For sheep farmers in particular, a good dog is one of your greatest assets. They make your day run efficiently and do what no-one else can to muster sheep. The modern sheep dog is the product of improved breeding, sound training methods and better health care. To function at maximum capacity, these performance-bred and trained animals require specialised nutrition. Here are a few tips which will lead to better performance of your dog.

Energy is key

The best way to provide working dogs with energy is high-fat products. Dogs can sprint faster when fed increased fat. Fat is the ideal source of energy for dogs because it has over twice the energy per gram compared with carbohydrates of protein.

What about protein?

Muscle size, density of blood vessels within muscle, and activity of enzymes, which are all made from amino acids, are known to increase with athletic training. For decades, soybeans and corn gluten have been used as a cheap source of protein, and while dogs survive on this food they thrive on the amino acids provided by animal protein.

So, what is the best diet for working dogs?

• Nutrient dense diet with a high level of fat
• Animal based protein source, with high levels of crude protein
• More than just meat – meat alone does not make a balanced diet
• Cooked meat – food-borne infection is a major complication of feeding fresh meat
• Only feed <10% “treats” – table scraps, liver treats etc

Tri-Solfen was developed as a topical gel for application to a sheep's mulesing wound straight after the operation to provide quick, long lasting pain relief and antiseptic cover. This product has now also been shown to be effective at relieving pain associated with castrating calves, an exciting development that will enable producers to improve animal welfare during this process.

Tri-Solfen contains:
Lignocaine – for rapid anaesthesia
Bupivacaine – for longer duration anaesthetic action – 24 hours
Adrenaline – to constrict blood vessels and stem the haemorrhage
Cetrimide – an antiseptic to reduce potential for infection

The medication is applied as a spray via an adjustable applicator (similar to a vaccinator gun). During calf castration, it is applied to the spermatic cord of each testicle before removing them, and then another dose is applied to the skin incision.

In calf castration trials, Tri-Solfen significantly alleviated pain and reduced pain-related behaviours - in fact calves that had been treated with Tri-Solfen showed similar behaviours to the uncastrated group.

The availability of Tri-Solfen for use with calves provides us with a simple to use, effective, readily available product to maximise the welfare of calves undergoing castration. Ask us if you'd like more information about Tri-Solfen's applications.

The MLA have developed a great resource Is it fit to load? to help you decide whether an animal is fit to be loaded, for transport by road or rail to any destination within Australia. It is an offence to load and transport an animal in away that causes, or is likely to cause, it unnecessary harm. These Standards replace the individual state and territory codes of practice regarding animal welfare, so the same rules for livestock transport now apply nationwide. 

An animal is not fit for the journey if it:

• cannot walk normally, bearing weight on all legs
• is severely emaciated or visibly dehydrated
• is suffering from severe visible distress or injury
• is in a condition that could cause it increased pain or distress during transport
• is blind in both eyes
• is in late pregnancy

If you identify an animal which is unfit to load, you can:

• treat the animal and transport it when recovered and fit to load
• humanely destroy the animal
• consult a vet and then transport the animal only under veterinary advice

The guide also includes feed and water curfews, and specific examples of animals which are unfit to load. Please ask us if you're not sure about an animal's fitness to travel.

Remember: If in doubt – leave it out!