Flock problem, OPA ?

[Chev54]

New to this , but A friend suggested I sign up and ask some advice from you guys before taking further action.....Believe I have OPA in my flock of 450 Hill cheviot and texel X cheviot ewes, have had a few ewes over last year which when tipped up have had fluid pouring out of their noses, which made me think OPA , have any of you had any experience with it, and if so what can I do and how can I stop it, how serious is it and how much will it spread through the flock.

Thanks in advance

 

[neilo]

@bovine

 

[bovine]

Let me eat my tea - back soon. I know stuff about OPA.....

 

[bovine]

This does sound like it could be OPA - the wheelbarrow test is fairly conclusive (although of doubtful ethics).

Have you got any of these sheep on the farm now? If so then they need destroying and a post mortem. In the first instance a sample needs to be sent off for histology to confirm the diagnosis.

Spread varies on different farms. Some farms seem to have higher incidence than others. Trough feeding, close penning etc are all risk factors.

The literature discusses running a stratified flock. This is where you run groups of sheep of the same age. Not always practical.

You need good recording - you should never keep the lambs from a ewe that becomes infected with the disease as they are very likely to go down with the condition.

Screening for prevalence using ultrasound is gaining popularity. The best time seems to be after shearing - as the fleece is short and it aids contact. Can allow early cases to be identified and removed from the flock. The aim being to reduce infection pressure and get them off the farm fat - so you cash them. If you keep them they will just waste away to nothing. This seems to be working well in a number of flocks we manage.

Bear in mind other causes of wasting like Johne's and fluke. They can both cause sheep to become thin and may produce fluid in the lungs (and under the jaw and in the abdomen).

Step one is a diagnosis. If your wheelbarrow positive sheep have gone then get the vet out to scan some. Look for older, thinner sheep. Sacrifice one or two - to check the scanning accuracy and to collect fresh samples. Not good enough opening up a 4 day dead green sheep.

Does that answer your questions?

 

[Grassman]

OPA?

 

[Chev54]

Thankyou very much for that ! Had one last week , put her out of misery and did a DIY post mortem, 80% of her lungs were Solid rather than spongey, none on farm as of yet, appears to be in ewes bought from certain farm, who we stopped buying off last year, so far had it in 2 and 3 year olds. does it spread throughout whole flock, as in at lambing time when all fed and housed together I don't want to pass it onto everything else.

 

[bovine]

Solid rather than spongy fits - the rest of the lung generally looks normal, but irritatingly they can be more susceptible to other infections so they can have pneumonia superimposed. Chronic pneumonia can look similar - I've sent a few samples off that I was sure had OPA that came back as chronic pneumonia. You NEED the diagnosis confirming.

I've never seen huge numbers at once - it tends to grumble in a flock. From a single source fits. When the sheep are grouped that is when it likely spreads. Could look at getting vet to scan them before housing.

If your vets not up to speed on this there is a course this week they can go on!

http://www.sheepvetsoc.org.uk/news/cpd-opa-ultrasound-detection

 

[bovine]

OPA?

Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma (also called sheep pulmonary adanomatosis or Jaagsiekte ) A slow growing infectious lung tumour of sheep.

 

[Grassman]

Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma (also called sheep pulmonary adanomatosis or Jaagsiekte ) A slow growing infectious lung tumour of sheep.

Is it a new problem?

 

[Cab-over Pete]

When you say "tipped them up " and "the wheelbarrow test", does that mean what it sounds like?

ie like kids in a school wheelbarrow race?

 

[bovine]

Is it a new problem?

From Wikipedia:

is a chronic and contagious disease of the lungs in sheep and goats first described in 1865​

It's what Dolly the sheep died from!

 

[bovine]

When you say "tipped them up " and "the wheelbarrow test", does that mean what it sounds like?

ie like kids in a school wheelbarrow race?

Sadly. It's fundamentally cruel and if you do it the sheep should be immediately euthanased if positive.

The sheep is drowning in its own fluids and you are stressing it and making it worse.

 

[sheepdip]

I agree that it sounds as though it is OPA, which is bad news as it is untreatable, always fatal and very infectious, but don't despair! I also had it creep into my flock through bought in sheep but by getting onto it early and a couple of years of aggressive culling I have seen much less of it lately and I hope I am on the way to clearing it out. You will develop quite a sensitivity to any pneumonia like symptoms and especially any rasping throaty noises from the sheep. If I notice anything like that my policy is to isolate the sheep immediately and get it off the farm either alive or dead as soon as possible. Also do not retain offspring, as noted.

The fact that you house your sheep is not helpful; that will be a high risk period for spread. If you are just starting to see cases crop up and have an idea which the high risk ones are you may want to consider culling that group, or at least housing them separately (or not at all). My losses peaked (I hope) at about 3.5%, but I know of an intensively managed housed flock where they were double that.

 

[Chev54]

Thankyou for all the advice ! Will act fast and see what our vet says , will ultrasound be expensive @bovine ?

 

[bovine]

We charge by time. If you are efficient then it doesn't take long. I suppose it depends how many sheep you have!

Do you mind giving a rough idea of where you are in the country? My impression is we see more of this in the North of England and Scotland.

 

[Grassman]

From Wikipedia:

is a chronic and contagious disease of the lungs in sheep and goats first described in 1865​

It's what Dolly the sheep died from!

Quite new then lol

 

[Chev54]

We charge by time. If you are efficient then it doesn't take long. I suppose it depends how many sheep you have!

Do you mind giving a rough idea of where you are in the country? My impression is we see more of this in the North of England and Scotland.

Am on the gloucester/hereford border , 450 ewes

 

[bovine]

South then! Thanks

 

[Poorbuthappy]

We charge by time. If you are efficient then it doesn't take long. I suppose it depends how many sheep you have!

Do you mind giving a rough idea of where you are in the country? My impression is we see more of this in the North of England and Scotland.

I've seen it on 2 farms (here in Devon). My uncle's when I was a teenager and someone I worked for. However both brought replacements down from Scotland. But there's loads who do that down here.

Uncle's was pretty depressing. He winter sheared and housed so I guess that encouraged it's spread and by lambing he was losing a lot of sheep. He was euthanasing and trying to save the lambs at 1 stage.

 

[Man_in_black]

I just read it quickly and thought it was sheep ready for bus pass....!