USDA Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health Releases Second and Third Sheep 2001 Reports

Veterinary Services

June 4, 2003

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) released the second and third descriptive reports for its Sheep 2001 study. Copies of Part II: Reference of Sheep Health in the United States, 2001, and Part III: Lambing Practices, Spring 2001 have been shipped to industry members across the country.

Sheep 2001 is NAHMS’ second national sheep study, the first being the NAHMS 1996 National Sheep Survey, which provided an overview of sheep health, productivity, and management on 5,174 U.S. sheep operations.

For the NAHMS Sheep 2001 study, data were collected on sheep management practices via personal interviews from a representative sample of sheep operations in 22 States. These 22 States included the major sheep–producing States, accounting for 87.4 percent of the January 1, 2001, U.S. sheep inventory and 72.3 percent of U.S. sheep producers. Here are just a few highlights from the latest Sheep 2001 reports:

The majority of operations (84.3 percent) allowed visitors access to their sheep–raising areas
during 2000. Only 22.6 percent of these operations had any biosecurity requirement for visitors.
Overall, 30.2 percent of operations had never heard of Johne’s disease, 7.4 percent had never heard of scrapie, and 31.5 percent had never heard of ovine progressive pneumonia.
Just over half of all operations (50.6 percent) had ewes that aborted within the last 3 years. Nearly 9 out of 10 (88.8 percent) of these operations removed placentas or fetuses from the lambing areas as soon as possible. The most commonly reported known infectious causes of abortions were campylobacteriosis (8.8 percent), chlamydiosis (8.5 percent), and toxoplamosis (6.0 percent).
Overall, 95.9 percent of operations docked their lambs' tails during 2000. Of these operations, 76.8 percent docked their lambs' tails at either the caudal fold (55.4 percent) or longer than the caudal fold (21.4 percent).
For operations that had weaned lambs (feeder lambs) intended for market during 2000 and that vaccinated these lambs, only 15.3 percent of them used the intramuscular route for injecting vaccinations. Of these operations, the greatest percentage gave vaccines in the leg (44.8 percent). Fewer gave vaccinations in either the neck (34.4 percent) or loin (2.9 percent).
More operations used oral dewormers than either injectable or pour–on dewormers. The four dewormers used most commonly were: oral Ivermectin (45.7 percent of operations); Albendazole (41.3 percent of operations); Fenbendazole (31.4 percent of operations); and injectable Ivermectin (31.4 percent of operations).

If you would like to request copies of the Sheep 2001 reports or access additional reports go to the Veterinary Service's Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/cahm.

Note to Stakeholders: Stakeholder announcements and other APHIS information are available on the Internet. Access the APHIS home page by pointing your Web browser to http://www.aphis.usda.gov and clicking on the "News" button. For additional information on this topic, contact Teresa Howes (970) 494-7410 or teresa.k.howes@aphis.usda.gov.

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