Sheep and Goat Science Commons^™

Eradicating Footrot From Western Australia - A Farmer's Guide, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Agriculture reports

Virulent footrot can occur on any farm in the medium to high rainfall zone. Persons who regularly buy and sell sheep take a greater risk, but even properties with a closed breeding flock are at risk from stray sheep. People often associate footrot with properties managed by inefficient farmers. This is a false belief. Many good farmers have found the disease in their sheep, including high profile studs. Footrot can strike anywhere and often without warning. It is important to remember that once it is found; getting to know and understand the disease will help you to beat it. A …

Agribusiness Sheep Updates - 2004 Part 2, Anyou Liu, Clinton Revell, Phil Nichols, Brad Nutt, Darryl Clements, Lucy Anderton, Stephen Gherardi, Chris Oldham, Paul Sanford, John Gladman, G. E. Donald, A. Edirisinghe, D. A. Henry, S. P. Gittins, R. C. G. Smith, Roy Butler, Kelly Pearce, David Masters, David Pethick, Andrew Thompson, Ken Hart, Johan Greeff, Beth Paganoni, Rachel Kirby, Matt Ryan, Kira Butler, Roger Heggarty, David Hopkins, Samantha Giles, Tom Plaisted, Mark Ferguson, Darren Gordon, John Young, Sandra Brown, Ian Mcfarland, John Archer, John Milton, Rob Davidson, Graeme Martin, David Lindsay, Johnathan England, Mandy Curnow, Karina P. Wood, Ashley K. White, B. Lloyd Davies, Paul M. Carberry, Mark Hyder, Mike Freer, Andrew Van Burgel, Kazue Tanaka, Andrew Peterson, Roger Wiese, Gonzalo Mata, Evan Burt, Amanda Miller, Anne Bennett, Felicity Flugge, Amir Abadi, Perry Dolling, Dean Thomas, Mike Ewing, David Lindsay, Emma Kopke, E. A. Dowling, E. K. Crossley, Brien (Ben) E. Norton, John Karlsson, Geoff Pollott, Diana Fedorenko, Darryl Clements, Robert Beard, Brown Besier, Una Ryan, Caroline Bath

Sheep Updates

Precision Pastures

Using Species Diversity to Improve Pasture Performance Anyou Liu and Clinton Revell, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia

New Annual Pasture Legumes for Sheep Graziers Phil Nichols, Angelo Loi, Brad Nutt and Darryl McClements Department of Agriculture Western Australia

Pastures from Space – Can Satellite Estimates of Pasture Growth Rate be used to Increase Farm Profit? Lucy Anderton, Stephen Gherardi and Chris Oldham Department of Agriculture Western Australia

Summer-active Perennial Grasses for Profitable Sheep Production Paul Sanford and John Gladman, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia

Pastures From Space – Validation Of Predictions Of Pasture Growth Rates DONALD, G.E^{.A …}

Agribusiness Sheep Updates - 2004 - Part 1, Mark Dolling, Len Stephens, David Thomanson, Norm Adams, Shimim Liu, Peter Buchman, Mike Paton, Dianne Evans, John Edwards, Scott Champion, Alan Langford, A. C. Schlink, J. C. Greeff, M. E. Ladyman, Kimbal M. S. Curtis, John Stanton, Stuart Adams, Neal Fogarty, Matthew Kelly, James Skerritt, Ian Mcfarland

Sheep Updates

Proceedings of the Agribusiness Sheep Updates - 2004 Forward Dr Mark Dolling Manager, Sheep Industries and Pasture, Department of Agriculture Western Australia Keynotes Australian Wool Innovation Limited DR LEN STEPHENS AUSTRALIAN WOOL INNOVATION LIMITED (AWI) Commercialisation of Sheepmeat Eating Quality Outcomes, David Thomason, General Manger Marketing Meat & livestock Australia Limited PLENARY The Fitness of the Future Merino, Norm Adams and Shimin Liu, CSIRO Livestock Industries Ovine Johne’s Disease – Managing the Disease, Managing the Issues, PETER BUCKMAN, CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WESTERN AUSTRALIA Animal Welfare – Changes in Latitudes Changes in Attitudes, Michael Paton and Dianne Evans, …

Facts About Footrot - A Special Booklet For Neighbours Of Properties Which Have Been Quarantine For Footrot, Or Farmers Wanting To Know More About Footrot, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Animal production and livestock published reports

Footrot is a contagious disease of sheep and goats caused by a mix of different bacteria, with the essential one being Dichelobacter nodosus. The bacterial infection can cause varying degrees of damage to the horn of the foot, leading to lameness, and significant loss of body weight and wool production.

