This resource was updated as part of the veterinary review process. It was originally published on April 10, 2018.

Veterinary Review Initiative
This resource has been reviewed for accuracy and clarity by a qualified Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with farmed animal sanctuaryAn animal sanctuary that primarily cares for rescued animals that were farmed by humans. experience as of September 2023. Check out more information on our Veterinary Review Initiative here!

When a new sheep arrives at your sanctuary, there are a number of critical steps that must be taken to ensure the safety and health of the incoming resident, the existing residents, and yourself! In this resource, we’ll discuss important incoming protocols for sheep, but as you’ll see, the specifics of your incoming protocols may vary depending on your region, philosophy of care, and unique circumstances. The following information is meant to give folks a basic understanding of the types of incoming protocols that may be necessary when welcoming sheep to their sanctuary, but we recommend folks work with their veterinarian to identify the most appropriate incoming protocols for their residents.

Take Notes!
Remember to keep good track of all intake information and records of any new resident. Find our Resident Record Keeping guide here.

Identify The Specific Needs Of Incoming Individuals

Before welcoming a new resident, it’s important to have at least a basic understanding of their species’ needs so that you can prepare to meet those needs. We provide general recommendations regarding the nutritional, housing, and care requirements of sheep, but it’s important to consider if new arrivals have different needs or require any special accommodations based on factors such as their age, health status, known history, or the circumstances of their recent living situation. In some cases, this will be something you can figure out before even meeting the new arrival based on the information you are provided with, but other times you’ll gather this information after their arrival, for example, during their intake evaluation, during a veterinary exam, or during your observation of the individual (as described below). 

Each new resident and situation will be different, but we want to highlight a few of the more common situations sanctuaries may encounter and how to proceed:

• Welcoming neonates – Lambs have very different needs than mature sheep. It’s important to be aware of these differences before welcoming a lamb to your sanctuary so that you can provide them with the care they need to thrive. You can read more about caring for lambs here. If you welcome a mother along with her nursing lamb(s), you should not separate them unless absolutely necessary for their health. If you need to separate them, allow them to be close enough to touch if they choose to, if you can!
• Welcoming pregnant or lactating sheep – Pregnant sheep have different needs than other sheep, and their needs change depending on how far along they are. You can read more about caring for pregnant sheep here, but you should work with an experienced veterinarian to determine the most appropriate diet and care practices for the unique individuals in your care. Similarly, lactating individuals have different needs, particularly in terms of diet. You can read more about caring for lactating sheep here.
• Welcoming elderly individuals – While some older sheep will continue to thrive with the same care you provide to other sheep residents, other individuals may require something different, such as supplemental food or additional warmth in colder temperatures. You can read more about caring for elderly sheep here. 
• Welcoming individuals who have been starved – While we generally recommend providing free-choice access of appropriate forages to sheep, offering unrestricted food to an individual who has been starved can result in serious health complications. If the new individual(s) is from a starvation situation, you must work closely with your veterinarian to determine what to feed them.
• Welcoming a group consisting of both sheep and goats – Because sheep are much more susceptible to copper toxicity than goats, it is imperative that sheep only be fed mineral mixes and concentrates that are labeled for sheep – those labeled for goats will often have copper levels that are too high, putting sheep at risk of toxicity. However, if the sheep and goats are to live together long term, your goat residents may require copper supplementation. Be sure to work with your veterinarian to determine if this is necessary and, if so, how to safely provide this. Supplementing with too much copper or supplementing without assessing your residents’ copper intake from food, minerals, water, and other sources could result in copper toxicity, which can be fatal.
• Welcoming an unneutered male (ram) – If the new resident is a mature ram, you should take time to closely observe his behavior before entering his living spaceThe indoor or outdoor area where an animal resident lives, eats, and rests. and make sure staff who will work with him know what physical cues to be on the lookout for that may indicate he is frightened or feeling confrontationalBehaviors such as chasing, cornering, biting, kicking, problematic mounting, or otherwise engaging in consistent behavior that may cause mental or physical discomfort or injury to another individual, or using these behaviors to block an individual's access to resources such as food, water, shade, shelter, or other residents.. Not all rams are confrontational, but they do have the potential to behave quite differently than a neutered male and can cause serious injury if they slam someone, so it’s important to really assess their response to human presence and interaction.
• Welcoming fearful individuals and/or escapees – If the new arrival is very agile and appears to be fearful, or if the new resident is assumed to have escaped from their previous living situation, be sure to assess if your quarantineThe policy or space in which an individual is separately housed away from others as a preventative measure to protect other residents from potentially contagious health conditions, such as in the case of new residents or residents who may have been exposed to certain diseases. space can safely contain them. A frightened sheep may try to jump a fence, and you might be surprised by just how high a sheep can jump if they feel they need to. Not only do you want to avoid the new resident getting loose, but they could also seriously injure themselves while trying to escape. Any time you take in fearful individuals, it is important to find gentle ways to help them become more comfortable around their caregivers. They may never become residents who crave human attention (though some individuals who arrive very fearful, certainly do!), but you should be able to ease their fears (and hence increase their comfort) even if they choose to keep their distance from humans.

