I’m writing this a couple of days after a Sheep Vet meeting in Aberystwyth. The theme was treatment of sheep without medicines, which may seem an odd thing for a group of vets to discuss.

However, with resistance to wormers growing and increased concern about antibiotic resistance, it’s something we have to consider. A morning on vaccines, covered understanding how the immune system works, new developments such as vaccines for worms and then a discussion on ensuring that our medicines are able to work properly.

A recent survey of farm fridges showed quite a variation in how effective they were, especially in summer. Having spent money on the vaccine, it seems a shame to store it in a fridge that doesn’t work well enough, even a brand new one. As soon as the door opens, the temperature changes, and in summer this can affect the vaccine.

A simple solution is to store the different products in sealed boxes, minimising any temperature changes. Keeping the vaccine cool when in the field can be a challenge too, as can keeping it warm on really cold days.

One winter, I had to keep a pack of vaccine in my shirt, with the tube running down my arm to the injection gun, just to make sure the vaccine didn’t freeze.

We had a visit to the Innovis farm to look how they are bringing some new thinking to the genetics of lamb production, not least as most of our breeds are based on wool as a product. In additions, they’ve changed their grazing systems, aiming to fatten lambs purely from grass, with as little wormer as possible.

They graze in paddocks, measuring the sward every week so that the sheep can make best use of the best grass. More unusually they regard the growth of the lambs as so critical, that they will delay silage making until the lambs are old enough to cope with a small check in growth when grazing on aftermath.

This can mean delaying first cut until mid-July, which is quite a challenge given the wet summers we’ve had.