This manual is intended for the busy, rural veterinary practitioner who is not an expert in sheep health management but is occasionally called upon to deal with flock health problems. It is the 2nd edition of the textbook by the same authors published in 1996 and entitled “Outline of Clinical Diagnosis in Sheep.” The 2nd edition covers not only diagnosis, but also treatment and control, hence the name change. It appears to be well revised and updated, as well as containing much more information than the 1st edition.
The authors recognize that the economics of sheep production are such that producers can seldom have veterinarians visit for individual sick sheep, so they have organized the chapter headings into common presenting complaints that generally involve a production group or the entire flock. The chapters are organized by problems that occur by production period or management group (perinatal lamb loss), or by body system affected (lameness). The chapter titles and subheadings clearly explain the presenting complaint. For example, chapter 2 is titled “Suboptimal reproductive performance.” This chapter is broken down into the subheadings: “problems during mating,” “how to manipulate and monitor pregnancy,” “suboptimal lamb numbers,” and “investigations required prior to next breeding season.” Within each of these sections, the authors further define the presenting complaint. For example, for the subheading “suboptimal lamb numbers,” the authors break this down into the following sections (presenting complaints): “many ewes producing low litter size,” “normal litter size, many barren ewes,” and “normal litter size, inadequate birth weights.” For each presenting complaint, the authors then list the most common hypotheses and suggest ways to further investigate these. Although the main thrust of the text is to provide diagnostic hypotheses for the practitioner, this edition contains more information on guides to diagnoses, as well as treatment, control, and prevention.
The text is very well organized with many bulleted, short lists that make for quick, easy reading. Clear headings and subheadings mean that the pages can be scanned quickly until the relevant section to the problem being investigated is found. In addition, where appropriate, simple algorithms are included in the text to help the practitioner to sort out larger problems. An example of this is a guide to what to look for when investigating periparturient ewe deaths. Important points are bolded and bordered. Tables are used to summarize large amounts of information. For example, the chapter on abortion includes tables on gross pathology of the various causes of abortion, as well as what samples are required for diagnosis; a table on timing of infection in relation to time of abortion; and individual tables with information on the diagnosis of the more common causes of ovine abortion. Several checklists are also included; an example is a very detailed checklist for performing a necropsy of a young lamb. Spread within the text, there are many handy sections of reference material. For example, included in the relevant sections are normal values for semen quantity and quality, activity of chemicals on different external parasites, and how to perform a body condition score on a sheep.
The book also contains 8 appendices filled with very practical information, as valuable as that contained in the main text. The authors give an excellent overview of how to perform a field necropsy and tips on how to differentiate postmortem change from real lesions. Sample taking and sample sending are covered more completely than in most diagnostic laboratory manuals. The rest of the appendices cover the basics of nutrition, vaccination and worming programs, basic flock health programs, and common anesthesia and surgical procedures, as well as a brief overview of common poisons and zoonotic diseases of sheep.
The book is soft cover and the paper quality is good. There are no black and white photographs as in the 1st edition, instead 7 pages of color photographs are included. All this should keep the cost down while maximizing information. Although the book was written for veterinarians in the United Kingdom, it is very useful for Canadian conditions as we share many of the same diseases and management problems. If the practitioner is not familiar with a disease listed in the text, there are several excellent texts that cover, in detail, the diseases of sheep. Consulting one of these will help the practitioner to sort out if this is a valid hypothesis for a North American flock. However, this text should be the first one for the busy rural practitioner to pick up when starting to investigate a flock problem.