Adhere To A Quarantine Policy

While the specifics of what each new arrival needs in terms of things like diet or housing may vary, one universal truth is that all new arrivals must be quarantined to prevent possible disease spread between the new resident and others. Quarantine is critical for all new residents of any species, even if they appear healthy and even if you know exactly where the individual came from! Quarantine procedures protect the rest of your residents (and the humans who care for them) from infectious diseases that may not be producing clinical signs in a healthy-looking arrival – an entire herd or flock could be easily infected and possibly even killed by certain infectious diseases. You can read more about quarantine protocols here. 

If you’re taking in a group of sheep that were living together previously, you can probably quarantine them together since it’s likely that any infectious diseases one has the others have already been exposed to, and staying together may put the new residents more at ease. However, if an individual seems very ill, is behaving oddly, or has an open abscess, they should be isolated from the others and evaluated by a veterinarian. Additionally, if the group includes a mix of females and unneutered males who are sexually mature, you will need to take steps to prevent breeding. When welcoming a group of individuals, be sure to monitor them to ensure that the current social dynamics are safe – just because they came in together, doesn’t necessarily mean they get along well. If anyone appears to be getting picked on, find a way to split the group to reduce tensions while avoiding anyone having to live alone unless absolutely necessary.

Enrichment Can Help!
Companionship for flock animals such as sheep is very important to their health. While quarantine must be given priority for new residents, it’s important to also consider their mental well-being during this time. An enrichment plan can go a long way in reducing stress, boredom, and loneliness for a quarantined individual, and we’ve got multiple resources that can give you ideas for how to do this. We suggest starting with our resources on social enrichment and sheep-safe enrichment.

Evaluating A New Sheep’s Health

When welcoming a new resident to your sanctuary, it is imperative that you assess their overall health to ensure you are addressing any issues as soon as possible. This is accomplished through initial observations, an intake evaluation, ongoing observation, and possibly a veterinarian’s assessment of the individual, especially if the new resident shows any signs of concerns or is part of a pending cruelty case. Diagnostic testing also plays an important role in evaluating the new arrival’s health and will be discussed in its own section later on in this resource.

Veterinary Examinations For New Arrivals
If a new arrival is showing signs of concern, you should consult with your veterinarian to determine the best course of action, which may be to have them seen immediately or to schedule an upcoming exam and closely monitor them in the meantime. But what about individuals who are seemingly healthy or who have minor issues that you are properly trained to manage on your own? If possible, it’s beneficial to schedule a time for them to be examined by your veterinarian as well! In addition to potentially catching health concerns you were not aware of, your veterinarian will be able to gather information specific to the individual that may come in handy later on (for example, baseline blood work and vitals). Additionally, seeing the new resident and understanding their history will allow your veterinarian to make specific recommendations regarding their care, which might include a slight alteration to your typical intake procedures.

Initial Observations

Whenever you welcome a new resident to your sanctuary, it is crucial that you spend some time observing the individual upon arrival to determine any immediate needs they may have that you were not previously aware of (such as those listed above). If you or your staff pick up the individual and transport them back to the sanctuary, this observation process will actually begin before the new resident sets foot on sanctuary grounds. Through thoughtful observation, you may be able to identify signs of concern that warrant immediate veterinary care or further assessment on your part. In addition to helping to determine if the individual needs immediate veterinary care, this part of the intake process can also help determine if an intake evaluation (described below) should happen immediately or if it can wait until the new resident has settled in a little bit. In instances where you are taking in multiple new residents, your initial observations can help inform the order in which you perform intake evaluations, prioritizing individuals who appear to require more immediate assessment.

In addition to observing new arrivals for signs of concern, this is also a good time to consider your current plans in terms of their care, diet, housing, etc. and whether or not these plans need to be adjusted based on your initial observations.

