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Elanco Farm Animal Health UK

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Elanco Farm Animal Health UK

Elanco Animal Health promotes the importance of proactive, preventative healthcare in livestock.

This content is intended to be viewed by livestock farmers and their advisers’ On this page, we're providing livestock farmers with best practice advice on preventative health to help maximise animal health, welfare and productivity.

23/01/2026

I’ve noticed some ewes are slipping in condition in mid to late pregnancy. What should I be looking at?

Condition loss at this stage doesn’t just knock lambing performance, it can also affect the future fertility of the ewe lambs they’re carrying.

The first place to look is feed – both quality and availability. If that box is ticked, it’s worth considering whether parasites are playing a part.

Worm burdens aren’t usually an issue in healthy ewes (a worm egg count will confirm), but liver fluke could be and even a small number of liver fluke can drag condition down without obvious clinical signs.

It’s worth having a chat with your vet about the right tests, in the right animals, to pick up any parasite issues early.

20/01/2026

We’re early lambing and we lamb indoors – is coccidiosis likely to be a problem?

Coccidiosis can be easy to miss, but it’s pretty much everywhere. Studies have shown that most lambing sheds and a quite a high proportion of pasture are contaminated, so nearly all flocks will have some background cocci pressure.

For early indoor lambing flocks, the risk is generally low once lambs are turned out, usually before they reach 4–8 weeks. However, issues can arise in a cold, wet spring.

If lambs are kept indoors longer than expected (which can result in overcrowding and hygiene problems) or turned out into damp, muddy conditions this can increase the risk.

If lambs just aren’t doing as well as you’d expect, it’s worth a chat with your vet about hygiene, biosecurity and whether a targeted treatment could help keep cocci under control on your farm.

15/01/2026

While the importance of colostrum quantity and quality is well known, it’s still worth sense-checking the basics to help head off issues like watery mouth or joint-ill as the early lambing season kicks off.

The ‘three Qs’ are a useful checklist:

• Quantity: Aim for 50 ml/kg of colostrum as soon as possible after birth (ideally within 4–6 hours) and a total of 200 ml/kg in the first 24 hours. This gives lambs the energy and antibodies they need to kickstart immunity.

• Quality: Check colostrum quality with a refractometer where you can. It drops if colostrum isn’t collected promptly or becomes contaminated, so clean collection and storage are important. Having frozen reserves from healthy ewes can be a real lifesaver if it falls short.

• Quickly: A lamb’s ability to absorb antibodies tails off fast after birth. Getting colostrum in within the first two hours is ideal and helps give lambs a robust start.

12/01/2026

Is it worth fine-tuning ewe BCS in pregnancy, or is ‘near enough’ good enough?

All sheep farmers want lambing to be as straightforward as possible, and keeping on top of ewe body condition throughout pregnancy is one way of stacking the odds in your favour.

Hitting the right BCS at lambing helps to:
• Produce lambs at the optimum birthweight
• Support plenty of good-quality colostrum so lambs get off to a good start.

The AHDB has some really useful advice on how to body condition score and what to aim for with ewes in late pregnancy.

It’s also worth reviewing feed plans with your nutritionist or sheep health adviser so the diet supports those BCS goals.

09/01/2026

Every day, we’re working with sheep farmers who are striving to get the most from their flocks, whether that’s through better animal health, nutrition or day-to-day management.

One of those farmers is Richard Stanbury from Weston Farm in Devon.

Over the past few months, we’ve partnered with Richard and his family, working closely with his vet, SQP, and a team of sheep consultants as they trial new approaches on the farm. Richard is documenting the journey every step of the way.

Want to keep up with what’s happening at Weston Farm? You’ll find the link to his YouTube channel in the comments.

06/01/2026

As we begin the new year, now’s a good moment to think forward to lambing.

Once ewes reach late pregnancy, it's too late to increase body condition – so the work you do to manage your flock in mid-pregnancy really counts.

It’s worth checking body condition scores at every opportunity and ensuring the quality and quantity of forage is adequate to prevent any weight loss, supplementing as necessary.

As you get nearer to lambing, balancing forage quality, energy and protein levels against the needs of the ewe is important to help support immunity at lambing and improve colostrum quality.

Speak to your adviser or nutritionist for feeding advice pre-lambing.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year from everyone at Elanco Animal Health! 🎉

As we welcome the New Year, we’d like to thank all the farmers, vets, advisers and SQPs who continue to support animal health and welfare across the UK.

25/12/2025

Wishing a very Merry Christmas to all our followers and customers🎅❄️

24/12/2025

How do I know which flukicide I should be using?

Different actives are effective against different stages of fluke, so active choice should be based on targeting the right stages of fluke at the right time.

No flukicides have persistent activity so avoiding the fluke challenge if possible is always the best approach.

Your vet, SQP or adviser is the best person to guide you on the right product to use.

22/12/2025

We don’t have the option to bring stock inside this winter, but I’m worried about liver fluke. What can I do?

The risk of infection is higher in wet, muddy areas, especially those that have been wet over the summer, where the mud snail intermediate host will thrive.

In extreme cases, the best option may be to house animals, but if that’s not possible move animals to areas where there is a lower risk of finding mud snails (usually the drier parts of the farm), and use monitoring tools to see if any treatments are required, would be the next best plan.

Temporarily fencing off the wetter areas or putting down some hardcore around troughs and through gateways is also a practical way to help lower the risk of infection.

18/12/2025

Whether cattle are now housed or outwintered, it’s important to review grazing history and treatment timing to make sure the risks from gutworms, lungworm and liver fluke are covered.

The fluke challenge has been low and late on most farms this winter and cattle, whether housed or outwintered, may be at risk from type 2 Ostertagiasis, even if worm egg counts have been low.

17/12/2025

I’ve noticed a loss of condition in my ewes, with some showing signs of bottle jaw. How do I know if this is liver fluke or Haemonchus?

A simple worm egg count will show if these signs might be due to Haemonchus, but take advice from your vet on which tests to use to confirm the diagnosis.

Routine postmortem examination of any fallen stock, even if the cause of death is obvious, will help confirm or rule out the presence of liver fluke and Haemonchus.

Address

Form 2, Bartley Way, Bartley Wood Business Park
Hook
RG279XA

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.farmanimalhealth.co.uk/

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