VitDAL published a collaborative study with colleagues at SRUC which highlights the problem of rickets in Scottish hill sheep. The collaboration discovered that a significant number of sheep had very low serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and several had skeletal abnormalities consistent with rickets. It is likely that hill sheep which are not fed supplementary foodstuffs are predisposed to developing low concentrations of vitamin D during the winter and early spring months when their is insufficient UVB to cutaneously produce vitamin D. The team is now working together to define the best way to prevent this important welfare problem in extensively farmed sheep. The paper can be accessed at the following link