Guidance

Vets: testing sheep for endemic disease follow-up

Updated 14 October 2024

Applies to England

Testing, sampling and advice

Sheep health packages and diseases

For the farmer to claim funding, you must test for at least one disease or condition from the chosen package. You can test for multiple diseases within the package.

Sheep health package	Conditions and diseases	Description
Ewe condition	Includes: Johne’s, Maedi Visna (MV), Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), trace elements, liver fluke, haemonchosis, ewe nutrition status, mastitis, tick-borne fever, louping ill, orf, pulpy kidney	Aims to increase the health and performance of ewes on farm. This will help to increase the overall health of the flock and increase the likelihood of successful tupping and lamb raising.
Reproductive performance	Includes: enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE), border disease (BD), toxoplasmosis, ewe nutrition status, trace elements, liver fluke, tick-borne fever	Aims to increase reproductive performance of ewes post-tupping, therefore increasing the number of successful pregnancies and reducing the number of abortions.
Lamb performance	Includes: border disease (BD), trace elements, liver fluke, parasitic gastroenteritis (PGE), coccidiosis, mastitis, tick-borne fever, louping ill, tick pyaemia, lamb nutrition status, orf, pulpy kidney, lamb dysentery, pasteurellosis	Aims to reduce disease levels in lambs over the age of 30 days. It includes the weaning stages and moving onto pasture.
Neonatal lamb survival	Includes: border disease (BD), toxoplasmosis, joint ill, ewe nutrition status, trace elements, watery mouth, mastitis, tick pyaemia, lamb dysentery, pasteurellosis	Aims to reduce disease levels in lambs under the age of 30 days and increase survival.
External parasites	Includes: flystrike, sheep scab	Aims to reduce the levels of external parasites; this is especially important where external parasites are causing other issues on farm and are resulting in a major welfare concern to the sheep.
Lameness	Includes: joint ill, lameness, foot rot, scald, contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), granuloma, heel or toe abscess, shelly hoof, tick pyaemia	Aims to reduce the levels of lameness on farm regardless of cause.

Discuss biosecurity and medicine with the farmer

We recommend that you discuss biosecurity during the follow-up. Biosecurity is an important part of disease prevention and control.

The farmer may ask you to review farm medicines, including how to prescribe and use them.

You could also discuss:

• biosecurity
• recommendations about medicines used on the farm, including antibiotics, anthelmintics and vaccinations
• how and when to use preventative medicines, and how to store them
• the value of testing over treatment and why the right diagnostics can save money

You can tell the farmer about the AHDB Medicine Hub (opens in new tab). You could explain how it can help them and encourage them to register if they have not already.

Test sample laboratory analysis

For diseases or conditions that require laboratory testing, send the test sample to a laboratory for analysis. A farmer will not be eligible for funding unless the laboratory meets at least one of these specifications:

• ISO/IEC 17025 accredited
• UKAS accredited (UK accredited)

Testing must only be done at a laboratory that meets these requirements even if you have access to equipment or a device provided by an accredited laboratory.

The diseases and conditions which we’d expect to be sampled for include:

• border disease (BD)
• caseous lymphadenitis (CLA)
• enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE)
• Johne’s disease
• Maedi Visna (MV)
• toxoplasmosis
• tick-borne fever
• pulpy kidney
• lamb dysentery
• ewe nutrition status
• lamb nutrition status
• trace elements

Test results

You should discuss the test results and any further action or recommendations with the farmer.

What documentation you need to give the farmer

When you have completed the follow-up, the farmer will ask you to give them:

• a written report
• a vet summary

Written report

It should include:

• laboratory test results if required
• advice or suggested health and welfare actions
• other findings, for example biosecurity recommendations and medicine usage
• actions to address issues from the follow-up – this is likely to be 2 to 3 but can be more or less based on individual needs
• information about other concerns the farmer raised

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will not ask to see the report.

Vet summary

The summary gives the information the farmer needs to make a claim. The RPA may ask to see the summary as evidence the follow-up place. It should be a separate document.

We suggest you use our vet summary templates for sheep testing. If you choose to use your own summary template to give to the farmer, it must include:

• the species the farmer chose for the follow-up
• the single business identifier (SBI)
• the name of the business where the follow-up took place
• the agreement number
• the date of the vet’s last visit to the farm for the follow-up
• the last date samples were taken or sheep assessed for this follow-up
• confirmation the farmer had the minimum number of animals required on the date of the follow-up
• the vet’s name
• the vet’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) number
• the sheep health package the farmer chose
• the diseases and conditions tested or assessed
• the results
• confirmation the vet gave the farmer a written report
• the vet’s signature and date – the signature can be digital or on paper