Vets make pre lambing appeal to reduce antibiotic use
© Tim Scrivener Sheep farmers are being urged to speak to their vet and prepare a health plan ahead of lambing to avoid overusing antibiotics.
“There’s no way anyone should start [lambing] by thinking they will dose every lamb [with antibiotics] because that’s what they do every year,” warned Fiona Lovatt of Flock Health.
“[Reducing antibiotics use] can be a gradual change by dividing your flock into low and high risk, but gradual change must take place. It’s not about taking away a crutch, it’s about working proactively with your vet. Don’t wait until you’re desperate and in the middle of lambing,” she said.
Antibiotics resistance
Dr Lovatt cited work undertaken by Jennifer Duncan at the University of Liverpool, which found that two in nine farms tested were resistant to critically important antibiotics and E coli. One farm was resistant to all nine antibiotics that were susceptibility-tested.
“There’s no way back from that,” added Dr Lovatt.
Health planning
Dr Lovatt said farmers should meet with their vet in the next month or so.
She said the plan should cover all aspects of flock health “with a fine-tooth comb” and should also include analysing forage and discussing ewes’ diets to ensure they have ample supply of good-quality colostrum to provide lambs with passive immunity.
See also: How farmer-vet ‘clubs’ are improving flock health
She added: “The critical first six weeks of a lamb’s life will determine how well they finish. We don’t want anything to jeopardise that health and productivity.”
The focus should be on planning, preventing, and protecting to create a fit, healthy flock, said Dr Lovatt. “You can’t afford to be average in the sheep industry today. Every cost must be an investment,” she added.
Farmers should focus their efforts on proactive spend such as vaccination to reduce the reliance on antibiotics, she said.
Recording antibiotics use
Speaking at the National Sheep Association’s Southeast region sheep health, welfare and production virtual conference last week (26 October), Dr Lovatt also encouraged all sheep producers to start recording their medicine use with the help of their vet.
“We have made progress, but we are struggling to evidence that to government,” she said.
Medicine use can be documented anonymously on the AHDB Medicine Hub database.
The role of precision livestock farming in lowering antibiotics use
Precision farming techniques could play a role in slowing resistance to anthelmintics, Fiona Kenyon from Moredun explained.
Scientists at the research institute have developed an algorithm called targeted selective treatment to help slow resistance by treating only animals sub-clinically infected with roundworms. A minimum weight-gain target is pre-programmed into existing sheep software so these animals can be automatically drafted for treatment. Others are left untreated.
This helps maintain a population of worms susceptible to antibiotics, explained Dr Kenyon.
Preliminary trials have shown the number of treatments can be halved in comparison to treating sheep monthly. Furthermore, worming and labour costs can be reduced by £1.60 a lamb.
Work is now under way on 15 farms and two research farms, where ewe numbers range from fewer than 600 to more than 2,500, to understand how well the algorithm works in a commercial setting.
In numbers
2/3
Lameness accounts for two-thirds of antibiotics used in the UK sheep industry
16%
The percentage of eligible animals given footrot vaccine
5.7m
Single doses of antibiotics used on lambs each year. This has fallen from 11.5m in the past five years