We hope your flock aren't feeling itchy... Sheep scab, caused by
a skin mite, is an endemic, notifiable, disease that can cause
great distress, and death, and although has obvious mature
symptoms in the early stages, scab infections are not obvious
and animals can spread the disease undetected, jeopardising
control and possible eradication. The SAC are now developing a
blood test to test for (sheep) scab, as the standard skin scrape
test is not always conclusive. It takes only a few moving scab
mites to make a whole sheep itchy and those few mites may not be
found before they lay eggs... Checking for scab and lice
currently costs £15 for each scrape. When investigating possible
scab infestation 4 – 8 scrapes are normally taken. However,
these laboratory fees will be waived if we're allowed to take a
blood sample of all scrape tested animals and a few of non-
affected animals. This offer from SAC stands until the end of
June, so if you have a suspicious itching check it out! Click
here to go to the SAC website