New Entrants to Farming

Sheep Health
Factsheet National Advice Hub
T: 0300 323 0161
E: advice@fas.scot
W: www.fas.scot

This factsheet aims to highlight the general considerations for sheep health and what to look out for. It should be used
as a guide for when to seek veterinary advice, rather than being used to decide when an animal requires treatment.
However, prevention is better than cure as once an animal has become ill, any treatment may only be symptomatic,
not curative. Therefore, potentially leaving the animal with long term effects that could reduce weight gain, efficiency
and consequently profitability.

Signs to identify sick animals

The early identification and treatment of sick animals limits the impact on productivity, efficiency and subsequent
profitability. Livestock should be inspected at least once per day, ideally twice, for signs of ill health. There are a range
of signs that may indicate ill health in livestock, which are sometimes termed “sickness behaviours”, and include:

• Not coming forward to feed / anorexia

• Not drinking
• Unkempt coat indicating less grooming
• Lying down more
• Reduced play in young animals
• Staying away / isolating from others in the group
• Abnormal posture e.g. hunched back, standing with neck or legs extended
• Drooped ear(s)

It should be noted that not all the above behaviours may be seen, or even at the same time in the same animal.
Sick animals can vary in the level of expression of these behaviours and some of them can be quite subtle, requiring
careful observation. This is particularly true for sheep, as they tend to only show obvious signs of illness once very
sick and in the advanced stages of disease. Also, these signs are non-specific and can be seen with a range of
illnesses, so further investigation by a vet is usually required to identify the cause. This may involve taking blood,
tissue or faecal samples. In advanced cases or where treatment is unlikely to be effective, euthanasia may be the
best option. Your vet will then be able to conduct a post-mortem examination and obtain additional samples for further
analysis.

A healthy sheep should appear bright in the head, be alert to your presence and respond to touch or sound. An
average healthy sheep will spend most of the day grazing, but this is alternated with time spent chewing their cud
(cudding) while resting which plays an important role in healthy digestion and rumination and is a sign that the animal
is content. Although, this may depend on the diet being fed and the fibre content consumed.

Any animal that has not been drinking may have sunken eyes, but this can also occur with a loss of fat behind the eye
in very thin animals. The level of dehydration can also be assessed by measuring the time it takes a skin tent (formed
by pinching the skin then gently rotating it by 90°) to return to normal. In a well hydrated animal this should take less
than two seconds but will be prolonged in dehydrated animals.

If an animal is seen to be frequently shifting from lying down to standing up when combined with kicking at the
abdomen and vocalisation this may be a sign of abdominal pain (colic) and animals that are in pain may grind their
teeth (bruxism).

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Regular monitoring of growth rates in youngstock or body condition score (BCS) in adults can be used to identify any
problems with nutrition or health. Growth rates of lambs vary by age and size:

• Up to 8 weeks old lambs would be expected to gain 250 g/day

• Short keep lambs (i.e. those over 35kg expected to be finished within 6 weeks) should achieve daily
liveweight gains (DLWG) of 140- 160 g/day
• Medium keep lambs (i.e. those 30 - 35kg, 6 – 12 weeks from finishing) should be gaining 90 – 110 g/day
• Long keep lambs (i.e. those under 30kg and over 12 weeks from finishing) would be expected to gain
80 – 100 g/day

It is recommended that breeding livestock are maintained at the correct BCS throughout the year, but especially
in the lead up to lambing. Information on how and when to assess body condition scores in sheep can be found in
TN702 Body Condition Scoring of Mature Sheep and in the How and When to Condition Score Ewes for Better
Production video.

Normal parameters
To help determine whether an animal is sick or not, and to assist with diagnosis, it is recommended to check the
individual’s rectal temperature, respiration rate and rumination pattern. The normal parameters for each of these is
detailed in Table 1 with further information on how to measure these parameters below.

PARAMATER EWE LAMB

Rectal temperature 38.4 – 39.5 °C 38.5 – 40.0 °C

Respiration rate 16 – 34 breaths per minute

Rumination 1 contraction per minute Not seen in pre-ruminant *

* The rumen of a lamb becomes fully developed between 50 to 60 days of age.

Rectal temperature is a useful indicator to determine health or potentially help to diagnose an issue in sheep. To obtain an
accurate rectal temperature the tip of the thermometer should be held directly against the rectal wall, otherwise you may get a
falsely low result or take the temperature of the faeces. Rectal temperatures over 40.0 °C in sheep, warrant further veterinary
investigation as they suggest the presence of infection or inflammation.

Respiration (breathing) rates can help indicate whether the animal has any respiratory tract infection or disease. Respiratory
rates can vary depending on the ambient temperature and if the animal is stressed however, increased respiration rates can
indicate pain, stress, respiratory disease or heat stress. When monitoring respiration rate, you should count the number
of breaths taken in 15 seconds then multiply this by 4. You should only count inspiration (breaths in) or expiration (breaths
out), not both as this will falsely elevate the respiration rate. Normally sheep do not make any noise during respiration and
the presence of respiratory noise can indicate respiratory disease. Your vet may be able to localise the problem within the
respiratory tract depending on whether the noise coincides with inspiration or expiration.