There are two main forms of footrot - virulent and benign. Both are caused by D. nodosus. Footrot is diagnosed using two methods; inspecting sheep's feet, and testing skin scrapings in the laboratory

Sheep Updates 2003 - Husbandry, Paul Barrett, Kevin Bell, J Greeff, L. Butler, S. Brown, K. Hart, A. Gray, John Karlsson, Paula Coombe, Ron Mctarrart, David Scobie, Sandy White

Sheep Updates

This session covers seven papers from different authors:1. Setting up a successful, low input feedlot Paul Barrett, ‘Bimberdong’ Jerramungup 2. Effective mineral supplementation of sheep Kevin Bell, Sheep Management and Production Consultants, Kojonup, WA 3. Genetic benchmarking for WA sheep producers J. Greeff, L. Butler, S. Brown, K. Hart and A. Gray Department of Agriculture Western Australia 4. Does selecting sheep for low WEC reduce scouring? John Karlsson, Johan Greeff and Paula Coombe, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 5. Summer quarters for sheep - stubbles Ron McTaggart, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, Albany 6. Thinking about breeding Easy Care Sheep? …

Sheep Updates 2003 - Plenaries, Ashley Mercy, David Scobie, Neil Buchanan, Kevin Bell, John Milton, Graeme Martin, Bob Hall, Maurie Stephen, Rob Woodgate

Sheep Updates

This session covers eight papers from different authors:1. Biosecurity in the sheep industry will improve production and profits Ashley Mercy, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia 2. Easy care sheep David Scobie, AgResearch, PO Box 60 Lincoln, 8152, New Zealand 3. Targeting the market’s requirements - live sheep exports Neil Buchanan, Manager Animal Health Operations, Primary Industries & Resources, South Australia 4. Setting flock breeding objectives Kevin Bell, Sheep Management and Production Consultants, Kojonup WA 5. Future feeding of sheep in Western Australia John Milton and Graeme Martin, The University of Western Australia 6. Recipe for getting back into Sheep Bob …

Miscellaneous Publication 6/2001 - Sheep And Goat Industries Biosecurity Plan, Department Of Agriculture Western Australia, Government Of Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

StockGuard has been initiated to develop a series of biosecurity plans for the animal industries in Western Australia. Through StockGuard, representatives from the animal industries have been working with the Department of Agriculture to identify the major threats to each of the animal industries and to develop action plans detailing how these threats will be managed.

The recent Foot and Mouth outbreak in the United Kingdom is a stark example of the potential for exotic disease to devastate an animal industry. The UK experience, along with the 1999 outbreak of virulent Newcastle disease in poultry in New South Wales have …

Bse: Risk, Uncertainty, And Policy Change, Enda Cummins, Pat Grace, Kevin Mcdonnell, Shane Ward

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors discuss how, in our "risk society," a range of potential risks and uncertainties are associated with new technologies and new diseases, such as BSE. These risks bring with them worries about human health, while the ability to assess and manage new health scares is an essential skill for government and related industries.

Maximising The Lamb Drop, Don Moir

Bulletins 4000 -

Although reproductive rates vary greatly between individual properties, the average marking percentage in Western Australia still hovers around 75%. In the absence of disease it is possible to improve on this figure by undertaking some straight forward management practices at different stages of the reproductive cycle.

Dealing With A Dry Season, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Bulletins 4000 -

Farmers' approaches to adverse seasonal conditions whether they be frost, flood or low rainfall should be to acquire as much information as possible on the immediate agronomic and financial situations and make a judgement on the longer term implications for the following seasons. Once the information has been acquired, in consultation with advisers, it is necessary to construct and implement agronomic and business strategies to deal with individual situations.

The agronomic and stocking options for the dry season supplied in this booklet deal with questions and issues arising from the Year 2000 season, which has been characterised by a mid …

Bulletin 4394 - Exotic Diseases - Sheep And Goats, Agriculture Western Australia

Bulletins 4000 -

An exotic disease is a disease which does not occur in Australia.

If an exotic disease did occur in Australia it would cause production losses, stock deaths and stop exports of primary production. When export markets are lost they can only be re-established once it is proven the disease is eradicated. Some exotic diseases may be transmitted to humans

Eradicating Virulent Footrot From Western Australia, R K. Mitchell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia has a unique opportunity to eradicate virulent footrot from the State's sheep flock, with only 62 properties or 0.6 per cent of sheep properties currently in quarantine. The majority of Western Australian flocks are now free of virulent footrot, with targeted on-farm and abattoir surveillance used to detect the remaining properties affected by the disease. Bob Mitchell reports on how farmers, industry, and government are working together, with research playing an important part in the eradication campaign.

