Sheep Tick-Borne Disease Welfare

Ticks transmit multiple serious diseases to sheep, causing significant suffering and requiring careful welfare-focused management approaches.

Key Facts

Louping ill virus, transmitted by Ixodes ricinus ticks, causes fatal neurological disease in sheep
Tick-borne fever (caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum) weakens immunity and increases secondary infection risk
Climate change is expanding tick habitat ranges, increasing exposure of naive sheep flocks
Tick pyaemia causes joint abscesses in lambs, causing chronic lameness and pain
Sheep in hill and moorland environments have highest exposure to tick burdens
Integrated tick management includes pasture rotation, acaricide treatments and strategic surveillance

Welfare Considerations

Tick-borne diseases cause complex suffering in sheep: neurological disease, severe fever, joint pain and immune compromise leave animals in acute distress. Louping ill causes encephalitis with tremors, incoordination and death - distressing to witness and painful for the animal. Tick pyaemia in lambs causes painful abscesses that may persist for weeks or months. Welfare-focused tick management combines habitat management to reduce tick populations with targeted treatment, vaccination where available and rapid identification and treatment of affected animals. Climate change is making these challenges more urgent as tick ranges expand into previously unaffected areas.

What You Can Do

Support research into louping ill and tick pyaemia vaccines to reduce disease suffering
Advocate for climate adaptation strategies that account for expanding tick-borne disease ranges
Choose wool and sheep products from producers with certified welfare and health management programs
Support veterinary extension programs providing farmers with tick management guidance