REFERENCE OF 1996 U.S. SHEEP HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

In 1995, the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) collaborated with the Research and Education Division of the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) in developing a needs assessment tool to identify the most important health and productivity factors for the sheep industry. In collaboration with the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), a statistically designed producer sample was selected to provide estimates for the United States sheep population in the 48 contiguous states. The NAHMS/ASI questionnaires were mailed to 19,807 sheep operations in January 1996; data were received and summarized from 5,174 respondents. It was estimated that in the 48 contiguous states, there were 82,040 operations with sheep as of 1995; approximately 85 percent of the operations were farm flocks. The illnesses estimated to be present on the highest number of operations included stomach/intestinal worms (49 percent), mastitis (38 percent), footrot (28 percent), and scours (28 percent). It was estimated that 86 percent of sheep received some form of clostridium vaccine and 66 percent of sheep received ivermectin during the previous three years. Thirty-five percent of operations were estimated to have used antibiotics in feed or water within the past three years. Fifty-five percent of operations were estimated to use flushing for reproductive management. It was estimated that 66 percent of operations used some method of predator management. Wool was a source of income on an estimated 77 percent of operations ; slaughter lambs were a source of income on an estimated 72 percent of operations. Conditions that limited profitability on the greatest estimated number of operations were price volatility (50 percent) and cost of feed (43 percent). Contact for this paper: Nora Winelan