Sheep Dipping

[Longlowdog]

I don't mean to be ambiguous but for clarification, if you have sheep that you know have scab and you do not remedy the situation by injecting or dipping having sought veterinary advice as soon as possible you deserve and should bliddy well be beaten snotless with blue alky piping, you should be a pariah in your community and perhaps most importantly prosecuted for neglect. A few name and shame prosecutions with crippling fines would adjust attitudes to scab in a matter of months
I have not been trying to address the ins and outs of jagging versus dipping, all I've wanted to do is answer the O.P on his questions raised and put forward some views as a person that might very well fit the outline of his business plan yet would not be inclined to use his services unless there was no other option and indicate that there may well be lots of other seemingly obvious candidates for his expensively set up business who may not avail themselves of his services whilst other means of treating scab are available.
As an after thought, Profi mag suggests sheep dipping rates are £1.20 a head, how many do you need to do to cover equipment, set up time, chemicals, PPE, take down and clean and disposal doing big flock numbers. If you managed a hundred from small mixed flocks at a premium rate of a fiver in a day would you even turn a profit? How do you deal with folk who enter your handling system with a trailer after someone else has just been in with scabby sheep. Will you spray all the trailers? This is not something to be entered lightly.

 

[The sheep dipper man]

I don't mean to be ambiguous but for clarification, if you have sheep that you know have scab and you do not remedy the situation by injecting or dipping having sought veterinary advice as soon as possible you deserve and should bliddy well be beaten snotless with blue alky piping, you should be a pariah in your community and perhaps most importantly prosecuted for neglect. A few name and shame prosecutions with crippling fines would adjust attitudes to scab in a matter of months
I have not been trying to address the ins and outs of jagging versus dipping, all I've wanted to do is answer the O.P on his questions raised and put forward some views as a person that might very well fit the outline of his business plan yet would not be inclined to use his services unless there was no other option and indicate that there may well be lots of other seemingly obvious candidates for his expensively set up business who may not avail themselves of his services whilst other means of treating scab are available.
As an after thought, Profi mag suggests sheep dipping rates are £1.20 a head, how many do you need to do to cover equipment, set up time, chemicals, PPE, take down and clean and disposal doing big flock numbers. If you managed a hundred from small mixed flocks at a premium rate of a fiver in a day would you even turn a profit? How do you deal with folk who enter your handling system with a trailer after someone else has just been in with scabby sheep. Will you spray all the trailers? This is not something to be entered lightly.

I personally have a onboard washing system so i can compleatly wash down and disinfect the dipping unit between moves. As a contractor it looks bad if i pull on farm with dirty unit and doesn't add confidence in doing a good job correctly

 

[GavinJ]

If you were to have a central point for smallholders to take their sheep to an a specific day to be dipped where do you stand on movement licences and lockdown. I know shows get around it but not sure how?

 

[The sheep dipper man]

If you were to have a central point for smallholders to take their sheep to an a specific day to be dipped where do you stand on movement licences and lockdown. I know shows get around it but not sure how?

Interesting point dont know how that would work. A one to ask defra, but could open a can of worms if im honest

 

[Longlowdog]

I'm not sure how the shows get round it but when I attended shows with sheep they were returned to my registered quarantine fields and housed in my designated, inspected and approved facilities. No sheep in the show team rejoined the flock within 14 days of returning home. If you have recorded facilities the movement restrictions don't apply.

 

[GavinJ]

Not sure how many people have that setup

 

[neilo]

Not sure how many people have that setup

It’s fairly easy to set up & operate a quarantine unit in Wales, with the inspections being done by FAWL. It effectively gives you another holding number either in a separate building or a separate group of fields. It only has to be separated when it’s being used as a QU, so no need to notify movements on/off at other times, as you would with a separate holding number normally.

The only downside is that it costs £170 a year. Unsurprisingly, uptake hasn’t been huge.

 

[neilo]

If you were to have a central point for smallholders to take their sheep to an a specific day to be dipped where do you stand on movement licences and lockdown. I know shows get around it but not sure how?

There is an exemption to the standstill for veterinary treatment, which presumably dipping would be? Whether that would mean an MRCVS would need to be in attendance though...

 

[MRT]

There is an exemption to the standstill for veterinary treatment, which presumably dipping would be? Whether that would mean an MRCVS would need to be in attendance though...

Maybe, the other biosecurity worries of shared facilities would put me off though

 

[Ysgythan]

As a small holder <20 sheep this year and as someone who is surrounded by sheep in a potentially high risk sheep scab area I have been wondering about dipping.

I enquired with a chap who offers mobile dipping and he needs 125 minimum to make it worth his while, this got me to wondering if there is a business to be made for fellow small holders.

Looking at the kit of people such as Neil the sheep dipper man and others it looks a fair outlay and quite a large piece of kit to be getting into most small holdings.

1) Are there smaller trailed units that could be taken around (know of a guy who used to have a mobile shower but these are no good for scab)
2) Could I create a fixed unit at my property and allow (chargeable) people to bring their small flocks to run through the set up and fully disinfect between each batch
3) Would it be better to work with an existing mobile dipping contractor and get them to work from somewhere like a local auction mart for a day and people bring their small flocks at an allotted time to get them dipped.

Answers, suggestions most welcome

3 seems the best idea. If you keep sheep longer than their teeth you’ll need a couple of strong blokes to manhandle the old dears up the ramp...

 

[Longlowdog]

Scotland doesn't charge for quarantine facilities. Some years we get an inspection just to make sure we haven't knocked the building down or torn out the dividing hedge but most years it is renewed automatically. It usually takes the lass 2 minutes to look and ten minutes for a quick coffee before she is on her way again. No aggro.