Flock Health Planning and Biosecurity Flashcards
Describe the advantages of flock health plans for farmers
- Requirement of farm assurance schemes
- DEFRA welfare codes require a written health plan
- Opportunity to reflect and improve on flock performance and health and welfare issues
- Up to date advice e.g. parasite control, antibiotic usage
Describe the advantages of flock health plans for the public/government
- Improved welfare standards
- Improved public health review drug usage, antibiotics
- Check legal compliance medicines, movement, welfare
List the key factors of a flock involved in flock health planning
- Key performance indicators
- Fertility
- Nutrition
- Lambing management
- Parasite control
- Vaccinations
- Farm Specific Disease Issues
- Biosecurity
- Welfare Practices
- Calendar
Before attending a flock health planning visit what may be discussed with the farmer?
- What do they hope to gain from a visit
- Specific issues to discuss
- What information you will need
- Which animals you want to see
- How long the visit will take
What will happen once on the farm visit for a flock health plan?
- History/ data collection (can take a while!, tea and cake good!)
- Exam farm environment
- Exam specific groups sheep as necessary
- Collect samples E.g FEC, serology, PM material etc.
Name some key performance indicators for sheep flocks (7 possible)
- Scanning %
- Lambing % e.g. born alive, weaned, sold
- Ewe mortality
- Replacement rate
- Ewe:Tup
- Lamb mortality
- Lamb growth rates
Describe the different types of records that a farm should have
- Electronic data
- Paper records
- Medicine records
- Dates and times of current treatments antibiotics wormers, vaccinations
- Mortality data
- Production figures
- Disease outbreaks and investigations
How are key performance indicators used on farm?
- Industry Benchmarking
- Farmers own goals
- Start thinking/ discussing about why figures might be low?
- What do you need to do to investigate that?
- Approximate cost benefit
List some possible causes of a low scanning %
- Season
- Infectious fertility
- Ewe: BCS, age, disease
- Rams: age, disease, numbers, fertility
- Tupping management
Name 2 examples of diseases that cause infectious infertility
- Toxoplasmosis
- Border disease
What should be done/investigated on farm if there is a low scanning %?
Clinical examine the sheep
- Ewes and rams
- BCS, teeth, parasites, lameness
PM
Fertility test tups
Investigate infectious abortion
- Serology
Name 4 samples that can be taken on farm to investigate losses in the neonatal period
- Lamb Postmortems
- Blood sample ewes (energy and protein status)
- Blood sample lambs (colostrum status)
- Faeces lambs (diarrhoea)
How are KPIs used in growing lambs management?
- Clinical exam of representative lambs
- Assess Grazing
- Work out growth rates
- Abattoir feedback Post Mortem
Name 4 factors that can be influenced in ram fertility
- Numbers of rams
- Genetics
- Ram health and MOT
- Fertility testing
Name 4 factors that can be influenced in ewe fertility
- Aids (teasers sponges)
- Ewe selection/genetics/health
- BCS targets and nutritional management
- Health management
How is nutrition managed/assessed in the flock health plan?
- Body Condition Score and Targets
- Lamb growth and targets
- Feed plan for flock
- Grassland management
- Peri-parturient nutrition
How is lambing managed/assessed in the flock health plan?
- Dystocia management policy
- Hygiene: pens, feeding equipment, etc
- Prolapse policy
- Abortion policy
- Colostrum policy
- Tail docking and castration
- Vaccination
- Policy for prevention and treatment lamb diseases (orf, joint ill, watery mouth, coccidiosis)
- Policy for prevention and treatment ewe diseases (hypocalcemia, preg toxaemia)
- Ewe parasite control
How should endo and ecto parasite control be discussed with the farmer as part of the flock health plan?
- Encourage responsible use of anthelmintics
- Complex area
- Lots of opportunities to improve
- Discuss SCOPS principles
- Encourage and explain use of targeted anthelmintic use
- Testing for wormer resistance
How should vaccinations be reviewed as a part of the flock health plan?
- Timing
- Regimes
- Handling/storage
- Products
- Additional vaccines
- Vaccination techniques
Describe the 7 principles of biosecurity
- Not possible to have zero risk of disease entering a herd or flock
- Type of business and aims of the farm clearly discussed
- Identify which diseases the flock is at risk from
- Identify current flock disease status
- Assess the risk of disease introduction
- Quantify that risk
- Devise control measures to reduce the risk
Describe the methods that disease can enter a farm
- Animal movement
- Wildlife, insect vectors
- People
- Vehicles and equipment
- Feedstuffs, bedding, water
- Manure and slurry spreading
- Air
List some questions that may be asked to a farmer to collect information regarding their biosecurity
- Are animals brought onto the farm
- Is the farm single or multiple holdings
- Are there livestock on neighbouring land
- What visitors enter the farm
- Where are vehicles parked
- Is any equipment shared between farms
- Is slurry from other farms spread here
- Are dogs wormed, with what
- Where is the water source
List some biosecurity principles for sheep flocks
- Consider the source of animals, isolate any brought in for 3-4 weeks
- Monitor/test/treat
- Vaccinate as required
- Consider boundaries
- Control measures for wildlife, pests, dogs and cats
- Secure feed stores
