sheep abortion

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?????
The hills are just as hard to shepherd if not harder on Springs like this.

I drove over to Stirling from Balloch last Wednesday to sell cattle in UA.

Driving from Drymen to Ballat Station I looked around the hills. Every one a snow white out on March 7th, 4 -6 weeks off a lot of hill lambings starting.

That was the Perthshire hills, the Ochils and the Campsies . I bet these hill men would have swapped you for your ewes in a shed.

'Herding the hills is no easy option.
 

bobajob

Member
Location
Sw Scotland
Yes , there is no easy system, those hill boys have it hard as well. At least they will get a few grand next month when lfa loans arrive.

The grass is always greener- but it soon withers!

A few grand eh!, I bet that won’t go very far this spring. Some of those hill ewes will be very lean, some will just drop there lambs and keep walking/ no milk. There will be some hills where they still can’t get out to check them/ feed/ gather in by due to snow drifts
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
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

I don't ever recommend preventative blanket treatment with antibiotics. Some farms use it, but all wait until they see disease. It's something we are trying to reduce further, but high straw prices may limit things this year.

I don’t use metacam only flunixin but don’t think any anti-inflammatory last very long.

Metacam lasts vastly longer than flunixin. I only ever use flunixin IV for very sick things and follow up with generic Metacam

My vet also suggested that Alamycin wasn't effective against campylobacter but has prescribed me some Marbox (Marbofloxacin) to try on a group of the ewes. I've never come accross the drug before - has anyone else? @bovine ?

Dear God. Whilst it may well kill campy, it's a group of antibiotics reserved for last resort. Wholly inappropriate use. No evidence any antibiotic makes any difference in campy outbreaks, as I said.

Was told by vet that engmycin is better than alamycin even though very similar drug. Apparently Fiona Lovett did some trial to prove this but I haven’t seen the report

Same drug. rubbish.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I don't ever recommend preventative blanket treatment with antibiotics. Some farms use it, but all wait until they see disease. It's something we are trying to reduce further, but high straw prices may limit things this year.



Metacam lasts vastly longer than flunixin. I only ever use flunixin IV for very sick things and follow up with generic Metacam



Dear God. Whilst it may well kill campy, it's a group of antibiotics reserved for last resort. Wholly inappropriate use. No evidence any antibiotic makes any difference in campy outbreaks, as I said.



Same drug. rubbish.

.......and breathe.:D
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Had sporadic abortions and campy was diagnosed but it’s only on one side of the shed so gave engemycin to all on Saturday. Is it really true that they are immune from getting it again ? And if vaccine was available is it a success?

Yes, effected sheep supposedly gain a long lasting immunity. Campy is also around in the environment, so older sheep tend to get a bit of immunity from natural infection anyway, hence most that vaccinate, only do them for the first 2 years.

As to efficacy of vaccine, everyone I know that’s gone onto it (all having had problems) swear by it. It’s a pretty standard vaccine in NZ & Aus I believe, so perhaps best ask one of our antipodean members?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Do the toxo and enzootic vaccines last the lifetime of the ewe or should they be repeated?

Pretty sure the advice is to revaccinate at 4 years these days, not that I know anyone that does.

I bloodtested some ewes for a NZ flushing job a couple of years ago. They had been vaccinated with Enzovac as ewe lambs, but needed to be clear of antibodies to qualify for the export health protocol. They were all between 4 and 7 years old, and all came back with no antibodies, which made me wonder quite how long the vaccinations protection lasts.:scratchhead:
When I spoke with the drug company’s vets, they said nobody had actually done that work and they’d be interested to see the results.:censored:
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
Do the toxo and enzootic vaccines last the lifetime of the ewe or should they be repeated?

