Agriculture Victoria senior veterinary officer for sheep Robert Suter said summer pneumonia was a perennial problem but weather conditions this summer had increased the risk.

Livestock Logic veterinarian David Rendell, of Hamilton, also told the Stock & Land his practice had several cases of harmful to fatal summer pneumonia with some producers losing up to five per cent of their sheep to the disease.

Dr Rendell said sheep that were in declining condition were susceptible to the condition.

Dr Suter said he believed the overall state losses so far this year to the disease were not significantly higher than in other years but the risk of of further losses was high.

He said some sheep producers might believe the big pasture growth generated by last year’s excellent spring was sufficient to feed their sheep but much of that pasture had turned rank and was providing little nutrition.

“A lot of feed is sometimes not good for young growing stock,” Dr Suter said.

Supplementary feeding was needed, particularly for young sheep, to help them fight the pneumonia bacteria, he said.

Dr Suter said producers should also minimise stress to sheep, particularly to young sheep.

To ensure weaners were growing rapidly at present, producers should give them a nutritional diet that allowed them to put on a kilogram a month, he said.

Dr Suter said pneumonia was a common bacteria and a common cause of mastitis in ewes. He said lambs sometimes got infected with summer pneumonia, particularly after being weaned, because of poor nutrition.

Many of the reports about the disease come from abattoirs which found evidence of pneumonia in sheep’s lungs, he said. 

Dr Rendell said symptoms of pneumonia in sheep included coughing and nasal discharge.