Heat stroke/exhaustion in dogs

There has been a rise in reports of dogs suffering from heat stress or heat exhaustion This condition can cause severe damage to a dog’s health.

Dogs do not sweat through their skin with heat regulated via panting and sweat lost through their nose and foot pads. Dehydration can quickly occur when dogs are worked in excessive temperatures and it also limits a dog’s ability to keep cool. Therefore it is important to ensure that dogs are not worked during peak daytime temperatures. Temperatures are still higher than normal outside this range and it is important not to over work a dog and to carry a supply of water to prevent dehydration and help body temperature regulation.

Rest is important and another aspect to take into account is the terrain on which dogs are working. Surfaces can become very hot and pose a risk of a dog’s foot pads burning while moving animals on tar roads where tar is melting. The last aspect to be mindful to is not leaving animals inside vehicles.

Mineral supplementation

Hill sheep farmers who selected the measure of mineral supplementation of lambs pre weaning must supplement lambs at least once during the grazing season. The scheme terms and conditions state the type of mineral selected should help to address any mineral deficiencies that may be present in the flock. Mineral supplement used must be licensed for use in Ireland and listed as covering the required timeframe. Supplementation may take the form of injectables, boluses, drenches or liquid minerals.

Veterinary advice shows lambs require about 1mg cobalt per head per day

The mineral generally most limiting in sheep production systems is cobalt where lambs are grazing cobalt-deficient soils. Issues generally materialise towards middle-to-end July onwards with tell-tale signs of lambs losing conditions despite being offered a good level of nutrition, lambs going dry in the wool and cases experiencing ears starting to become scaly or scabby with skin starting to flake away.

Veterinary advice shows lambs require about 1mg cobalt per head per day. Where supplementing with an oral drench, whether a standard cobalt product, cobalt B12 product or mineral drench, the recommendation is to administer every two weeks as sheep cannot store cobalt for subsequent use.

Concentrates and water

Where introducing meals to compensate for inadequate grass supplies or quality, it is vital to ensure that lambs have free access to water with intake in lambs capable of exceeding the norm of 4l to 6l.

Sheep 2018 Farm to Fork: The countdown is on to Saturday’s major sheep event taking place in Teagasc Mellows Campus Athenry. Members of the Irish Farmers Journal Livestock team will be in attendance while market and policy specialist Phelim O’Neill will be on the stand to discuss queries with readers. An industry discussion centring on Brexit and market prospects will also take place at 2.30pm with Teagasc Head of Rural Economy Kevin Hanrahan, Bord Bia’s Declan Fennell and a lamb specialist from Irish Country Meats in conversation with Irish Farmers Journal Editor Justin McCarthy.