sheep abortion

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Antibiotic treatment is not very effective but with a Camplyobacter abortion storm causing up to 25% ewes to abort (I've even heard reports of 50-70%!!!) anything has to be worth trying.

Anyone experienced Campylobacter that can comment?

The last Campy storm I had was in 2010. 15% of the flock aborted, about 3 weeks out (so no milk to foster anything on). On vet advice, I went through and jabbed the lot with Alamycin LA at 1ml/10kg. Abortions stopped within 2 days.(y) However, i’m led to believe that a lot of Campy is resistant to oxytetracycline.

It is possible to import Campyvax from NZ/Australia under a vet licence (which only costs about a tenner). I’ve been using it to vaccinate ewe lambs and shearlings for the last 2 yearsand it’s certainly improved on losses after scanning in those groups.
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
The last Campy storm I had was in 2010. 15% of the flock aborted, about 3 weeks out (so no milk to foster anything on). On vet advice, I went through and jabbed the lot with Alamycin LA at 1ml/10kg. Abortions stopped within 2 days.(y) However, i’m led to believe that a lot of Campy is resistant to oxytetracycline.

That's generally how it goes if you don't inject! Really it doesn't do anything.

With greater pressure put on us as an industry to use antibiotics responsibly there is no way I would be treating a batch without a diagnosis. The diagnosis is made using a special stain on the placenta and we get the result it arrives at the lab, so usually the next day. It's a very fast diagnosis, and a waste of money injecting for anything else.
 
Location
Cleveland
I don’t like seeing pregnant ewes rooting about in mud

All my pregnant ewes spend the whole winter ‘rooting about in mud’, and have done for decades. Infectious abortion agents don’t generally come from that though.[/QUOTE]

Maybe not but I don’t like it....more chance of picking something up than if the ground was baked solid
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
I don’t think with the ground being so wet and muddy it’s helping
Yeah if I had to pay a tenner and take my pick it would be Listeria or Salmonella, based on what you all must be facing in terms of muddiness and puddles.

All the antibiotic in the world won't prevent poo tea made in a hoofprint, I have to bite my lip every time I read about blanket treatments before a diagnosis has been made :banghead:
farming is headed for a very bright future if folk keep doing that sort of sh!t
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
That's generally how it goes if you don't inject! Really it doesn't do anything.

With greater pressure put on us as an industry to use antibiotics responsibly there is no way I would be treating a batch without a diagnosis. The diagnosis is made using a special stain on the placenta and we get the result it arrives at the lab, so usually the next day. It's a very fast diagnosis, and a waste of money injecting for anything else.
Haha, beat me to it...

... by "this much"...
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
That's generally how it goes if you don't inject! Really it doesn't do anything.

With greater pressure put on us as an industry to use antibiotics responsibly there is no way I would be treating a batch without a diagnosis. The diagnosis is made using a special stain on the placenta and we get the result it arrives at the lab, so usually the next day. It's a very fast diagnosis, and a waste of money injecting for anything else.

We had Campy diagnosed in several seperate samples (a miracle in itself) sent to AHVLA. After having had 15% of the flock abort already, we didn’t have many options open to us (flock had been vaccinated against Enzo & Toxo since those vaccines were launched). Evidence at the time was that some Campy bacteria was resistant but it could be effective if it wasn’t. In discussion with our vet, we decided that it was worth a try as there were no other options.

Going from 10 ewes aborting a day to none, within a couple of days of jabbing, was enough to convince me that the treatment was effective in our case. Very much a fire brigade action though, which vaccination should prevent now, hopefully.
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
Going from 10 ewes aborting a day to none, within a couple of days of jabbing, was enough to convince me that the treatment was effective in our case. Very much a fire brigade action though, which vaccination should prevent now, hopefully.

This is why people think homeopathy works, flawed thinking. People do something, see something happen and want to link them.

Generally with campy abortion the infection seems to come as a storm that is self limiting. Vets are fooled by this too, I believe the vet believed the antibiotic treatment helped. I disagree...........
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
This is why people think homeopathy works, flawed thinking. People do something, see something happen and want to link them.

