Sheep health planning to reduce emissions

How health planning for your flock can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improving animal health and productivity.

Flock health planning is a cornerstone of sheep disease prevention and performance improvements. Healthy sheep are more productive, produce better quality carcases, and have better fertility. By preventing disease on your farm you will save money and time incurred by treating sick animals, reduce the need for reactive treatments and improve your environmental footprint.

Healthy sheep produce fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kilogram of meat than unhealthy sheep because their fertility and feed conversion ratio (FCR) are better.

Meat from healthy sheep will, therefore, have a smaller carbon footprint than that from animals that have been unwell because fewer inputs, which generate GHGs, will have been needed.

Your health plan should include a risk assessment for parasites as well as a protocol for routine testing. This will help you make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary treatment, saving time and money and reducing the likelihood of resistance developing.

Anthelmintic resistance has become more common in the sheep sector, but integrated parasite management, rather than blanket treatment, will help slow this down. This considers many factors, such as breed susceptibility, pasture management, grazing strategies, faecal egg counts (FEC) and using only targeted antiparasitic treatments. This will slow the development of resistance.  Sheep that are free of worms need fewer days to slaughter and mortalities and early culls will be lower all resulting in a more efficient system with less waste.

Good health not only underpins sustainability and efficiency, but animal welfare as well. High standards of sheep welfare are essential for protecting the reputation of the industry and, together with health, are among the most significant issues affecting consumer trust and perception of meat-based diets.

The mental health and wellbeing of farmers cannot be overlooked either. Dealing with sick animals can take its toll, therefore healthy sheep not only contribute to overall farm productivity but support the mental health of farmers. Time and resources not spent tending to sick animals allows a farmer to focus on proactive management practices and future farm plans.

The cost of veterinary treatment and medicine is not incidental and neither is the risk of antimicrobial resistance. Prevention of disease is better than cure as it reduces the risk of disease and the need to use antibiotics and, therefore, slows the development of resistance.

Studies of diseases and pests common to sheep have demonstrated the impact unhealthy animals can have on the environment.

Research by Dr Kenyon and colleagues indicates that gastrointestinal parasite burdens will increase GHG emissions from lamb production by at least 10%. Half of those emissions will be methane, which is around 27 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide (using GWP100).

Two serious diseases that result in foetal loss – toxoplasmosis and enzootic abortion – can be prevented through vaccinating ewes.

Between 2012 and 2023, and despite vaccine supply issues, the total number of vaccine doses sold rose by 11.7% for toxoplasmoisis and 6.6% for enzootic abortion.

According to calculations by Prof Capper and Dr Williams reducing the impact of these two diseases alone could cut the carbon footprint for each kilogramme of lamb produced by 0.55 kg and 0.71 kg carbon dioxide equivalent, respectively.

Vaccinating sheep is a sustainable way of reducing emissions, as preventable diseases in sheep generate huge quantities of avoidable GHGs.

Although vaccination comes at a cost, the returns from being able to sell more lambs as a result can more than offset this.

Every sheep farmer should have an active flock health plan.

A written plan provides an agreed method for dealing with disease, both preventative and curative, and for monitoring changes. It will help you recognise where weaknesses exist and set out actions to address these.

• Work with your vet and other advisers to create a plan with clear, achievable goals
• Decide what your health priorities are, taking account of any obligations with supply contracts and farm-specific aspirations
• Take early action to improve flock health
• Monitor your livestock and reevaluate your farm health plan if your objectives are not being achieved – health plans should be dynamic, regularly discussed, and actively managed
• Maintain high standards of biosecurity to protect your farm against the entry and spread of pests and diseases
• Where appropriate, consider breeding sheep with better disease resistance
• Consider and implement vaccination protocols

High standards of stockmanship, housing, health, hygiene and animal welfare are paramount, as is measuring, managing and monitoring the productivity gains from these.

Discuss targets with your team and vet, for example:

• Optimise lamb daily liveweight gain to minimise days to slaughter
• Improve feed conversion efficiency to reduce inputs
• Increase growth rates
• Improve reproductive performance
• Reduce involuntary culling resulting from abortions and other health issues

Keep an eye out for industry initiatives that can help your business achieve its aims on health and disease prevention, for example: farmhealthonline.com; scops.org.uk; nadis.org.uk/risk-assessments; flockhealth.co.uk; Animal Health and Welfare Pathway – GOV.UK.