Vets and farmers are being encouraged to make use of a new flock health planning tool which promotes proactive vet/farmer engagement and a move towards a preventative, rather than reactive, approach to flock health management.
The new Flock Health Checklist aims to provide a reference point for farmer/vet discussion around key times in the sheep farming calendar.
It has been developed by five practicing sheep vets with farmer clients running extensive upland to pedigree lowland and various commercial enterprise structures in-between, in association with MSD Animal Health.
These include breeding and early pregnancy, late pregnancy and lambing and weaning and sales alongside disease and biosecurity and monitoring flock performance, with a view to creating a workable plan to address areas which could be influencing flock health and productivity.
Engage
Speaking in a webinar launch of the tool Dr Kat Baxter-Smith, veterinary adviser with MSD Animal Health, said: 鈥淲e felt there was a gap in the flock health planning arena for a tool that could help farmers and vets engage more closely and be more proactive about health planning.
鈥淭he paper-based tool, and potentially app in the future, will help us [as vets] to work through the sheep farming year together with the farmer from a flock health perspective to think about putting actions in-place to prevent flock health problems rather than react when they occur and it is too late.
鈥淔or example, the pre-breeding period is a great time to make sure your ewes and rams are as fit and healthy as possible, while having pre-agreed protocols for the late pregnancy and lambing period and keeping a record of issues that arise will go a long way to making sure subsequent lambing seasons go as smoothly as possible.
鈥淎nd while is vital that your lambs grow as quickly as possible, this should not be at the expense of the ewe. Looking after breeding ewes during lactation and after weaning is just as important as monitoring the weight gain and performance of your lambs during this period of intense growth.鈥�
Funding
It was thought that some sheep farmers may also be able to access funding to cover the cost of such a vet visit as part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, a programme of financial support for farmers in the pig, cattle, sheep and poultry sectors, based around key animal health and welfare priorities.
It was recently announced that the Government will initially offer farmers who are eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme funding for an annual visit from a vet of their choice to carry out diagnostic testing, review biosecurity and responsible use of medicines, and provide advice relating to animal health and welfare from later this year.
Sheep vet John Hemingway from Shropshire 51AV视频Vets, who was involved in developing the tool, said: 鈥淨uantifying the level of engagement between sheep farmers and vets is difficult but, anecdotally, seems to be increasing across the country. I am confident that the UKs circle of sheep focussed vets is probably stronger than it has ever been with more farm vets specialising in sheep than we have seen in the past.鈥�
Sheep farmers can find sheep vet in their area in the 鈥楩ind a Vet鈥� section at sheepvetsoc.org.uk.
