A COMMUNITY-LED approach has been launched to improve the control of sheep scab within hot spot areas in England.

The highly infectious disease – which costs the UK sheep industry between £70 and £200 million every year – has remained a significant problem for the health, welfare and productivity of sheep since the 1950s when it was re-introduced via imported sheep. As populations of sheep scab mites in the UK now have proven resistance to one of the main treatment groups, injectable macrocyclic lactones (MLs), it is imperative that the industry makes a concerted effort to bring the disease under control.

This latest English initiative will run over two years, offering participating farmers a unique combination of on-farm advice, best practice training, free blood testing using the sheep scab ELISA test developed by Scotland's Moredun Research Institute, and the payment of costs of visits by a local veterinary surgeon. It will be led by Dr Stewart Burgess at the Moredun, Lesley Stubbings at LSSC Ltd and Professor Richard Wall at Bristol University, alongside partners the National Sheep Association, ADAS, the Farmer Network and Flock Health Ltd.

This co-ordinated approach will be used to demonstrate the control of sheep scab in three focus areas of England where it currently presents a significant problem – the North West, the Midlands and the South West.

The project will engage those farmers willing to work with neighbours and vets in testing, sharing results and undertaking the practical elements required to bring the problem under control. Importantly, the work will be co-ordinated by local industry groups already working with sheep farmers in each focus area, in particular the Farmer Network in the North West, ADAS in the Midlands and NSA in the South West, which should help increase participation.

Farm vets will be highly involved with their clients within the project and will be working closely with the regional coordinators within the clusters.

Dr Burgess commented: “Sheep scab is a real scourge for the sheep industry in the UK and by using new tools like the sheep scab blood test, this exciting new initiative gives us the opportunity to get ahead of the curve in terms of scab control, setting a new benchmark for how we deal with the disease in the future."

Prof Wall, added: “After 50 years of attempts to manage this disease, approaches used to date have clearly failed and it is time, to apply some fresh thinking based on focused management in known scab hotspots."