How to avoid bringing infection in to your flock or herd from incoming stock

Sophie Cranfield, Westpoint Vets, Horsham discusses managing the risks when buying-in animals to add to your existing livestock

- Sophie Cranfield

Buying-in stock can present one of the biggest infectious disease risks for smallholders. Commercial farms may operate 'closed herds' to prevent buying-in diseases with animals; whilst this may not be practicable with smallholdings there are still plenty of ways to mitigate the risks.

When buying new animals to add to your homestead, sourcing from accredited flocks and herds can greatly reduce the risk of certain diseases. Accreditation schemes for Maedi Visna (MV) in sheep, Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE) in goats, BVD and Johnes disease in cattle stipulate that the herd or flock have had multiple negative tests for these diseases; whilst this does not provide a 100% guarantee that there is no disease it does markedly reduce the risk. These diseases often show no clinical signs in the early days of infection, meaning the disease can spread through your flock or herd before you first see any signs of illness. Other diseases may present very clearly, and you should avoid buying in new stock with signs of ill health: animals with coughing, sneezing, discharge from the nose or eyes, scouring, lameness, or abnormal areas of skin should be treated and be back to full health before being transported to any new site.