Livestock Health Kit: Preventive Care for Sheep, Goats, Pigs and Cattle

Start With a Farm Vet, Not a Shopping List

Not every vet practice treats farm animals, and the middle of the night is a bad time to find that out. Before your animals arrive, register with a practice that sees your species and ask for a visit to talk through a health plan. Many practices offer smallholder clubs or plans that make this easier.

A yearly plan usually covers:

• which vaccinations suit your animals and your area;
• a worming plan built on testing (see below);
• feet, teeth, fleece or coat, and body condition scoring;
• biosecurity: quarantining newcomers and buying from healthy herds.

Worming, parasite treatments and other medicines: see your vet or a pet supply store with trained staff. Farm animals are a food-producing species in law in many countries, even as pets, so treatments follow farm rules and need recording.

Worming: Test, Then Ask

Worms are a fact of grazing life, but routinely worming every animal on a calendar has helped worms become resistant to the products used against them. The approach vets and farm advisers now favor is to test first and treat only when and where it's needed.

• Fecal egg counts: a dung sample, tested by your vet or a lab (or by you, with training and a kit), shows how many worm eggs animals are shedding.
• Species matters: sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and camelids differ in which worms matter and in how they handle treatments, so never assume something used for one species suits another.
• Grazing helps: resting and rotating paddocks, not overstocking, and grazing different species in turn all lower the worm burden.

Your vet will tell you whether to treat, with what and how much. In the UK, the SCOPS (sheep) and COWS (cattle) groups publish farmer guidance on sustainable worm control that your vet may point you to.

The Equipment Kit

Keep a lidded box somewhere you can reach in the dark, and restock it after every use. Equipment, not medicines, is what earns its shelf space:

• A digital thermometer and your vet's advice on normal ranges for your species. A temperature reading is the most useful thing you can tell a vet on the phone.
• A weigh tape made for your species. Weight guides feeding, and your vet needs it for any treatment.
• Bandages, cohesive wrap, gauze and clean towels, plus blunt-ended scissors.
• Foot shears for sheep and goats, if your vet or an experienced keeper has shown you how to use them.
• Disposable gloves, a head torch and a halter for the animal you might need to hold.
• A record book (paper or app) for weights, treatments, births and movements.

For wounds, deep cuts, lameness, an animal off its food or anything that worries you, call the vet rather than reaching for a spray. Small animals and young stock go downhill quickly.

Flies, Minerals and Everyday Prevention

Much of livestock health is good housekeeping. Muck out often and keep bedding dry, move feeders and water troughs so the ground around them doesn't poach into mud, and hang fly traps around housing in summer. Sheep in particular need checking at least daily in warm weather, because flies can strike quickly; your vet can advise on prevention.

Minerals matter too, and the needs differ sharply by species. Sheep are far more sensitive to copper than goats or cattle, so never give sheep a mineral, lick or feed made for another species. See our goat minerals page and ask your vet whether your land is short of anything.

Medicine Records and Withdrawal Periods

Because farm species can enter the food chain, any medicine they are given comes with a withdrawal period: the time before meat or milk from that animal can be used. In the UK, keepers of food-producing animals must record what was given, when and by whom, and keep the records for at least five years. Other countries have similar food-safety rules.

That applies to pets of these species too. Keep your vet's paperwork with your record book, and ask your vet to explain the withdrawal period whenever an animal is treated.