Five-Point Plan cuts sheep lameness by two-thirds

Fully implementing the industry’s Five-Point Plan (5PP) can reduce lameness in sheep by up to two-thirds, fresh figures have shown.

MSD Animal Health conducted 83 on-farm assessments across 24 farms – more than 21,000 sheep – between 2021 and 2024, finding lameness reductions between 57% and 67% when all five elements of the plan were followed.

The 5PP for tackling lameness in sheep was first introduced in 2014 by the Food Animal Initiative, focusing on five areas – vaccinate, avoid, treat, quarantine and cull – with the goal of reaching the Farm Animal Welfare Committee’s target of reducing lameness to 2% or less.

Targeted improvements

MSD’s data showed an average 63% reduction in lameness in farms that implemented targeted improvements identified through the 5PP on-farm planner.

Average scores improved from 13.4 to 22.9 out of 25, a gain of 9.5 points.

Duncan Sinclair, associate director of MSD’s markets access team, who led the work, said: “The Five-Point Plan has been established for many years, yet lameness remains a persistent issue.

“These results show the impact of addressing key risk factors in a structured and consistent way.”

He highlighted inconsistent vaccination against footrot, gaps in “avoid” measures – including inconsistent use of lime in high-traffic areas and irregular movement of mineral buckets – and delays in treating lame sheep and inconsistent recording of affected animals and limbs, as lower scoring areas in the assessments with room for improvement.

Veterinary professionals and farmers are invited to a free dedicated sheep lameness webinar, held at 7pm on Thursday 16 July, to find out more about the group’s work.