Virulent Footrot : Mild Or Severe?, Laurie Depiazzi

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The footrot eradication scheme in Western Australia has resulted in a low prevalence of severe footrot.

To appreciate the achievement, we need to understand what exactly is being eradicated. 'S' strains of Dichelorbacter nodosus, the infectious bacterium of footrot, are the target of footrot eradication. Laurie Depiazzi examines the basis for eradicating 'S' strains.

Cerebral Microcirculatory Effects Of Maturation, Scott R. Elliott

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The present studies demonstrate that in the second (2B) and fourth (4B) branches of newborn and adult sheep middle cerebral arteries, 5-HT2 serotonergic receptors mediate contractile responses to serotonin and that alpha-1 adrenergic receptors mediate contractile responses to norepinephrine. In addition, tissue sensitivity to 5-HT and NE decreases significantly with maturation, but does not vary with branch order. These age-related changes were associated with a decrease in affinity and maximum response in 2B and 4B segments of 5-HT and NE contracted arteries, respectively. Norepinephrine and 5-HT occupancy at the pD₂ rose significantly in 2B segments, but did not change …

Quality Wool Production At Lower Cost, Peter Metcalfe

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Low wool prices are forcing farmers to reduce their sheep management costs but, fortunately, cost cutting is not resulting in lower wool production, poorer wool quality or lessened sheep care on the best wool growing properties.

Lupin Stubbles : Getting The Best With Weaner Sheep, Keith Croker, Colin Mcdonald, Jeremy Allen

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Sweet lupins are now grown on about a million hectares in Western Australia each year. If half of the State's seven million weaners were grazed as recommended on half of the lupin stubbles, it could generate about $15 million from reduced supplementary feeding, greater wool production and other advantages. But correct management is important, particularly knowing when to take weaners out. Research by the Department over the last five years is now indicating how this should be done.

Miscellaneous Publication No 33/93 - Virulent Footrot A Farmer's Guide To Eradication, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Animal production and livestock published reports

The first thing to understand about virulent footrot is that it can occur on any farm in the medium to high rainfall zone. Persons who regularly buy and sell sheep have a greater risk, but even closed breeding flock properties are at risk from stray sheep.

People often associate footrot with properties managed by inefficient farmers. This is a false belief. Many good farmers have found the disease in their sheep, including high profile studs.

Footrot can strike anywhere and often without warning.

The important thing to remember is that once it is found, getting to know and understand the …

Ai : Artificial Insemination Of Sheep, David Windsor

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Artificial insemination (Al) is used widely in the dairy and beef industries and often performed by farmers themselves. By contrast, sheep breeders generally require assistance from vets when frozen semen is to be used. However, recent experiments with frozen semen are indicating that do-it-yourself Al may soon become a reality.

Isolation Of Trypanosoma Spp. From Wild Tsetse Flies Through Procyclic Expansion In Glossina Morsitans Centralis, Steve Mihok, Eli N. Munyoki, Freddie Masaninga, Paul N. Ndegwa, Reardon O. Olubayo

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Procyclic trypanosomes from wild tsetse flies were membrane-fed to Glossina morsitans centralis in order to develop an optimal technique for propagating field isolates. A 70% success rate was achieved in isolating Trypanosoma simiae and a variety of genotypes of T. congolense originating from G. pallidipes, G. brevipalpis and G. swynnertoni. Parasites matured into forms infective for mammals, and could be maintained by passage of gut forms to new groups of flies. In experiments with laboratory stocks, we also passaged immature gut infections of T. congolense and T. brucei from various tsetse species to G. m. centralis. The optimal technique was …

Do Farmers Really Want To Eradicate Sheep Lice?, Chris Hawkins

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

With the termination of Western Australia's Sheep Lice Eradication Campaign in 1993 farmers' views about the eradication of sheep lice are of greater relevance now than in the past. Lice control now rests with individual farmers and continuing local lice cell groups .

A recent survey of producers in the Moora Shire provides some key insights into farmers' thoughts about sheep lice and their eradication.

Progress Toward Eradication Of Virulent Footrot, Bob Mitchell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia is well placed to eradicate virulent footrot from the State's sheep and goat populations.

Between 1950 and 1993 the proportion of sheep flocks with footrot fell from about 15 per cent to less than 2 percent, and the 1990-92 outbreak has been turned around. One hundred and eighty properties (]. 7 per cent) of flocks, mostly in the high rainfall South-West, are in quarantine for footrot today.

This high level of footrot control is the result of strong support from the sheep industry and years of good cooperation between farmers and the Department of Agriculture.

Western Australia leads …

Choosing Shower Dips For Sheep Lice, Tony Higgs, Bob Love

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The performance of all shower dip chemicals for sheep lice can vary depending on the active chemical and the conditions under which they are used.