Toxo:

Vaccination with Toxovax is known to protect for at least two lambing seasons

Enzo:

Challenge studies have demonstrated that protection against Enzootic abortion and excretion of Chlamydophila abortus post-challenge is undiminished for at least three years post vaccination with Enzovax. Field studies in endemically infected flocks maintaining a policy of vaccinating incoming ewes with Enzovax indicate that enzootic abortion levels remain very low in ewes vaccinated 4 years previously.
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
The problem with campylobacter vaccine is you will generally get an abortion storm and then seemingly the animals become immune for a number of years. If you vaccinate the year after an outbreak you won't see any abortion, just the same if you don't! I've never seen a decent split flock trail looking at this but that's what we need.

Campy is slow to grow, in response to @cotswoldcs , but we are looking at 3-4 days in an incubator, as opposed to 24 hours for a lot of things. Often grows faster. The longer it takes to get a result the less likely it is to be campy...........
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
It's an imported products and the paperwork requires a justification, that would be a reasonably recent diagnosis of campylobacter abortion in the flock. The licence has to be applied for by the vet who's responsible for the animals care. It's a prescribed medicine with an import licence.

In terms of the protocol:

1mL dose by subcutaneous injection into the anterior (front) half of the neck.
Two dose, 4 - 8 weeks apart are required in the first year, with an annual booster in subsequent years. It is recommended that vaccination is completed before mating.​

There are a number of people importing such product to order. The carriage can be much more than the cost of the vaccine as it has to be kept at the correct temperature (aircraft holds can freeze and that's bad for vaccine).
 

rancher

Member
Location
Ireland
The problem with campylobacter vaccine is you will generally get an abortion storm and then seemingly the animals become immune for a number of years. If you vaccinate the year after an outbreak you won't see any abortion, just the same if you don't! I've never seen a decent split flock trail looking at this but that's what we need.

Campy is slow to grow, in response to @cotswoldcs , but we are looking at 3-4 days in an incubator, as opposed to 24 hours for a lot of things. Often grows faster. The longer it takes to get a result the less likely it is to be campy...........

Apparently if it's a very obvious diagnosis in the placenta it takes 3 -4 days, if not it requires histology from the brain which takes weeks.
Either way I seem to be dealing with a very inefficient Public Service on this both north and south of the border, Have never got a diagnosis when it is of any use to me, same with Enzo
 

rancher

Member
Location
Ireland
Pretty sure the advice is to revaccinate at 4 years these days, not that I know anyone that does.

I bloodtested some ewes for a NZ flushing job a couple of years ago. They had been vaccinated with Enzovac as ewe lambs, but needed to be clear of antibodies to qualify for the export health protocol. They were all between 4 and 7 years old, and all came back with no antibodies, which made me wonder quite how long the vaccinations protection lasts.:scratchhead:
When I spoke with the drug company’s vets, they said nobody had actually done that work and they’d be interested to see the results.:censored:

whether it's due to the vaccine or the ewes immunity, we never get toxo or enzo throughout the ewes life.
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
We've had between 12 and 15 abort this year. We always get a few (doesn't everyone?) so ignored the first half a dozen. After that I said I would take the next ones to the lab, then it snowed. Anyhow took a pair of aborted lambs and a placenta and they confirmed enzo. By now we had started lambing and had had no abortions since the one that went to the lab so both the vet and myself agreed that there was little point injecting with alamycin at such a late stage. Handing the ewes would have caused a couple of abortions in any case??? If we had injected we would have thought it had worked well but the abortions had stopped anyway.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
We've had between 12 and 15 abort this year. We always get a few (doesn't everyone?) so ignored the first half a dozen. After that I said I would take the next ones to the lab, then it snowed. Anyhow took a pair of aborted lambs and a placenta and they confirmed enzo. By now we had started lambing and had had no abortions since the one that went to the lab so both the vet and myself agreed that there was little point injecting with alamycin at such a late stage. Handing the ewes would have caused a couple of abortions in any case??? If we had injected we would have thought it had worked well but the abortions had stopped anyway.


Do you have a history of Enzo? Or is this the warning before a potential storm next year ?
 

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