It is important to determine whether an animal is eating or not to

ensure good rumen function is maintained. Rumen movements
and a gauge of rumen fullness are the best indicators of whether the
animal has been eating. Rumen movements can be felt by placing a
fist in the sub-lumbar fossa (the triangle between the last rib, pelvis
and short ribs) on the left-hand side of the animal as shown below.
By placing an ear in this area, you should also be able to hear the
rumen movements, which sounds like a washing machine on a
spin cycle. The fill of the rumen can also be assessed on a scale
of 1 – 5, with 1 indicating an empty rumen due to not eating in the
last 24 hours and 5 representing a full rumen. Although this can be
done roughly by visual assessment, it is best to use a clenched fist,
especially for sheep when they are in full fleece. The rumen score
gives an indication of food intakes in the last 2 – 6 hours so can vary
throughout the day, depending on feeding times. Also, advanced
pregnancy can lead to difficulty in accurately scoring rumen fill. In a
normal animal, the rumen should feel “doughy” and there will be no
imprint left when you remove your hand. If the rumen is distended
and feels like a drum, this is indicative of bloat which is an emergency The red triangle indicates the sub-lumbar fossa area.
and the vet should be called immediately. Photo credit: Daniel Macdonald.
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 In addition to the above parameters, the presence or absence of ocular (eye) or nasal discharge when combined with
information on the colour, consistency and which eyes/nostrils are affected, the presence or absence and frequency
of a cough can be useful for determining if an animal has respiratory disease or not. Also, taking note of the animal’s
faecal matter can provide useful information to help diagnose potential issues with health or diet. This can be done by
faecal scoring, which is based on the consistency (firm vs liquid), colour and presence or absence of food (particularly
whole undigested grains), blood or mucous in the faeces.

General biosecurity principles

It is recommended to remove any sick individuals from the main group as soon as they are identified and keep them in
a separate ‘sick’ or isolation pen, as they may pose a risk to others in the group. A sick pen should provide a clean, dry
and warm bed and access to food and water. However, it is important to ensure that they can continue to see and hear
other livestock of the same species. These animals may return to the main group once they have recovered, but they
will need to be monitored as others within the group may bully them.

Once one animal in a group shows symptoms of disease, many others within the group may be in the early stages of
infection but not yet showing obvious clinical signs. Therefore, you should investigate the first case of illness with your
vet as you never know when an outbreak may start.

Before purchasing any animals, the disease status of the existing flock should be known to provide the baseline health
status. Key questions to ask are:

• Is it a closed flock?
• Is the flock accredited/monitored for infectious diseases e.g. maedi visna, Johne’s, scrapie, EAE?
• What is their vaccination status? What product was used and when? Care should be taken to ensure that the
vaccine was administered as per the data sheet instructions, otherwise the animal may not be fully protected.
• What is their treatment history? What product was used and when?

You should avoid buying in any stock with a lower health status than your own existing stock and any newly introduced
animals should be quarantine for 28 days. During this quarantine period, animals should be monitored for signs of
illness and any quarantine treatments agreed with your vet should be administered.

More information on purchasing livestock can be found in the New Entrants Guide to Buying and Selling at the
Mart factsheet.

Stress has been shown to negatively impact an animal’s immunity. This stress can be caused by transport, feed
changes, group changes, crowding, poor ventilation, temperature fluctuations or drafts so reducing these as much
as possible is advised. It is also recommended, that you avoid too many changes at the same time e.g. don’t wean
lambs and house on the same day. Newly arrived animals (either purchased or returning from summer/winter grazing)
should be allowed to rest following transport and be fed a diet like the one they were previously fed. Any dietary
changes should be made gradually over a period of 2 – 3 weeks. Also, animals of different ages or from different
groups should not be mixed or share the same air space as this increases stress and potential exposure to disease.
While older animals may be immune to some pathogens, they can still carry them even if not showing any signs and
pass them to younger, more susceptible individuals.

Between batches of stock it is recommended that buildings including water troughs, feeders, equipment and surfaces
are cleaned and disinfected to reduce the pathogen load. In addition, good personal hygiene including regular
cleaning and disinfection of clothing and footwear is recommended. This is particularly important after treating
diseased individuals or groups or after contact with livestock from another source.

Good biosecurity and implementing preventative measures result in improved immunity of livestock and decreases the
level of pathogens/infectious agents that livestock may be exposed to. This leads to reduced antibiotic use, improved
farm productivity, efficiency and profitability and a better product for consumers.

Additional information on flock biosecurity can be found in the TN713 (Flock biosecurity for sheep).

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Health planning
Each year you should review the flock performance and disease levels, biosecurity, quarantine procedures for
bought in and sick stock, parasite (internal and external) control, euthanasia and general husbandry procedures e.g.
castration, tail docking, with your vet. This discussion will result in the production of an active document, tailored to
your farm, which will include details on planned schedules for routine treatments and vaccinations. Annual completion
of a health plan is now a requirement of many farm assurance schemes, including QMS Cattle and Sheep Assurance
Scheme.

Top tips for livestock health

• Avoid buying in problems and check health status of own flock prior to purchasing stock
• Avoid mixing different sources or ages of stock.
• Identify sick animals, isolate and treat them as soon as possible.
• Investigate the first case of illness within a group – it may be the start of an outbreak.
• Discuss treatment protocols and prevention plans with your vet to ensure you are using the most appropriate
product at the correct time.
• Complete an annual herd/flock health plan with your vet to review health problems, treatment and vaccination
protocols.
• If there is any doubt about the diagnosis or best treatment regime then you should contact your local farm vet
immediately.

Further information on livestock health including a number of timely articles, fact sheets, videos and podcasts are
available on the Scottish Farm Advisory Service website (www.fas.scot )