Commercial sheep flock owners looking for a 'practical and affordable' Maedi Visna scheme have been invited to consider the new offering from Axiom Veterinary Laboratories.

The firm's Catriona Ritchie has a significant amount of experience in the field, having previously managed the SAC’s Sheep and Goat Health Schemes – and in consultation with commercial flock owners and other sheep vets, she has now designed the MV Monitored-Free Sheep Health Scheme.

Ms Ritchie said: “Currently there is a gap in the market for a source of MV tested sheep from commercial flocks. This low cost scheme will provide a source of breeding replacements from flocks that have been tested for MV and shown to be at a low risk of having infection. Whilst it is not a guarantee that flocks are free of infection it is better than buying sheep with no idea of their flock of origin’s status.”

Under the Axiom scheme, blood sampling is carried out on a proportion of the flock to give a 95% confidence that the flock is either free from MV infection or that it is at less than a 5% level.

She added: “Scheme membership is likely to appeal to commercial type flocks that are selling breeding female replacements as well as those who wish to monitor their flock to detect any early incursion of infection so that control measures can be put in place before the economic impact occurs. Flocks that are infected with MV can also join the scheme to benefit from reduced test rates and veterinary advice to aid in the control of infection.”

Flocks will be given MV Monitored Free status following a clear screen test. Testing will be required on an annual basis and the number of years that the flock has tested as clear will be shown on the flock health declaration. This will also have a section to allow vendors to provide buyers with more detailed information on the products that the sheep have received – vaccinations, wormer, scab and blowfly preventions and the dates they were given, plus results of any other tests carried out on the sheep, such as for Border disease virus and CLA.

Bought-in sheep must either be from MV Accredited or MV Monitored-Free flocks or must be kept separate and have a negative MV test before joining the flock.

However, what is on offer is a 'lower tier' scheme than the MV accreditation scheme, so sheep with MV Monitored-Free status cannot enter MV accredited sections at shows or sales.

More information on the scheme and blood test forms can be found at www.cattlehealthscheme.com or obtained by e-mailing dsfarm@axiomvetlab.co.uk