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Sheep

At Shropshire Farm Vets we are proud to deliver exceedingly high quality veterinary support to sheep farms, both large and small. We provide a comprehensive service ranging from day-to-day tasks like lambings, caesarians, and individual animal diagnoses, all the way up to health planning and flock-level consultancy. We run a thriving Flock Health Club which meets regularly to discuss topical subjects, frequently incorporating external speakers and farm walks.

 

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The sheep industry remains under pressure from multiple directions. Subsidy reform, environmental lobbying and ongoing uncertainty over global trade deals all make it more important than ever to ensure that your sheep enterprise is working as efficiently and profitably as possible. At Shropshire Farm Vets we can provide you with meaningful, in-depth health planning to help increase the profitability of your business. Success in sheep farming is a combination of both increasing production and cutting losses, and whether it’s parasite management, ration formulation, thin ewe screening or anything in between, we have the experience to help you identify areas where gains can be made. All of our written health plans are also compliant with Farm Assurance standards.

 

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We offer a full diagnostic service, utilising overnight couriers for rapid turnaround oflaboratory samples, while certain diagnostic tests such as faecal egg counting and sheep scab identification can be carried out in-house for same-day results. We also have an excellent relationship with AHVLA Shrewsbury, facilitating top-tier post mortem examinations and the quickest possible diagnosis of infectious causes of sheep abortion.

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Our highly qualified team of vets hold a range of post-graduate qualifications, including the CertAVP (Sheep), held by only around 10 vets nationally. The vets are supported by our Vet Tech service, which can assist you with non-veterinary tasks such sample collection, medicine administration and data collation.

Flock Health Visits

Having a healthy flock will indeed increase your productivity and should reduce your costs (feed labour, medication,  etc)  An annual visit (or more) can cover all aspects of the sheep year so the time of year can be altered to suit you although pre-tupping works well for most people.  We will work with you to achieve your targets for the flock and so visits will be guided by what you would like to address.  Previous records can be useful to look at to decide objectively where improvements might be possible. 

The main areas that most farmers find useful to cover include: 

Infectious Disease Control

  • Developing flock specific plans for abortion control, including blood testing for barren/aborted ewes where appropriate.

  • Which vaccines to use and when for your ewes and lambs

  • Biosecurity, particularly with respect to bought in stock
     

  • Worm control
    A worm control strategy specific to your flock that is effective and works to prevent the development of resistance, thereby safeguarding the flocks’ future.

    Ram Fertility
    Includes examination of external genitalia and microscopic examination of semen.  All too often, an infertile or sub-fertile ram is discovered when it’s too late leading to very costly losses.

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    Pre lambing ewe nutrition

    Assessed by body condition score and blood sampling and is best done six weeks pre-lambing.  If ewes are receiving too much/too little energy this is the time to alter their diet to prevent problems like twin lamb disease and the birth of weak lambs.

     

    What’s involved?  Contact the practice to arrange a Flock Health visit.  The minimum we would recommend is once a year. 

     

    Have your sheep and rams ready for examination where appropriate and have your records available.

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