Footbathing and Foot Trimming, and No Quarantine: Risks for High Prevalence of Lameness in a Random Sample of 269 Sheep Flocks in England, 2022.

Since 2004, the prevalence of lameness in sheep flocks in England has reduced as farmers have adopted evidence-based management practices to control lameness. In 2011, the Farm Animal Welfare Council proposed a target prevalence of <2% lameness in sheep by 2021. This study investigated whether that target had been achieved and determined which practices were associated with prevalence of lameness.

Incorporating heterogeneity in farmer disease control behaviour into a livestock disease transmission model.

Human behaviour is critical to effective responses to livestock disease outbreaks, especially with respect to vaccination uptake. Traditionally, mathematical models used to inform this behaviour have not taken heterogeneity in farmer behaviour into account. We address this by exploring how heterogeneity in farmers vaccination behaviour can be incorporated to inform mathematical models.

Descriptive analysis of national bovine viral diarrhoea test data in England (2016-2020).

Background: Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) causes substantial economic losses to the cattle industry; however, control and eradication can be achieved by identifying and removing persistently infected cattle from the herd. Each UK nation has separate control programmes. The English scheme, BVDFree, started in 2016 and is voluntary.

Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour.

The spread of infection amongst livestock depends not only on the traits of the pathogen and the livestock themselves, but also on the veterinary health behaviours of farmers and how this impacts their implementation of disease control measures. Controls that are costly may make it beneficial for individuals to rely on the protection offered by others, though that may be sub-optimal for the population. Failing to account for socio-behavioural properties may produce a substantial layer of bias in infectious disease models.

Impact of Strain Variation of on Disease Severity and Presence in Sheep Flocks in England.

and are variants of the apr gene of , the cause of footrot in sheep. They are putative markers for severe and mild disease expression. The aim of our study was to investigate the distribution of and in flocks with and without footrot.

Serogroups of Dichelobacter nodosus, the cause of footrot in sheep, are randomly distributed across England.

We present the largest and most representative study of the serological diversity of Dichelobacter nodosus in England. D. nodosus causes footrot and is one of the top five globally important diseases of sheep.

Increase in the flock prevalence of lameness in ewes is associated with a reduction in farmers using evidence-based management of prompt treatment: A longitudinal observational study of 154 English sheep flocks 2013-2015.

Since 2006, farmers in England have received new recommendations on best practice to manage lameness in sheep through a range of knowledge exchange activities. The adoption of each recommendation varied, but in 2013 approximately 50% of farmers reported treating all lame sheep within 3 days of onset of lameness (prompt treatment), 41% did not practice routine foot trimming, 50% culled sheep that had been lame and 14% vaccinated against footrot; all recommended best practices. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of lameness in ewes in England from 2013 to 2015 and to identify changes in practice to manage lameness between 2013 and 2015 and the population attributable fraction for these managements.