Natural health care for sheep

In short

• Count the sheep every morning and look at who lags behind, isn't eating or chewing the cud, is lame or is rubbing.
• A sheep's normal temperature is roughly 38.5–39.5 °C (101–103 °F); above 40.5 °C or below 38 °C call the vet.
• Compulsory: registration and ear tags, movement and medicine records, bluetongue measures where they apply, and reporting notifiable diseases. Check with the competent authority in your country.
• Worms are treated according to faecal egg counts and FAMACHA, not "everyone twice a year".
• Medicines only through a vet, and the withdrawal period for meat and milk is recorded and kept to.
• A dog with sheep is wormed against tapeworm at least every 3 months (every 4–6 weeks around slaughter and carcasses) and never eats raw offal (hydatid disease).

What's inside

Chapters

1. Prevention before cure
2. A healthy sheep and a sick one
3. When to call the vet at once
4. Compulsory measures: tags, records, bluetongue
5. Sheep diseases that pass to people
6. Vaccinations and checks
7. Internal parasites
8. Feet and lameness
9. The commonest problems of a small flock
10. Natural support and the home kit
11. Medicines, withdrawal periods and a dead sheep
12. Common mistakes
13. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Health log and withdrawal periods
• Prevention calendar
• Feet, FAMACHA and worms
• Quarantine for a new sheep
• Health cost calculator
• Contacts and emergency procedure