Sheep scab about in mid wales

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Local farmer near Newtown told me he had to wait a week for the mobile dipping contractor as scab is rampant about
Is it the same around the country?
No. Wales is horrific for scab. To the extent that anything which came out of a Welsh livestock market, or from common grazing, I'd insist it be dipped.

In Scotland scab is still a notifiable disease.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Wouldn’t of said a week is a long wait, most contractors would surely be booked up that far in advance anyway. Got a mate who’s a dipping contractor in mid wales and the last few years have been manic but he reckons this is the first year they are making some progress on it
Neil Fell is excellent and week get to you asap. I've never had to wait more than 10 days
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
6weeks to ensure all embryos are safe and inbedded. If the tups have been in 6weeks, the first ones to take will be fine but the one that took the tup on the last day will need the 6weeks to be safe or risk losing the pregnancy and scan empty.

Where do you get the 6 week figure from, although better safe than sorry obviously?
I wouldn’t be two concerned from 2 weeks after the last one was tupped personally, which should see embryos implanted safely.

However, if they’re itching with scab, I wouldn’t hesitate to crack on as the scab will be stressing them more than dipping would.
 

Wood field

Member
Livestock Farmer
Don't you jab anymore
Dipped whole flock plus lambs end of July, whilst taking lambs off for buyer end sept, we noticed a few of a neighbour’s lambs in, probably off the moor, buyer said they had scab, so as a goodwill gesture I knocked a bit off to cover him dipping.
Any way I kept 100 lambs as replacement’s and dectomaxed them, now my in by ewes are itching and neighbours ewes on moor look like they have been itching , so the dipper is booked , other thing with dip , everything is covered so I am not fannying about with crovect etc
Only downside I have is the tups are in with our in bye ewes 😖
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
Where do you get the 6 week figure from, although better safe than sorry obviously?
I wouldn’t be two concerned from 2 weeks after the last one was tupped personally, which should see embryos implanted safely.

However, if they’re itching with scab, I wouldn’t hesitate to crack on as the scab will be stressing them more than dipping would.
The egg may have implanted in two weeks but it's not considered safe for another month.

But if you do a few more maths. Hopefully most ewes would hold to the first cycle so would be 4 weeks safe by week 6 after tups in so two weeks after the tups are out (after 6weeks) and most would be safe. But the second cycle and and last to tup would still be at risk of loosing embryos. It's not like dipping isn't stressful to a sheep.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Where do you get the 6 week figure from, although better safe than sorry obviously?
I wouldn’t be two concerned from 2 weeks after the last one was tupped personally, which should see embryos implanted safely.

However, if they’re itching with scab, I wouldn’t hesitate to crack on as the scab will be stressing them more than dipping would.

I've always thought it was 6 weeks post fertilisation was the most dangerous time for early embryo loss.
 

Wood field

Member
Livestock Farmer
As an aside, how effective is dectomax for treatment of scab ?
We have tups in since 15 oct , planning on dipping end November, but our outside lambers won’t have tups on for two weeks yet
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 120 38.8%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 118 38.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 42 13.6%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 5 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 18 5.8%

Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published

  • 246
  • 1
Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.

From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024

s300_Farmland_with_farmFarmland_with_farmhouse_and_grazing_cattle_in_the_UK_Farm_scene__diversification__grazing__rural__beef_GettyImages-165174232.jpg

Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
Top