Generally with campy abortion the infection seems to come as a storm that is self limiting. Vets are fooled by this too, I believe the vet believed the antibiotic treatment helped. I disagree...........

We’ll have to agree to disagree in this case I think.

Homeopathy wasn’t an option. They were sheep grazing roots and no hard feed, so they weren’t drinking any water, so no easy way to administer the magic nosodes.:whistle: (Dad tried to convince me for several years)
 

rancher

Member
Location
Ireland
This is why people think homeopathy works, flawed thinking. People do something, see something happen and want to link them.

Generally with campy abortion the infection seems to come as a storm that is self limiting. Vets are fooled by this too, I believe the vet believed the antibiotic treatment helped. I disagree...........

Well then it's just a massive coincidence that the outbreak usually stops in it's tracks the day you inject.......the solution must be the exercise of running through the race cures it.
As for diagnosis, never got one in less than six or eight weeks. Very hard to stand back doing nothing with the promise of it being self limiting...eventually.
I don't agree with blanket treatments too without diagnosis, but anytime I've suspected Campy it usually is Campy.
Spectram scour halt is used a lot in England, do you recommend it or advise good hygiene and colostrum that is safer and more effective
 
Location
Cumbria
I have to agree with both bovine and neilo, I have injected ewes in the past both on confirmation of enzo and suspected cases in other years. The day after using alamycin in the confirmed group the problems stopped. Think about it logically no way can a jab work that quickly and bring an already dead lamb back to life.
Back to the op the sensible thing to do is wait for the results. The natural reaction though is to inject then you feel better that you tried.
It's soul destroying seeing a years work wasted. I hope you get sorted.
 

Mcnulty24

Member
This is my first experience with abortions, just as I have made an investment to up numbers and buy some recorded rams......sigh

Is there a pattern to abortion storms? I had two a fornight ago and then nothing for a week, now I am picking up two or three sets of lambs a day. Does it fizzle out or stop abruptly? I am 10 days out from the first due date, if the abortions stop, should I expect weak and still born lambs over lambing?
They have been vaccinated for toxo and enzo, have sent samples off but am expecting them to confirm my thoughts of campy.
 
This is my first experience with abortions, just as I have made an investment to up numbers and buy some recorded rams......sigh

Is there a pattern to abortion storms? I had two a fornight ago and then nothing for a week, now I am picking up two or three sets of lambs a day. Does it fizzle out or stop abruptly? I am 10 days out from the first due date, if the abortions stop, should I expect weak and still born lambs over lambing?
They have been vaccinated for toxo and enzo, have sent samples off but am expecting them to confirm my thoughts of campy.

Similar situation @Mcnulty24 here. Can't offer much help. All ours that are aborting now are from the first or second group to lamb (according to raddle marks). Getting 2-3 ewes each day and not sure how long it will go on for. At 2% now but not sure where it will stop at! At least ewes are well and abortions are not smelly like with other cases we've had in the past.
 
]The last Campy storm I had was in 2010. 15% of the flock aborted, about 3 weeks out (so no milk to foster anything on). On vet advice, I went through and jabbed the lot with Alamycin LA at 1ml/10kg. Abortions stopped within 2 days.(y) However, i’m led to believe that a lot of Campy is resistant to oxytetracycline.

It is possible to import Campyvax from NZ/Australia under a vet licence (which only costs about a tenner). I’ve been using it to vaccinate ewe lambs and shearlings for the last 2 yearsand it’s certainly improved on losses after scanning in those groups.
Not a tenner a dose
?
 
I think no matter what you jag sheep with, they will still do it a bit, alway think the last 3 weeks before lambing starts is a terrible time, every morning something wrong, abortion, prolapse, stagger every problem under the sun. Sometimes l envy those hill men, old blackie ewes out on big hill, a few blocks, just check them once a day, and take what you get, If one aborted you wouldn't know. These big x ewes in fields and sheds are just a nightmare. And take a fortune in cake to Keep them up. Sometimes l wonder?????
 

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