What are the key measures for the prevention and treatment of sheep diseases? (Part One)
Key measures for the prevention and treatment of sheep diseases (1)
(Agricultural Wealth Network) 1. Strengthen routine feeding management
Ensure a balanced diet and prevent nutrient deficiencies. This is even more important for late-gestation ewes and lambs, and feeding should strictly follow feeding management standards. Prevent the consumption of moldy forage, toxic weeds and forage sprayed with pesticides, and do not allow sheep to drink stagnant or sewage water, so as to reduce invasion by parasites and pathogenic microorganisms. The sheep shed should be well ventilated, with ample light and suitable temperature. The sheep shed, equipment and exercise yard should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly, especially sheep sheds used for off-site fattening, which must be disinfected after the animals are sold. Before disinfection, the objects to be disinfected must be cleaned thoroughly, then the disinfectant solution sprayed, otherwise the effect will be poor. Sheep manure and debris from the sheep shed should be piled up centrally or composted so as to kill pathogenic microorganisms and parasites in the manure. By strengthening feeding management and environmental sanitation, the health of the sheep is ensured and disease occurrence is prevented.
2. Regular deworming
In the sheep industry, parasites cause great harm. Each year, according to the local parasite prevalence situation, internal and external parasites of sheep should be regularly expelled, generally using two rounds of drug deworming per year in spring and autumn. In spring, a broad-spectrum deworming drug is used once, and the number of deworming treatments can be increased according to actual conditions. Manure passed 10 days after deworming should be collected immediately and composted to kill eggs and larvae. Autumn deworming helps protect the health of sheep and should be planned and carried out even more strictly and carefully. Albendazole and avermectin both have the advantages of high efficacy, low toxicity and broad spectrum, are effective against common gastrointestinal nematodes, lungworms and fasciola flukes, and can simultaneously expel multiple parasites in mixed infections, making them relatively ideal deworming drugs.
3. Timely vaccination
Vaccination is one of the important methods for preventing the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases and for eradicating them. Based on the history of infectious diseases in the local area over the years and the current epidemic situation, a practical and reliable immunization program should be formulated, and preventive vaccination carried out according to plan so that sheep are spared from infectious diseases. Operations during vaccination must be strict to ensure the effectiveness of the vaccines (bacterins).
Vaccine immunization can stimulate sheep to develop specific resistance and make them less susceptible to a certain infectious disease. Only by carrying out vaccine immunization in a planned way can the occurrence of infectious diseases in sheep be prevented.
Medication-based prevention means adding drugs to feed or drinking water at fixed times and doses, and is a preventive measure against certain diseases for which no vaccine exists. Commonly used drugs include sulfonamides, with a preventive dose of 0.1-0.2% and a therapeutic dose of 0.2-0.5%; generally used continuously for 5-7 days, and sometimes extended as appropriate. Each year, about 10 days after sheep are sheared in spring, a medicated bath should be carried out. The bath solution can be a 0.025-0.03% lindane emulsifiable concentrate aqueous emulsion.
4. Strengthen quarantine work
Quarantine is an indispensable and important part of the "prevention first" policy. Through quarantine, epidemic diseases can be discovered in time and prevention and control measures taken promptly, so that they can be controlled and eradicated on the spot. Quarantine means regularly conducting health checks and sample testing on the flock to detect diseased sheep in time. To prevent diseased sheep from transmitting diseases to healthy sheep, they must be immediately isolated, housed separately and treated. Adhere to the principle of self-breeding and self-raising; when breeding sheep really need to be introduced, they must be purchased from non-epidemic areas and pass quarantine inspection by the local animal epidemic prevention supervision department. After entering the farm, they must pass verification and quarantine by the farm's veterinarian, be isolated and observed for more than one month, and only after being confirmed healthy and undergoing deworming, disinfection and supplementary vaccination may they be mixed into the flock for rearing.
Ensure a balanced diet and prevent nutrient deficiencies. This is even more important for late-gestation ewes and lambs, and feeding should strictly follow feeding management standards. Prevent the consumption of moldy forage, toxic weeds and forage sprayed with pesticides, and do not allow sheep to drink stagnant or sewage water, so as to reduce invasion by parasites and pathogenic microorganisms. The sheep shed should be well ventilated, with ample light and suitable temperature. The sheep shed, equipment and exercise yard should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly, especially sheep sheds used for off-site fattening, which must be disinfected after the animals are sold. Before disinfection, the objects to be disinfected must be cleaned thoroughly, then the disinfectant solution sprayed, otherwise the effect will be poor. Sheep manure and debris from the sheep shed should be piled up centrally or composted so as to kill pathogenic microorganisms and parasites in the manure. By strengthening feeding management and environmental sanitation, the health of the sheep is ensured and disease occurrence is prevented.
2. Regular deworming
In the sheep industry, parasites cause great harm. Each year, according to the local parasite prevalence situation, internal and external parasites of sheep should be regularly expelled, generally using two rounds of drug deworming per year in spring and autumn. In spring, a broad-spectrum deworming drug is used once, and the number of deworming treatments can be increased according to actual conditions. Manure passed 10 days after deworming should be collected immediately and composted to kill eggs and larvae. Autumn deworming helps protect the health of sheep and should be planned and carried out even more strictly and carefully. Albendazole and avermectin both have the advantages of high efficacy, low toxicity and broad spectrum, are effective against common gastrointestinal nematodes, lungworms and fasciola flukes, and can simultaneously expel multiple parasites in mixed infections, making them relatively ideal deworming drugs.
3. Timely vaccination
Vaccination is one of the important methods for preventing the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases and for eradicating them. Based on the history of infectious diseases in the local area over the years and the current epidemic situation, a practical and reliable immunization program should be formulated, and preventive vaccination carried out according to plan so that sheep are spared from infectious diseases. Operations during vaccination must be strict to ensure the effectiveness of the vaccines (bacterins).
Vaccine immunization can stimulate sheep to develop specific resistance and make them less susceptible to a certain infectious disease. Only by carrying out vaccine immunization in a planned way can the occurrence of infectious diseases in sheep be prevented.
Medication-based prevention means adding drugs to feed or drinking water at fixed times and doses, and is a preventive measure against certain diseases for which no vaccine exists. Commonly used drugs include sulfonamides, with a preventive dose of 0.1-0.2% and a therapeutic dose of 0.2-0.5%; generally used continuously for 5-7 days, and sometimes extended as appropriate. Each year, about 10 days after sheep are sheared in spring, a medicated bath should be carried out. The bath solution can be a 0.025-0.03% lindane emulsifiable concentrate aqueous emulsion.
4. Strengthen quarantine work
Quarantine is an indispensable and important part of the "prevention first" policy. Through quarantine, epidemic diseases can be discovered in time and prevention and control measures taken promptly, so that they can be controlled and eradicated on the spot. Quarantine means regularly conducting health checks and sample testing on the flock to detect diseased sheep in time. To prevent diseased sheep from transmitting diseases to healthy sheep, they must be immediately isolated, housed separately and treated. Adhere to the principle of self-breeding and self-raising; when breeding sheep really need to be introduced, they must be purchased from non-epidemic areas and pass quarantine inspection by the local animal epidemic prevention supervision department. After entering the farm, they must pass verification and quarantine by the farm's veterinarian, be isolated and observed for more than one month, and only after being confirmed healthy and undergoing deworming, disinfection and supplementary vaccination may they be mixed into the flock for rearing.