Metabolic Diseases in Sheep: Integrated Welfare Prevention
Sheep are susceptible to multiple metabolic diseases in late pregnancy and early lactation — an integrated prevention approach protects welfare at the highest-risk period.
Key Facts
- Pregnancy toxemia, hypocalcaemia, and hypomagnesaemia can all affect ewes in the periparturient period
- Ewes carrying triplets or quadruplets face multiple simultaneous metabolic risks
- Body condition scoring is the most useful tool for predicting metabolic disease risk
- Targeted supplementation of at-risk ewes reduces incidence dramatically
- Once clinical signs appear, treatment response is much poorer than prevention
Welfare Considerations
The periparturient period concentrates multiple metabolic welfare risks simultaneously in sheep. Pregnancy toxemia, hypocalcaemia, and hypomagnesaemia can each cause rapid deterioration, and their signs overlap — making clinical differentiation difficult without blood testing. The welfare-effective approach treats the periparturient period as a unified risk window requiring nutritional assessment and supplementation of all at-risk ewes (those carrying multiples, in poor body condition, or on deficient diets). Body condition scoring at day 100 of pregnancy identifies thin ewes requiring additional energy supplementation; blood sampling near lambing can identify subclinical metabolic disorders before clinical collapse occurs. Prevention across all three conditions through integrated late-pregnancy nutrition management is highly cost-effective.
What You Can Do
- Body condition score all ewes at day 100 of pregnancy and supplement those below score 3
- Use pregnancy scanning to identify ewes carrying multiples for targeted supplementation programs
- Ensure late-pregnancy diets provide adequate energy, calcium, and magnesium for twin-bearing ewes
- Maintain emergency metabolic supplement supplies on farm for immediate treatment when signs are detected
- Train farm staff to distinguish metabolic diseases from infectious causes to guide treatment