Department of Agriculture trials have indicated that the wettable powders coumaphos and magnesium fluorosilicate were less effective at eradicating sheep lice than were synthetic pyrethroid and organophosphate dipping chemicals.

However, failure to eradicate sheep lice may be the result of several factors, many of them related to management.

Are Foxes Serious Predators Of Stock?, Peter Mawson, John Long

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Commercial farming of goats for mohair, cashmere and meat production is a rapidly developing industry in the south-west of Western Australia.

In this article, the authors discuss the results of two studies conducted by the Agriculture Protection Board in which the levels of predation of kids and lambs by foxes in commercial goat flocks, and an experimental multiple-birth genotype sheep flock in the southwest of Western Australia, were measured.

Understanding The Importance Of Eperythrozoon Ovis Infection In Sheep, Marc Kabay

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Assigning priorities for research on sheep diseases relies in part on understanding the prevalence and economic impact of each disease.

Eperythrozoon ovis infection in sheep, for example is a common, but not costly, disease.

New Technique Joins The Fight Against Footrot, Laurie Depiazzi, Mike Palmer, David Pitman

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The diagnosis of footrot in sheep and goats is not an easy task. Two main techniques are used for diagnosis - inspection of diseased feet on a farm and laboratory testing of bacteria isolated from foot scrapings. The interpretation of the results obtained by these methods requires a good understanding of the various forms of footrot.

A new laboratory technique has halved the time taken to detect those strains of the bacterium, Bacteroides (Dichelobacter) nodosus, that cause each form of the disease.

Getting The Best Out Of Weaner Sheep In The Eastern Wheatbelt, Sally Revell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A study of the growth of Merino weaner flocks over summer and autumn in Western Australia 's eastern wheatbelt during 1989 and 1990 has identified efficient weaner management strategies, and provided a basis for future research and extension needs of this area. The average liveweight of several weaner flocks was unexpectedly low at the start of summer. Weaner flocks may need to be supplemented before the start of summer to prevent undue weight loss at this time.

Phomopsis-Resistant Lupin Stubbles As Feed For Weaner Sheep, Colin Mcdonald, Keith Croker, Jeremy Allen

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The breeding of sweet, narrow-leafed lupins with increased resistance to Phomopsis leptostromiformis, the fungus that causes lupinosis in sheep, is a breakthrough for the summer nutrition of weaner sheep. The new resistant varieties, Gungurru for the medium (325 to 450 mm) rainfall areas and Yorrel for low rainfall areas (less than 325 mm), were released by the Department of Agriculture in 1988.

This article discusses progress in a four-year project which is examining liveweight and wool production of weaners grazing Gungurru stubbles.

The Accumulation And Run-Down Of Dieldrin In Wethers Grazed On Paddocks Previously Treated With Dieldrin, Tony Albertsen, Roy Casey, Keith Croker

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In mid 1987, the organochlorines (O/Cs) DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor and chlordane were deregistered for agricultural and horticultural use in Australia. These chemicals had been used widely, and land on several hundred Western Australian farms, particularly where potatoes had been grown, was contaminated with chemical residues. Livestock grazing pastures on such land was also contaminated, and our beef exports were threatened. In 1988, the Western Australian Department of Agriculture started a two-year project to collect information from sheep which were grazed on land that had previously been treated with O/Cs, particularly dieldrin. The levels of O/Cs in body and wool fats …

Economic Impact Of Growing Phomopsis-Resistant Lupins, J M. Warren, Jeremy Allen, Wallace Cowling

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The planting of Phomopsis-resistant lupins will increase net farm income. They will also alter the traditional blend of pastures and cropping, depending on grain and wool prices. In mixed farming areas of Western Australia's southern wheatbelt, they will allow more land to be sown to lupins rather than cereals on farms in which the lack of sheep feed over summer severely restricts wool production.

The benefits of Phompsis-resistant lupins arise from a reduction in sheep deaths due to lupinosis, a longer safe grazing period (free from lupinosis) on lupin stubbles, a decrease in the need for supplementary sheep feed over …

The Sandplain Lupin : Its Nutritional Value And Grazing Management, P W. Morcombe

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The sandplain lupin or Western Australian blue lupin (Lupinus cosentinii) was introduced to the West Midlands at the turn of the last century. Since that time it has been used as a self-regenerating summer forage for sheep and cattle.

Being deep rooted, it has adapted well to the sandy soils from Perth to Northampton, and plantings now cover more than 100,000 ha.

As few other improved pasture species will persist on these deep sands the sandplain lupin provides an important source of summer feed for grazing livestock. A stand can be grazed throughout summer at stocking rates of 10 to …