Lameness and housing: It is looking increasingly likely with continued wet weather and diminishing grass supplies that highly stocked farms may be faced with an earlier housing date for ewes. Housing can provide the ideal conditions for a lameness issue in a flock to quickly spread and escalate leading to lower animal performance, higher costs and increased labour.

The target therefore should be to focus on addressing lameness in the weeks ahead and getting on top of any issues in advance of housing. A start can be made by segregating and batching lame sheep together for intensive treatment. This can include a combination of antibiotic treatment to address footrot or CODD and regular footbathing. Segregating lame sheep will also reduce the exposure of infection to healthy sheep and help prevent the spread of disease.

If these animals have not recovered by the time housing is taking place, then housing should be delayed for these, or sheep should be confined to a separate area. Healthy animals should also be run through a footbath as a precautionary measure at regular intervals in the run-in to housing.

The success rate will be driven by correctly identifying what is causing the lameness. For example, CODD has caused untold damage in recent years in this regard with a specific treatment route required, including antibiotics prescribed by your vet. Strategic use can also be made of the Footvax vaccine ahead of the high-risk period, with vaccination stimulating an immune response and also possessing treatment properties for footrot.

Grazing management: While grass utilisation has been poor, sward recovery has been good, with paddocks greening up quickly after grazing. Positive grass growth rates in recent weeks have resulted in a nice cover of grass developing on areas closed first and earmarked for grazing next year. There may be a temptation with grass supplies running tight to re-graze these areas but this should be avoided at all costs. There is a big difference between paddocks greening up after grazing and actually developing a cover of grass at this stage of the year. Re-grazing areas closed first will leave grass supplies tight next spring, lead to significantly higher feed costs post-lambing and increased labour.

Liver fluke: All advisory bodies are warning liver fluke as high threat. Treatment options for store and finishing lambs are trickier given the long withdrawal period of products on the market which target early immature and immature fluke.

Where lambs are being drafted on a regular basis for slaughter, following up on liver health status will provide vital information. Where a high liver fluke infection risk is feared, there is little option but to go through remaining lambs, grade them on weight and expected finishing date, and treat accordingly.

Lambs close to finishing that will not receive treatment due to the withdrawal date should be run if possible on lands that will not pose as much of a threat, with some farmers on lands with a high parasite burden opting to house these lambs. Treatment with a product which treats only mature liver fluke becomes a limited option as the year progresses and may lower the burden in cases, but this will depend on previous management/treatment and the disease risk.