veterinary surgeon to demonstrate their interest in the flock, to gain trust and to offer a value-added cost-effective service. Flock Health Clubs have been proven to be one way to deliver this (Figure 2) (Noble, in press).

Figure 2. How Flock Health Clubs work to the benefit of its members, the veterinary surgeons and other sheep farmer clients.

In recent CPD, held in conjunction with the Sheep Veterinary Society (online in May 2020), in response to the question ‘What would you consider the best way to improve your engagement with sheep farmers?’, the top response (at 40% of the 134 answers from 76 vets) was ‘Setting up a Flock Health Club or benchmarking group’, with the next popular response (19% of answers) as ‘Offering a service to collect sheep farm data’. In a separate poll, ‘collecting basic flock data’ was the key barrier even for their more engaged sheep farmers (selected by 40% vets) compared with ‘Getting vet time on farm’ (26%) and ‘Actively using the flock health plan’ (20%).

However, the key to successful veterinary engagement with sheep farmers is not about Flock Health Clubs or meetings or even about collecting data. The key is the relationship between the farmer and the veterinary surgeon and the ability for that relationship to work together to plan ahead, to prevent disease and to protect the flock. There is some need for data and evidence but ideally these can be managed in bite-sized chunks to provide a background thread and ongoing conversation to measure and monitor flock performance and ultimately to motivate progress and improvements.