Identification
If you are taking in sheep who look very similar, you must have a system of identifying each individual while you are getting to know who is who. The use of properly fitting leg bands can be helpful for staff or volunteers who are working on learning everyone’s name and can also be a good way to make sure information is being recorded for the correct individual. When using leg bands, they should be checked regularly to ensure they are not becoming too tight, and you must take care if using them on individuals who are still growing. Alternatively, some sanctuaries prefer to use collars for identification, but these can pose more safety risks than leg bands and must be used thoughtfully. As with leg bands, you must ensure that collars fit properly. While a collar that is too tight is obviously dangerous, a collar that is too loose is also dangerous because it may become caught on something (such as an element of their living space or another resident’s horn), putting the individual at risk of serious injury or strangulation. Because of this, if you want to use collars, we recommend using breakaway collars that residents can break free of should they become caught on something.

What About Ear Tags?
Ear tags are not a form of identification we recommend for sanctuaries because they are an invasive form of identification that causes pain, and there are other pain-free ways for caregivers to reliably identify residents. Additionally, ear tags perpetuate the notion that farmed animalsA species or specific breed of animal that is raised by humans for the use of their bodies or what comes from their bodies. are numbers rather than individuals. But what if a new sheep arrives with an ear tag? Should it be left in? Unfortunately, this is not an easy question for us to answer. We recommend familiarizing yourself with the regulations in your region and consulting with your veterinarian and legal counsel for guidance. In most cases, it is considered unlawful to remove official ear tags, though some sanctuaries understand this and choose to do so anyway. Non-official ear tags are typically fine to remove (though we do recommend saving these and keeping them with the individual’s record).

It’s important to understand the possible ramifications of removing ear tags for the resident and your organization if it is discovered that official tags have been removed or if a resident escapes and is picked up by another individual, such as a farmer. Sometimes, an official ear tag is the only way to prove that the individual is free from certain diseases, and lacking this proof could put the individual (and those they have come into contact with) at risk of government control efforts. Additionally, if the individual is to be adopted out of your region, official identification will likely be necessary as part of transport across state lines, so removal may mean they need to be retagged later on (though an official microchip may be a suitable alternative). Ear tags are also one of the more broadly recognized and more obvious ways of showing “ownership” of farmed animalA species or specific breed of animal that is raised by humans for the use of their bodies or what comes from their bodies. species such as sheep. While this is one of the reasons sanctuaries may be opposed to the practice of keeping ear tags in, there may also be a situation where the presence of an ear tag makes it easier to prove “ownership” of a resident who gets loose. While microchips can also be used as proof of “ownership,” not everyone who finds a stray sheep is going to consider the possibility of them being microchipped, meaning a loose resident may be assumed to be “owner-less” if they do not have an ear tag.  

If an individual with an official ear tag develops an infection in the area of the tag and your veterinarian deems the tag must be removed, they can advise you on how to best proceed (which may require the tag be replaced and that the appropriate agency be notified). Like many farmed animal sanctuariesAnimal sanctuaries that primarily care for rescued animals that were farmed by humans., we are strongly against the practice of ear tagging and recognize the important symbolism of ear tag removal once the individual has found sanctuary, but we also believe it is important that sanctuaries fully understand the potential risks involved when it comes to removal of official identification. Seek legal counsel so that you fully understand the potential risks involved and have a plan in place should you find yourself in legal trouble.

In instances where ear tags must be left in, it is important that sanctuaries continue to differentiate themselves from exploitative settings. All residents should be named, and their names should be the primary way in which they are referred to and communicated about. When talking with guests or sharing stories online, explaining why a certain resident has an ear tag and making a point of stressing that their ear tag is not who they are, can go a long way in both educating the public about how farmed animals are treated and how sanctuaries are different.

Prioritizing An Intake Evaluation

It’s important to perform an intake evaluation on all new residents. Ideally, we recommend new arrivals either be seen by a veterinarian or have an intake evaluation performed within 24 hours of arrival, though some individuals may need even more immediate assessment. An intake evaluation includes conducting a full health check to evaluate the individual’s overall health and to learn more about the individual, as well as to gather important information for their permanent record. Be sure to follow quarantine procedures while conducting the intake evaluation. To learn more about the intake evaluation process, including how to prioritize assessing and addressing a new resident’s needs, check out our resource here! If, for whatever reason, you are unable to perform a full health evaluation shortly after their arrival, you will need to closely observe new residents for signs of concern and take steps to address those concerns appropriately.

