Many diseases occur on sheep farms. Develop a list of common diseases in your region and be aware of strategies to control the impact if a disease occurs. The table outlines a few common diseases.
Disease |
Common signs |
Predisposing factors |
Management |
Perennial rye
grass staggers |
Staggering, recumbent |
Grazing high endophyte rye grass |
Remove sheep from toxic pastures and avoid stressful conditions, dilute toxic pasture with supplements, closely supervise cast sheep, replace high-risk pastures with safe pastures |
Yersiniosis |
Scouring in weaners |
Stress in weaners in cold, wet weather |
Treat with antibiotic (consult your veterinarian), avoid stressful conditions for weaners |
Pink eye |
Weeping cloudy eyes |
Dust, summer grass seed infested pasture |
Treat affected lambs with antibiotics, avoid high-risk grass seed pastures and dusty conditions |
Hypocalcaemia in ewes |
Ewes cast after handling, often with hind legs behind, respond to calcium injection |
Late pregnant, especially older ewes, heavily grain fed |
Avoid handling within 4 weeks of lambing, add limestone 1.5% to grain, feed good-quality lucerne hay if handling, treat cast sheep with calcium injection or calcium drench (10+ grams) |
Vibrio abortion (Campylobacter) |
Late-term abortion storms with up to 30% of ewes aborting, but usually less than this |
Occasionally occurs in flocks especially with grain feeding or intensive rotational grazing |
Run maiden ewes with older ewes before mating to ensure maiden ewes are exposed before pregnancy or adopt a vaccination program for maiden ewes |
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