Investigation of Extensively Farmed Livestock

Question 1

Answer 1

• those that are grazing on hills and land
• farmer is trying to get them up to full way on grass

Question 2

Answer 2

• we are trying to turn grass into meat as effectively and cheaply as possible
• when we cant do that effectively- the issues arise

Question 3

What is wrong with this approach?

Answer 3

• usually called in once they fall over in the past- focus on treatment and walk away
• Need to incorporate PREVENTION
• Most of the diseases of concern are iceberg diseases
• prevention may be the least expensive part of this whole thing (echo) - need to think of the whole group and how much lower growth weights will cost the farmer!
• If we just focus on treating the one that is ill, miss possible ways to fix the management practices

Question 4

Herd/Flock Health Approach

(health plan)

Answer 4

• want to shift from treating individual animals to preventing disease
• should be written down somewhere on the farm and be easy to refer
• needs to be adapatable as well as there are changes on the farm (ex: Brexit and Welsh land)

Question 5

7-step process of Herd/Flock Investigation

Answer 5

Each step should lead into the next, that is why it is best to do in this order more or less

Question 6

Step 1: defining the problem

Answer 6

• Need to think what the problem is and how tightly you can define it
• when it comes to sheep- you will be dealing with lambs, sheep, or rams (each has subtly different problems to them) - echo
• ex: liver fluke may cast its net across all 4 groups though
• Some farmers use weights and it may be a good indicator of a parasite
• slaughter records may show lots of lesions in this farm - liver fluke lesions are a good one to not e here–> can employ a sensible parasite strategy. Also if slaughter rate is decreasing (time at which it was done) - may be able to see a trend
• Are they lambing? are they serving to term?
• You are looking for where the economic loss is

Question 7

Step 2: History taking

Answer 7

• pedigree animals or going to slaughter?
• How do they worm these animals? Treat or not? Dosage?
• echo
• may be looking at sudden death in one field, may be best to walk around field rather than do PME immediately
• May have wet and muggy areas –> expose these animals more to liver fluke possibility
• Need medicines book to see when they are worming or any upage of dosing

Question 8

Step 3a) Env’t Examination

Answer 8

• sheep farms: most likely going to be a worm problem, but not ALWAYS the case. walk around the farm! how much grass has been eaten?
• Sheep scab: may see wool on the grass
• Need to think of other animals coming on the farm and possibly bringing other diseases
• Liver FLuke is a big issue in UK

Question 9

Step 3b) Distance Examination

Answer 9

• bad fencing
• need to look at behavior, condition and env’t

Question 10

• sheep in corner has his foot up, need to look at his foot and then can relate it to the rest of the flock

Answer 10

Question 11

Step 4a) Individual Animal Exam

Answer 11

• hot areas- hemoncous/anemia
• wetter- liver fluke
• echo

Question 12

Question 13

Step 4b) +/- PME

Answer 13

• May find that these animals are within normal limits bc they compensate!
• skinny like this can be relatively common
• If there are fresh dead ones, go for it
• if they need eithanasia, you need a justification - welfare issue
• lamb/ewe is going for about 60gbp a head atm - therefore may be more useful for info about the farm rather than an individual
• be careful: don’t jsut assume that if that one has an abnormality that they all do

Question 14

PME exam

Answer 14

• Don’t have to send entire carcass, can send samples
• Tell them what you suspect and they can then confirm
• cost wise: relatively expensive in comparison to their worth - BUT it is worth while on the farm level in many cases

Question 15

Answer 15

• Dosing gun issues - secondary infection (from students doing it)
• Sometimes don’t even need to do a PME
• easy to tell by just using a scalpel

Question 16

Step 5: ancillary aids/further diagnostic tests

Answer 16

• dont just throw the lab some bloods and hope for a result- not cost effective
• Biochem and CBC tend to come back normal
• PCV may be able to tell you anemia
• but looking at CRT, mucus membranes, eyes can tell you a lot
• 9/10 do not bother with CBC and chem profile
• worms and trace element deficiencies will not change much on biochem - need to be able to jsutify each test
• FEC is used VERY often on the other hand!
• don’t treat individual, treat the entire group

Question 17

Step 6: Data analyisis and decision making

Answer 17

• there are occassions (when you are stumped, but the problem has stopped)
• Clostridial infections - can’t treat for current infection (there are ones that will die), but can plan on effective vax plan for the following year

Question 18

Step 6: decision making

Answer 18

• ex: you have a problem, I will blast the lambs with a certain wormer and then I will be back to plan out effective wrom management from here on
• or add on trace elements on a long term basis
• this is either a management problem of pushing too much grass or worming problem

Question 19

Control/Prevention

(step 6)

Answer 19

• farmers will respond when they are struggling a bit, but they are still making some $$ from these sheep
• Try and get farmers to work as effectively off grass as possible, but may need to give supplements or additions to the grass
• Make changes if they are mixing groups
• a common mistake: bringing animals from flocks or herds where they don’t know the health status, this is done ALL the time. Need to have a proper quarantine protocol (BVDV is high on the list and echo for other)
• need to keep cost in mind, but also what is the benefit on not having disease on the farm?

Question 20

For Diseases…

(step 6)

Answer 20

• Do they buy animals from other farms?
• Are these animals protein deficient? worms?
• Can we rid of the disease from the population?
• generally always a yes to economically feasible - used to struggle to convince, but people are really coming around

Question 21

For Parasitism or Trace Element Deficiencies

(step 6)

Answer 21

• There are some things that we just cannot eradicate (ex: roundworms), so we need to manage them
• getting a diagnosis will be rather straight forward (worms or if skin, sheep scab)
• Implimenting a program for the farm is the hard part when condisering the needs of the sheep and the farmer
• need to check for resistance patterns, protocol, grazing groups and schedule, nutrition, etc. (there is a LOT to it) - need to deploy something on the farm that is effective and can be use for a long time

Question 22

Step 7: Reporting Back and Future monitoring

Answer 22

• Write all this stuff down!
• Need justifications for everything you have done
• the farmers will almost always get it wrong the first time
• Need monitoring in place, just dont assume it works - that way you can adjust
• ex: test for worm eggs (on time basis or field) and then pick up on problems much earlier –> failure of control where you can intervene much more quickly
• almost all the diseases oyu will encounter have a way to monitor them
• Ex: BVDV (vaccinations or tagging)

Question 23

Overall Summary

(4)

Answer 23

• echo this