What’s happening at AHA? Sheep Health Project goes from strength to strength The Sheep Health Project (SHP) has had a successful 2017-2018, with a number of key activities completed to help sheep producers improve their on-farm biosecurity practices and the health of their sheep flock. Coordinated by AHA on behalf of WoolProducers Australia (WPA) and Sheep Producers Australia (SPA), the SHP has had a number of highlights, which include the launch of the new Sheep Health Declaration (SHD), significant levels of inspection in the National Sheep Health Monitoring Project (NSHMP) and the success of a number of communications activities. The creation of the SHD is a particularly important achievement, said Dr Rob Barwell, AHA’s Senior Manager Biosecurity. “The SHD replaced the National Sheep Health Statement and is the most important disease risk management tool sheep buyers have available to them. It enables producers to assess the risk of 18 THE LINK AUT/WIN 18 diseases such as virulent footrot, ovine brucellosis, JD and other biosecurity risks such as noxious and declared weeds when buying, selling or agisting stock,” said Dr Barwell. The SHD is available on the Farm Biosecurity website to print out or download as a fillable PDF. It can also be completed online when submitting an electronic NVD on the LPA portal. More efficient data collection and an increase in the number of sheep inspected as part of the NSHMP were also key achievements for the SHP. “The NSHMP monitors sheep in abattoirs for a number of diseases Bree Beattie, AHA’s Biosecurity Coordinator and conditions and provides feedback to producers, which they can use to manage the health of their sheep flock. I’m pleased to report that in 2017, 5.4 million sheep were inspected, an increase from the same period last year.” “This means that more producers are being supplied with data about their sheep that can help them avoid future losses at the abattoir and boost their profits. The information is now available in Livestock Data Link, which is managed by the ISC,” said Dr Barwell. Another key focus of the SHP is to promote industry management of sheep health and biosecurity, in a way that sustains efficient “It enables producers to assess the risk of diseases such as virulent footrot, ovine brucellosis, JD and other biosecurity risks such as noxious and declared weeds when buying, selling or agisting stock...”
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