An intake evaluation is conducted in much the same way as a routine health checkThe Open Sanctuary Project uses the term "health check" to describe health evaluations performed by caregivers who are not licensed veterinarians. While regular health checks are an important part of animal care, they are not meant to be a replacement for a physical exam performed by a licensed veterinarian. – you should check every inch of the individual, looking for any signs of concern and providing any necessary treatments as recommended by your veterinarian. While there are a variety of issues you may find during a new small ruminant resident’s intake evaluation, there are some health challenges that are especially common in new sheep. These include:

• Hoof Issues – Because sanctuaries often take in individuals who may have had their needs neglected, very often new sheep arrive with overgrown hooves. In most cases, you should be able to trim them down to a normal length, but if the hoof is severely overgrown or misshapen and you are not sure how much to trim, you should consult with your veterinarian. Be sure to check for any signs of interdigital dermatitis, foot rot, hoof abscesses, or other abnormalities. You should work with your veterinarian to diagnose any issues and establish a treatment plan.
• Mobility Or Joint Issues – You should assess the individual’s mobility by watching them walk and looking for any abnormalities in their gaitA specific way of moving and the rhythmic patterns of hooves and legs. Gaits are natural (walking, trotting, galloping) or acquired meaning humans have had a hand in changing their gaits for "sport". or shifting of weight when standing. When checking their legs, pay extra attention to their joints, feeling for any heat, swelling, or crepitus (popping or crunching). Mobility and joint issues should be evaluated by a veterinarian to determine the cause and appropriate treatment plan. If a new resident appears to have joint issues and testing for small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) is not part of your intake protocols, talk to your veterinarian about whether or not they think SRLV could be the cause and if they recommend diagnostic testing. SRLV can cause ovine progressive pneumonia, which can manifest as chronic, progressive polyarthritis.
• Respiratory Issues – Watch closely, both during their intake evaluation and during the rest of their quarantine period, for any signs of respiratory illness such as nasal discharge, coughing, an elevated respiratory rate, fever, or breathing that sounds wet, raspy, or wheezy. Your veterinarian can evaluate the individual’s lungs, recommend diagnostic testing, and ultimately offer treatment options. There are various pathogens that can cause respiratory illness in small ruminants, including SRLV.
• Orf (Sore Mouth) – It is not uncommon for young sheep to arrive with orf, though they may not show obvious signs until they have been at the sanctuary for a few days. Be sure to watch closely for any sign of sores developing around their mouth. Orf is contagious, but proper quarantine procedures can prevent spread to other residents. Orf is also zoonotic (can be spread to humans), so it’s imperative that everyone who enters the space follows proper biosecurity procedures, which should include wearing gloves and other protective covering. 
• Abscesses – Check their body thoroughly for any abscesses. Abscesses on the skin manifest as raised lumps, though not every lump is an abscess. One common cause of subcutaneous abscesses is Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL). This disease is spread through contact with the pus. If you take in a group of new small ruminants and only one individual has abscesses, you may want to separate them until diagnostics can be done to determine the cause. If it is CL, it’s possible the others may have already been exposed, but it’s typically a good idea to keep individuals with open abscesses separated while the abscess is draining, especially if CL is a possibility. 
• Excessive Wool – If you are taking in a sheep with overgrown wool during the warm season, you must have them carefully shorn to prevent overheating. In the cold season, evaluate whether the wool would be preferable to leave to keep them warm, or if there is a concern that makes shearing them necessary. In some cases you may need to perform a partial shearing either to better evaluate an area of concern or to address an issue such as urine scald or pizzle end rot. If the sheep has copious amounts of wool or wool that is matted, felted, or full of debris, they may need shorn regardless of the temperatures in order to better evaluate the individual and to make them more comfortable. If an individual needs to be shorn during the cold season, you may need to fit them with a coat or find other ways to keep them comfortably warm.
• Emaciation – It is not uncommon for new sheep to arrive severely underweight. This could be caused by many issues, such as improper diet, dental issues, parasitism, or other disease. New residents who are significantly underweight should be evaluated by a veterinarian, and you should consult with them about how to encourage safe weight gain. Because dental issues are a common but sometimes overlooked cause of weight loss in mature sheep, we recommend asking your veterinarian to examine the teeth of any resident who arrives underweight.
• Barber Pole Worms – While internal parasites may not be an issue in certain climates, in many parts of the world barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) infestations are a serious issue and are quite common. In addition to fecal testing (described below), be sure to check for possible signs of barber pole worm infections, including bottle jaw and pale mucous membranes. If you are trained to perform FAMACHA scoring, this should be done for all new small ruminant residents. Consult with your veterinarian if any individual is overly pale, has bottle jaw, or is showing other signs of barber pole worm or another parasitic infection. They may recommend immediate dewormingThe act of medicating an animal to reduce or eliminate internal parasites, either prophylactically or in response to illness. and other diagnostics to determine if more interventions are necessary.   

