Beware sheep measles with stray dogs

A Northbank farmer is urging dog owners to treat their canines for sheep measles before allowing them near farmland after the discovery of sheep measles in his flock reports The Marlborough Express. Northbank farmer Brian Powell said sheep measles had shown up on his property and neighbouring farms. Sheep measles are a small cyst which can be found in the meat of sheep and goats. The condition is often spread onto pasture through the faeces of dogs which have eaten infected raw sheep or goat meat. The Vet Centre's Pete Anderson said sheep measles did not affect sheep too much but was regarded as a defect and infected stock would fetch a lower price. "It's not dangerous to humans, but it isn't very nice to look at and not very pleasant to bite on. "Mr Powell said pig hunters and those who walked their dogs in the area needed to make sure their dogs were treated. "We are not blaming anyone, but all our dogs are treated regularly, " Farmers often blamed town dogs that had eaten raw meat, but they were not the main culprits. He suspected working dogs and pig dogs which were out and about in the country were to blame for the discovery of sheep measles in the Northbank. To stop sheep measles, raw meat fed to dogs needed to be frozen at minus 10 degrees Celsius for at least a week or cooked before it was fed to dogs. "If they are worried about them (dogs) eating uncooked meat they should be given a tapeworm treatment," Mr Anderson said.