Sheep scab: Meet the Yorkshire couple helping farmers tackle the scour of sheep scab

Together with her husband Phil the couple have grown their Lowe Maintenance business of training for qualifications, known in the trade as tickets, for those involved in agriculture and forestry since Phil came out of the military 20 years ago.

While the effects of Covid rumbled through the countryside Demelza changed the way in which they were able to deliver courses utilising videos, but her latest experience of an epidemic specifically in the sheep world is sending demand for tickets through the roof, or it should be if as Demelza puts it farmers are not burying their heads in the land.

“Sheep scab has been an issue ever since compulsory dipping stopped 32 years ago,” says Demelza. “Six years ago it was estimated sheep scab had increased exponentially, and one report said that it had increased by 60 times the amount and it has increased far more since then.

“From the north to the south in the UK there is a general consensus among sheep farmers that it is not a matter of if you’ll get it but simply when. It’s everywhere. It has grown massively in the past 10-20 years.

“One of the major issues behind farmers not going back to sheep dipping is that they have to be qualified to buy the dip and if not they can’t buy what would help. There was such a thing in farming as grandfather’s rights for pesticides but for sheep dipping there has always had to be a qualification. Granddad had a ticket but because other products were being used dipping skipped a generation.

“I am wanting to encourage more people towards getting their sheep dipping certification because people are struggling tremendously with scab. Last summer I was on Orkney, Skye and Lewis assessing farmers for sheep dip accreditation. I had people up from Kent last month.

Demelza says that it’s not just getting the accreditation that is important but also following through with correct usage afterwards.

“One of the major problems is that sheep aren’t being put in the bath and plunged for a full minute. They’re paying lip service. They are just dunking their heads twice, or some are using it as a shower which doesn’t work because it doesn’t get through to the skin. There is a definite demand for mobile sheep dippers. I just wish farmers would stop burying their heads in the ground, admit when they’ve got scab and sort it.

“There are other issues too. There is only one plunge dip product on the market, Gold Fleece, and some use injections of other products instead. The problem with that is that if resistance to worms and mites builds up there is no other plunge dip avaiable and we’ll have an even greater sheep welfare issue on our hands.

Demelza says that legislation drives most of what Lowe Maintenance offers where people have to achieve qualification.

“I’m always looking at what legislation is coming through and how I can make our courses in forestry and agriculture more accessible for people.

“During Covid I started on what I’d wanted to do for some time but hadn’t necessarily had the time and now the majority of our courses are taught by videos and workbooks sent in post so that people can work in their own time before coming to do the practical element and their assessment.

“The safe use of sheep dip and safe use of aluminium phosphide are now wholly on our training portal online where candidates can learn it all at home or at work before they come and then sit their two hour assessment. We now have people come from as far as Portsmouth and Fraserburgh, do it, turn around and go home again.

Demelza’s interest in using videos for training has worked to Lowe Maintenance’s advantage.

“Five or six courses we offer now have a video theory element that people watch before they come. It allows everyone to get more hands on when they’re here rather than having to go through all the bits that people can find a little bit more mundane.

“The videos range from five to twenty minutes to keep the candidate’s attention. I write all the scripts and have other trainers and candidates come that have been at our training courses. I approach them and encourage them to take part. I then video everyone and edit as well. I have a keen interest in that side of things and by doing it myself I’ve built a training portal that has saved us thousands of pounds it would have cost otherwise.

While Phil is pretty much 100 per cent out delivering courses Demelza also still gets out too, but the videos have been a definite game changer.

“What we do can’t all be done online but what we have done has broken the mould and we’ve had a great reaction. People who were a little wary initially have come away saying they didn’t feel under pressure in having to keep up with everyone else, and when they got stuck could watch videos again and again.

“When you are in a face to face session with others there are only so many times you will ask a question before you won’t ask again and perhaps still don’t have the answer because you don’t want to feel a plonker.

“We have our office and workshop in Settle and I have a lovely local farmer who allows me to use his land where I conduct the hands-on qualifications for quad bike, brushcutter and pesticide tickets.

“Phil is always out and about. I run the office, marketing, administration and the new website set up with training portal. During my normal week I spend three days out and two in the office.

Lowe Maintenance has become an important part of training in the land based, woodland and utilities sector and Demelza is clearly becoming an important voice in the fight against sheep scab.