In addition to looking for signs of concern during the intake evaluation, you should also determine the following information. In some cases this will require veterinary involvement.

• Determine if males have been neutered – New males should be evaluated to determine if they have already been neutered, though in some cases you may need a veterinarian to help with this if you are unsure if they are intact or not. Intact males should be neutered as soon as your veterinarian deems it appropriate. Waiting until the end of their quarantine period to have them neutered could delay their introduction to other residents, so the sooner you can schedule their neuter, the better. They will need time to recover after the surgery and also can remain fertile for up to 6 weeks after being neutered, during which time they should be kept away from unspayed females. Be aware that cryptorchidism (where one or both testes has not descended into the scrotum) is possible. If an individual who appears to have been neutered is behaving as though they are intact, be sure to discuss the possibility of cryptorchidism with your veterinarian. 
• Assess pregnancy status of females – Females who are sexually mature should be evaluated for pregnancy – you can read more about how to do this here. If laparoscopic ovariectomies are part of your small ruminant care practices, work with your veterinarian to determine if the individual is healthy enough (and mature enough) to undergo the procedure. If an incoming resident is early on in their pregnancy, some sanctuaries choose to administer Lutalyse (or a similar product) to induce miscarriage under the guidance of their veterinarian. Lutalyse and similar products are less effective in sheep than in goats, so if you consider this practice, we suggest having a conversation with a veterinary theriogenologist experienced with sheep to determine the best protocol. This decision ultimately depends on an individual sanctuary’s Philosophy of Care.
• Approximate their age by looking at their teeth – We are not talking about evaluating their dental health here – that definitely requires an experienced veterinarian. However, by observing how many adult teeth a small ruminant has, you can estimate their age, and having a general idea of their age can be very helpful when considering their needs. Unfortunately, if an individual has all of their adult teeth, you really only know they are over 4 years old. If you have never aged a small ruminant before, there are plenty of resources online that show how, or you can work with your veterinarian and have them show you how. Your veterinarian may be better able to guess the age of a sheep who has all their adult teeth by looking at how long or worn they are. When examining their teeth, never put your hand inside their mouth as they have very sharp back molars that can seriously injure a finger!

Ongoing Observation

Some health conditions may take time to show outward symptoms and, as explained below, there are limitations to disease screening tests. Therefore, in addition to evaluating their health upon arrival and during their intake evaluation, it’s important to continue to closely monitor new residents for signs of disease. While all residents should be observed closely each day, extra attention should be paid to new residents during their quarantine period to ensure any potential issues are caught and addressed as soon as possible and before quarantine is discontinued. Of particular note for sheep, be sure to watch closely for signs of abscesses that could be indicative of CL or scabs that could be indicative of orf.  

Incoming Testing

If you have not already done so, work with your veterinarian to determine appropriate incoming testing protocols for new sheep you welcome to your sanctuary. While your veterinarian may recommend additional diagnostic testing for individuals who are showing certain signs of concern, there may be diagnostic tests your veterinarian recommends for all incoming sheep. At a minimum, all new residents should have a fecal sample submitted to check for internal parasites. If parasites are found, your veterinarian will be able to advise you regarding whether or not treatment is recommended. After treating for internal parasites, be sure to submit another fecal sample 10-14 days after treatment to evaluate its effectiveness. In order to help prevent the ever-increasing resistance to available anthelmintics (dewormers), it’s important to only use dewormers when necessary (using screening tools such as FAMACHA and PCVs and in consultation with your veterinarian). Be sure to work closely with your veterinarian if resistance to certain dewormers seems to be an issue.

In addition to fecal testing, your veterinarian may recommend that all new sheep undergo blood testing to screen for certain diseases such as CL, OPP, and Johne’s disease, even if individuals are not showing outward signs of the disease. Consult with your veterinarian to see what tests they recommend for screening purposes and to gather more information about testing protocols. In some cases, testing used for screening purposes is different from the testing that is recommended for individuals showing clinical signs of disease. Depending on the disease you are screening for, very young individuals may need to reach a certain age before they are tested in order to avoid maternal antibody interference. 

