An initiative led by NSA Welsh Sheep Event hosts Dafydd and John Parry Jones treats sheep scab as a business problem as well as an animal welfare issue and aims to eradicate the mite in the locality within five years.

The brothers, who farm at Penegoes near Machynlleth, enlisted the support of more than thirty of their neighbours after Dafydd announced at the inaugural meeting that he had had an outbreak. It occurred in September 2009 right at the peak of finished lamb sales and caused major disruption.

The aim of the farmer-led programme in the initiative’s catchment area is eradication of sheep scab and minimised risk of its reintroduction. The process involves co-ordinated preventive treatment and effective biosecurity.

Dafydd explains: “First, we have to admit that we have sheep scab in the area. Then the process is to educate ourselves about the problem, work together to eradicate sheep scab, and establish long term defences to prevent it returning.

“The farm is organic and we have a contract to supply Waitrose that forbids the use of OP dips in any situation, but allows treatment with moxidectin under closely defined parameters.

“Even so, the meat withhold requirement meant treated lambs had to be sold as non-organic. In addition to delayed sale, there was a painful price penalty.”

So he says the motives underpinning this initiative are not related at all to the new Scottish sheep scab legislation introduced last December. Instead they have everything to do with identifying a business problem and doing something about it.

Part of the problem is the window of opportunity for scab mites between the traditional use of OP dips by some farmers in the autumn, and the use of injectable scab treatments by others pre-lambing. In January, scanning in particular is seen as a potential vector for flock-to-flock transmission of scab mites.

Accordingly, the plan involves preventive scab treatments across the initiative’s entire catchment area within the months of January and September. This can be done using either an OP dip or the injectable moxidectin-based CYDECTIN 2% LA for its licensed 60-day persistency.

January can replace pre-lambing use for farmers using the injectable treatment and administering at the same time as scanning means empty ewes can be segregated before treatment. They can then be sold without having to observe a meat withhold period.

The Jones’s vet Hugh Williams from Williams Veterinary Surgeons in Tywyn is integrally involved in the initiative. He says that as long as all farmers in the area comply with the programme, with 100% of sheep treated or dipped correctly, the scab mite can be eradicated.

Effective biosecurity is required to maintain scab-free status, including the use of the SCOPS quarantine protocol for all incoming sheep. The thinking is that if the valley can eradicate scab then it will may pave the way for farmer groups to take similar action in many other localities.

One important question arising from this programme involves the responsible use of endectocides. Under the farm’s Waitrose contract, faecal eggs counts must be done to justify worming lambs with moxidectin.

Additionally, vet Hugh Williams says using CYDECTIN 2% LA before lambing decreases the level of worm larvae on the pasture, creating the potential for better growth rates and fewer lamb treatments for worms.

However, Dafydd and John see their initiative as a five-year programme because they realise that it will take time to persuade all farmers in the area to join in. Since the launch meeting, they have spent considerable time contacting all sheep farmers in the area and explaining the benefits of taking part.

Sent by Gaina Morgan
gaina@gainamorganmedia.co.uk
07872823366

For more information contact:
Helen Davies
helen@nationalsheep.org.uk

01938 590535 Mobile 07976 803066
www.sheepevent.org.uk