“Many UK hill farmers have similar management practices to those in the Southern Hemisphere, whereby ringing within one week of birth can be very challenging “
Whilst Numnuts has been enthusiastically used in Australia since 2019 and will be launched in New Zealand in 2021, it is not yet available in the UK because of legislation and regulations.
Tail docking and castration of lambs are long-established animal husbandry practices based on a long history of successful sheep farming in the UK. Most UK lambs are ‘ringed’ indoors before 7 days of age to comply with the UK 1954 legislation, a law brought in at a time when less was known about animal behavioural science than today. In Australia and New Zealand where lambs are born outdoors and gathered in for ‘marking’ (includes tagging, vaccinating and ringing) typically between 4-6 week weeks old.
Many UK hill farmers have similar management practices to those in the Southern Hemisphere, where lambs a born ‘free range’ on the hill ringing within one week of birth can be very challenging.
The legislation on the use of rings, differs slightly between Scotland, England and Wales. In England and Wales Vets need clarity or a change in the legislation on rings being used with anaesthetic in lambs >7days.
It is believed by animal behavioural scientists, that lambs experience similar levels of distress being ringed sub 7 days as when they are at a month old. The difference when ringed at a few days old is that they become exhausted quickly, so the display of active pain behaviours is less visible.
The need for pain relief was identified by the UK Government Farm Animal Welfare Council Report in 2008, in recommendations 105 & 106 highlighted. It was this research that led to Numnuts being developed.
The Numnuts applicator and dose-volume have been designed and trialled extensively for high volume throughput 4-8week old lambs, typically 10-20kgs. The active ingredient in NumOcaine is approved for use in sheep in Australia and New Zealand but not in the UK. In the UK there are different local anaesthetics available for sheep, but they are not approved for the volume of anaesthetic used in Numnuts. To get Numnuts to the UK lambs, we need to conduct further trials with a UK approved anaesthetic to confirm efficacy and dose-volume. This evidence can then be presented for approval by the UK regulator. The large scale trials that are required are costly and time-consuming.
We share the frustrations of the many UK hill farmers (and others around the world) who are asking when Numnuts will be available in the to improve the welfare of their lambs.
We are communicating with Chief Veterinary Officers, the British Veterinary Association, Quality Meat Scotland and the National Sheep Associations, to try and source funding to get regulatory approval trials underway.
UPDATE May 2022
Please read this News Article to see the latest update on the efforts and progress we have made to try and make Numnuts available in the UK
