International Sheep Veterinary Association

The 10th International Sheep Veterinary Congress

Seville Spain

March 6 - 10, 2023 - only 5 months left!

Registration is now open

• Submission of abstracts is now closed

• Deadline for registration has been extended to JANUARY 31, 2023
• Please visit https://isvc2023.com/

The program covers the main topics of interest for the current situation in the sheep sector: sustainability, tackling antimicrobial resistance and global threats to small ruminants. There is also a fourth stream organized by the European college of small ruminant health management (ECSRHM) and the Spanish society for sheep and goat production (SEOC).

The congress is a five-day event that includes five plenary sessions, more than seventy keynote presentations and nearly 300 oral communications. The social program will allow you to enjoy the most emblematic places in Seville.

In addition, registration for the pre-conference and post-conference tours will be opened in the following days. The former is an eight-day event that will take you from the north to the south of Spain, visiting for that touristic places but also local sheep farms, so you would be able to see the different types of production of the Spanish sheep industry together with beautiful landscape and historical monuments. The post-conference tour will focus on Andalusia's main cities but will also include visits to Andalusian sheep farms.

The organizing committee is looking forward to seeing you all there!

Announcement - The 11th ISVC, 2025 has been awarded to Australia.  

The ISVA executive committee is delighted to announce that the Australian Veterinary Association has submitted a successful bid to host the 2025 congress. Please visit the 11th ISVC 2025 page and download the bid document for more details.

In Memoriam: Heinz Strobel, Vice-President of the ISVA

Inconceivably for all of us, Heinz Strobel died suddenly and unexpectedly on October 25, 2022, at the age of 66. With him, we lose a good friend and highly esteemed colleague, a committed and tireless ambassador for the interests of animal health and sheep farming, a cosmopolitan and a versatile person who left a lasting mark on many of us.

After studying and earning his doctorate in Munich, he initially worked in mixed practice. Since 1990 he has specialized in sheep. He was a sheep farmer himself, and in his veterinary work he always combined the latest scientific findings with solid practical work for the benefit of animal health. One example of this is his commitment to the treatment of footrot and to replace traditional, outdated treatments with scientifically based methods. Despite the demands of a busy large animal practice he also initiated numerous research projects. The education, training and the constant exchange between veterinarians and sheep farmers were of great concern to him. He was always happy to pass on his knowledge and wealth of experience to animal owners and colleagues. His typical dry, humorous lecturing style motivated a wide audience to widen their knowledge of sheep health. The education of young colleagues was particularly close to his heart, and many a "newcomer" was surprisingly greeted at conferences with a firm handshake and the words "It’s great that you are interested in sheep!". This open manner made a lasting impression on many. He thus became a mentor to many who were interested in sheep practice. 

Amongst other commitments, Heinz Strobel served on the Board of Directors of the German Small Ruminant Veterinary Association from 2012 to 2018 and was first Chairman from 2014 to 2016, he was long-time Foreign Representative of the British Sheep Veterinary Society, and currently Vice President of the International Sheep Veterinary Association. In 2021, he handed over his practice to his long-time associate, but remained professionally active. He remained open to everything new and was always searching for improvements. Above his desk hung an admonition written by himself: "No new projects". Very soon, however, he had covered it with concepts for new plans. Shepherding in all its aspects was his passion. It was his joy and fulfillment.

His cosmopolitanism, joie de vivre and hospitality are known beyond the borders of Germany, almost legendary the pre-conference tour he organized for the Sheep Veterinary Society meeting in Hannover in 2006, and his love for historical instruments and old shepherd music. Together with his wife Barbara, he enjoyed providing evening entertainment with these. Above all his work was his typical modesty, and he did not like to put his person in the foreground. However, he loved it when the cause could be advanced through his actions.

Heinz, we miss you! We have lost a friend. A friend who was so many things: veterinarian, shepherd, farmer, musician, author, sometimes philosopher and above all irreplaceable human being.

He will be sorely missed by all of us at the ISVA, and our thoughts are with his family and Johanna Hilke, the successor of his sheep veterinary practice.

Contributed by his colleagues from Germany.