Sheep lameness assessments highlight Five Point Plan
“The Five Point Plan has been established for many years, yet lameness remains a persistent issue." - Duncan Sinclair.
An analysis of lameness assessment results has revealed the benefits of the Five Point Plan in reducing lameness levels in affected sheep.
Results from more than 21,000 sheep has found that the five elements of the plan resulted in a reduction of over two-thirds in lameness cases.
The Five Point Plan is used across the industry to support farmers and animal health advisors to assess and improve lameness control. It addresses five areas: vaccinate, avoid, treat, quarantine and cull.
Researchers from MSD Animal Health analysed findings from 83 on-farm assessments, conducted across 24 farms between 2021 and 2024.
When all five elements of the plans were followed, farms saw lameness reductions between 57 per cent and 67 per cent. This marks an average 63 per cent reduction in lameness.
The average lameness scores improved from 13.4 out of 25, to 22.9 – a gain of 9.5 points.
It is hoped that the use of this approach will help farmers to reach the Farm Animal Welfare Committee target reducing lameness to two per cent or less.
Duncan Sinclair, associate director of MSD Animal Health’s Market Access Team, said: “The Five Point Plan has been established for many years, yet lameness remains a persistent issue. These results show the impact of addressing key risk factors in a structured and consistent way.”
However, MSD Animal Health has also raised three areas from its assessments where it believes improvements can be made.
One such improvement is the use of more consistent vaccination against footrot. This is particularly key ahead of high-risk periods, with booster timing essential when prevalence is high.
MSD Animal Health has also flagged gaps in ‘avoid’ measures, such as inconsistent use of lime in high-traffic areas and irregular movement of mineral buckets.
Finally, the organisation warns against delays when treating lame sheep and the inconsistent recording of affected animals and limbs. It says that this could cause limited follow-up action.
Mr Sinclair suggests that improved recording, alongside compulsory Electronic Identification (EID) systems, could help in identifying sheep prone to lameness and strengthening the culling stage of the Five Point Plan.
He added: “EID allows farmers to identify repeat offenders more easily and remove them from the flock. It also supports accurate recording of cases and treatment history.
“With footrot resistance estimated to be moderately heritable, between 15 per cent and 30 per cent, this information is increasingly valuable for breeding decisions.”
Image © MSD Animal Health
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