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CASE STUDY
AUTUMN 2012 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
8
and Chris quickly established a protocol for
all replacement breeding stock. Although these
are purchased from known sources, they are
always quarantined from the rest of the flock for
a period of at least two months, during which
time they undergo a programme for the control
of internal and external parasites, following
SCOPS principles, as well as monitoring for
diseases such as CODD, CLA and foot rot'.
One of the earliest successes of the health
plan was to substantially reduce the incidence
of foot rot in the flock. Up until the late 1990's
foot rot was causing significant lameness in the
flock. An action plan was adopted, which
involved early treatment of affected sheep,
together with regular foot bathing using zinc
sulphate. Persistently lame sheep were culled
and within two years the incidence of foot
rot had been dramatically reduced. Bob
commented 'although we still see occasional
cases of foot rot, the annual incidence is now
less than one per cent. We no longer foot-trim
and rarely use a footbath. This has not only
improved the welfare of the sheep, but also
reduced the work involved in catching and
treating lame animals'.
Another disease that was tackled early on was
‘watery mouth’. In 2002, all lambs were
receiving a routine dose of oral antibiotic soon
after birth, without which watery mouth and
other neo-natal diseases caused significant
levels of lamb mortality. Major factors in lamb
disease are low birth weight and the
consumption of insufficient or poor quality
colostrum, both of which are often reflections
of poor ewe nutrition in late gestation. On the
advice of a nutritionist, the farm changed to a
silage-based diet in late pregnancy, fed from a
mixer wagon to ewes that were housed inside.
The ewes were differentially fed, according
to the numbers of lambs they carried, as
determined by scanning. These changes
improved ewe condition and colostrum
quality, and reduced the need to use routine
oral antibiotics on the lambs. This was a good
demonstration of the importance of nutrition in
sheep health. Tom White is particularly keen to
further improve their use of forage and the farm
is growing an increasing amount of red clover,
both as grazing for lambs and for silage.
A more recent problem was the surprise
appearance of liver fluke in adult ewes in
2009, which caught everyone unawares and
severely affected the lambing results in 2010.
Liver fluke had never been diagnosed before
on this farm, and it is still not known whether
this was bought in, or acquired from rented
low lying pasture that was prone to flooding.
Permission for treatment was rapidly obtained
from the Soil Association and fluke drenching
is now carried out three times a year on all
adult sheep. The health plan specifies which
product to use at each of these times, in order
to selectively target the different stages of fluke
development. The long withholding times for
fluke drenches can make control extremely
difficult on organic farms, especially if store
lambs are affected. However, at the moment
the disease appears to be under control, but
no chances are being taken.
Flock health planning
Bob White is an advocate for veterinary
involvement in flock health planning. He says
'I have worked closely with my vet on flock
health programmes for the past ten years, and
these have significantly contributed to the
improvements in the productivity of the flock
we have achieved over this time'. Chris Trower
of the Larkmead Veterinary Group explained
his part in this. 'The flock health plan for
Turville Park Farm was initially drawn up in
2002 to give specific advice on areas of the
sheep enterprise that were underperforming.
Since its inception, I visit the flock at two key
times in the sheep production cycle. These are
in August, about two months before tupping,
and then again in January, about two months
before lambing. At each visit the current situation
is recorded and any recommendations for further
improvements are made in a separate written
report. Any changes are recorded in the flock
health plan, which is updated after each visit.
Bob says 'I started involving Chris on a regular
basis because I wanted to improve the general
welfare and productivity of the sheep. There
was also a need to meet the requirements of
Quality Assurance Schemes, which I thought
should be more than just a box-ticking
exercise. With each year, the health plan
has become more sophisticated and detailed.
For example it now contains a Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP) on the care of
newly born lambs, which is an important
reference for any inexperienced help that
I may have at lambing time'.
One of the areas that the plan concentrated
on from the start was biosecurity. The biggest
risks to flock health come from other sheep,
The White family feel that flock health
planning has paid dividends for them.
Bob says 'By managing the health of
the flock in a proactive manner, areas
of weakness are easier to spot and
mechanisms to deal with them can be
quickly put in place. I can honestly say
that farm veterinary bills have been
reduced and there is now rarely a need
for a 'fire brigade' veterinary service.
Since we started the sheep health
plan,improved disease status and better
feeding management has improved the
productivity of the flock, which has
benefited the welfare of the sheep and
the profitability of the enterprise.'
Tom and Anna White