The company working to reduce the incidence of sheep measles in lambs processed at meat plants says farmers are taking control measures more seriously.
With the duck shooting season opening this weekend, the Ovis Management company is reminding hunters that they need to treat their dogs for sheep measles, if they take them into rural areas or on to farmland.
Infected dogs can pass the disease onto sheep by excreting eggs from the sheep measles tapeworms they carry.
It's an issue for the meat industry as the disease produces unsightly cysts which can lead to lamb carcasses being rejected.
Ovis Management project manager Dan Lynch said a slight drop in infection rates in lambs last season indicates farmers are paying more attention to the sheep measles risk.
He says recent surveys show that farmers are taking a far more proactive approach in terms of requiring dogs coming onto their farms to be treated or banning dogs from coming on their farms.
"Where our concern exists with many farmers is that large numbers of dogs coming on for duck shooting put at risk all the work the farmer's doing on his on-farm control of sheep measles, unless those dogs have been treated for sheep measles before they've come on the farm."
Mr Lynch said a number of farmers suffer financial losses each year as a result of sheep measles in lambs that go to the works.
Dog owners taking their dogs on to farm land need to dose them at least 48 hours before, with pills they can buy from the vet.