It’s helpful to understand the test’s sensitivity and specificity (which will tell you what the chances of a false-negative or false-positive are), but, ultimately, you should defer to your veterinarian when it comes to recommended tests and test interpretation. If an individual tests negative for a particular disease upon arrival, your veterinarian may recommend repeat testing due to the potentially long incubation period of certain infections. 

Below, we’ll discuss screening tests for CL, OPP, and Johne’s disease, but you should defer to your veterinarian for specific guidance. Your veterinarian may also recommend other testing based on the specifics of your region. Certain disease confirmations may require an official report to your local government – if testing for screening purposes only, you may want to have a conversation with your veterinarian about what a positive result would mean for the individual and the sanctuary.

Screening for CL – Blood testing can be used as a screening tool for asymptomatic individuals, but false-negatives are possible and tests may not be able to differentiate between a true positive, a previously-exposed individual, and a vaccinated individual. There are a few different blood tests available, so be sure to talk to your veterinarian or the diagnostic lab about which tests they offer and the limitations of the test. Because of the potentially long incubation period, repeat testing may be recommended. If a new resident has subcutaneous abscesses, the pus should be submitted for bacterial culture. This is a more accurate way to diagnose (or rule out) CL than blood testing.

Screening for OPP – There are various testing methods available including AGID, ELISA, and PCR. AGID and ELISA tests detect antibodies and PCR detects the DNA of the virus. Your veterinarian can recommend the best testing protocol which, due to the limitations of each method, may include a combination of tests. Keep in mind that a true positive does not necessarily mean the individual will develop clinical disease; only 25-30% of positive individuals will go on to show clinical signs of disease. However, it is still possible for these asymptomatic, positive individuals to transmit disease to others, despite the fact that they may appear healthy. Because the time it takes for the body to develop antibodies that can be detected by AGID or ELISA tests vary, it is possible for an incoming resident who has recently been infected to initially test negative because they are not yet producing antibodies. To account for this possibility, we recommend working with your veterinarian to establish appropriate screening protocols for your sanctuary, which may include annual testing or repeated testing for new residents. Importantly, maternal antibodies that a lamb receives from their mother in the colostrum (first milk) can affect antibody tests such as an AGID or ELISA test. Therefore, testing should be delayed until lambs are at least 6 months of age or older. Young individuals who test positive via AGID or ELISA tests should be retested. Again, the best resource for testing and test interpretation is your veterinarian.

Screening for Johne’s disease – Diagnosing Johne’s disease can be difficult, especially when individuals are not showing clinical signs of the disease. Apparently healthy individuals may show exposure to Johne’s through the presence of antibodies in their blood, but it can take up to one year after exposure for antibodies to develop. This delay in antibody production can make diagnosis of exposure through screening antibody detection tests difficult. Additionally, antibody tests are not recommended for individuals under six months of age due to the risk of maternal antibody interference. The ELISA test is typically recommended over the AGID for screening purposes in sheep. Because of the possibility that a newly rescued individual could have been very recently infected, it’s a good idea to retest all incoming residents (who are over six months old) prior to discontinuing quarantine and introducing them to other residents. Based on our conversation with an experienced veterinarian, we suggest waiting at least one month prior to retesting, though your veterinarian may recommend waiting longer than that if you have the quarantine capacity to do so.

Incoming Vaccines

It’s important to work with your veterinarian to establish vaccine protocols for your sheep residents based on the specifics of your resident population and your region. New residents should be vaccinated accordingly and in consultation with your veterinarian. You can read more about vaccines for sheep here.

Establishing and following appropriate intake protocols can make a world of difference when it comes to ensuring the health and safety of your residents. If you haven’t already, be sure to consult with your veterinarian regarding the incoming protocols your sanctuary should adopt.

SOURCES:

Advanced Topics In Resident Health: Small Ruminant Lentiviruses (CAE And OPP)

Advanced Topics In Resident Health: Johne’s Disease (Paratuberculosis)

Advanced Topics In Resident Health: Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL/CLA) In Small Ruminants

An Introduction To Sheep Behavior | University Of Illinois (Non-Compassionate Source)

Footrot In Sheep & Goats | Purdue (Non-Compassionate Source)

Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE) Virus | Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (Non-Compassionate Source)

Non-Compassionate Source?
If a source includes the (Non-Compassionate Source) tag, it means that we do not endorse that particular source’s views about animals, even if some of their insights are valuable from a care perspective. See a more detailed explanation here.