Plan sheep work time

Where is your time going? What are the big drains on your time?

Is it feeding; how long is it taking you to feed, bed and water sheep?

Lambing pen: filling buckets, hay racks and bedding?

Pet lambs: bottle feeding compared to simple automatic feeder?

Difficult lambing: lambs too big, ewes lazy lambing, prolapse, milk fever/ring womb?

Lazy lambs: won’t suck, lack of vigour, ewes’ teats too big?

Sick lambs: in-turned eyelids, watery mouth, joint ill, etc.

Take a note of what is happening on your farm, and what you are spending most time on.

This will form the basis for implementing a plan to avoid/reduce these issues eating up your time next year.

Talk to your adviser.

Flock health

Liver fluke is likely to be a significant problem given the extremely wet and mild winter.

Sheep that have been out wintered in fluke-prone areas are at significant risk.

Regular treatment with an effective flukicide is important to maintain flock health.

Make sure that you use a flukicide that is effective against immature fluke.

Products that only kill adult fluke are unlikely to effectively control liver fluke in out wintered sheep.

* Abortions: ensure that you submit any aborted foetuses and placentas to the regional veterinary laboratories for analysis.

It is not possible to assess the aborting agent by simply looking at the aborted foetus and placenta.

In order to be able to make an informed decision next year, you will need to get to the bottom of the actual cause.

Remember that, on average, over 40% of samples submitted do not yield a result.

But this should not be an excuse for not submitting samples. Blood samples, while useful, are not a reliable indicator of the cause of abortion.

Maintain hygiene standards to prevent infection.

One source of infection is toxoplasma, which is caused by a small parasite.

Pregnant women are particularly at risk from toxoplasma,which can lead to miscarriage and brain damage to the unborn child, and they should therefore take precautions.

Wash hands, especially before eating and drinking, remove faeces and use protective wear when handling sheep aborted material, as these are sources of the infection.

Further information on sources of infection is available at the www.zoonoses.ie/public/publications/Staying_Healthy_on_your_Farm.pdf  web page