Help with Enzo Abortion

[Hollyrbroom]

Hi,
My husbands flock have unfortunately been affected by abortion this year. First occurred Sunday and we have had a total of 10 out of 500 within the next four days. Tested by the vet and confirmed enzo. They are due to start lambing in just over 7 days.

today we have treated all ewes with Alamycin LA as per the vet.

My question is... are things likely to improve to the point of having health living lambs? And of affected roughly how bad did it get? Should be expecting more than 10% to be affected etc?

we are using very strict biosecurity and just hoping that things improve. But hoping for some experience as to just how bad it could get?
Thanks in advance!

 

[sticky]

Have a look at the last page of @Gator thread, coming home for lambing, he's unfortunately experiencing the same problem as you at the moment and a few have told him of their experiences.

 

[Bob the beef]

Don’t think there is any accepted % of the flock that will slip in the first year. Make sure the ones that do slip are separated and all cleansing are removed and burnt My own experience was about 5% before I vaccinated.

 

[JSmith]

Very disheartening when your in it, you think you’ll never have a live lamb, what’s going to have a dead lamb now you can do nothing about, you have to ride it out an concentrate on the live ones!! Hopefully now you’ve jabbed that should slow it down an then they kick off with live lambs, try an stay positive, it does get you down though, I know!!

 

[tepapa]

I'd say over the next week they should start getting better as the antibiotics take affect and you'll be lambing as normal. My concern would be to keep aborted sheep and material away from pregnant ewes. You need to start thinking about next year's lambing as newly affected ewes now may abort next year even if vaccinated.

 

[Bluetree]

The alamycin does work and should kick in after a few days and you'll have healthy lambs. Depending on how spread out your lambing is you may have to do them again, I think it lasts about 3 weeks. The alamycin will also help with other problems. Have to jab for toxo and enzo here now.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

You know it is possible to buy EAE accredited stock?????

 

[Hollyrbroom]

Don’t think there is any accepted % of the flock that will slip in the first year. Make sure the ones that do slip are separated and all cleansing are removed and burnt My own experience was about 5% before I vaccinated.

Thank you so much, that’s very helpful.
After you vaccinated - did the situation improve significantly?

 

[z.man]

Just keep pulling out aborting ewes you’ve done all you can as due date arrives it will seem better and hopefully at a week in they will disappear all together brace yourselves for some hard work trying to save weak lambs and give aborted ewes penicillin keep them alive it’s always something.
As for next year obviously vaccinate I would personally consider culling two years of old ewes and double replace with ewe lambs/ gimmers it will clean your flock up faster and saves vaccinating ewes for only one crop of lambs, good luck hope it’s not too bad and remember everyone gets some ewes abort Enzo or not don’t beat yourselves up

 

[z.man]

You know it is possible to buy EAE accredited stock?????

And then vaccinate them

 

[Nithsdale]

You know it is possible to buy EAE accredited stock?????

EAE Accredited means they have been tested and are free of it, that is all.

This means they are very naive to it, and exposure to the disease will rip through them. If you buy this stock thinking you won't need to worry about Enzo you're in for a world of pain. You must vaccinate them like any other sheep you buy in!

 

[neilo]

EAE Accredited means they have been tested and are free of it, that is all.

This means they are very naive to it, and exposure to the disease will rip through them. If you buy this stock thinking you won't need to worry about Enzo you're in for a world of pain. You must vaccinate them like any other sheep you buy in!

Absolutely, and EAE can arrive from a bit of cleansing carried by a bird, or a wandering sheep (how we had it come in 30 years ago ). Accredited sheep just mean that they haven't got it now.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Obviously there's no point in buying accredited stock and then exposing them to infection. Maybe it's just not possible to do that in sheepy areas.

 

[Nithsdale]

Unless you can ensure it can't get onto your farm from other means...


The only protection from Enzo abortion is to vaccinate

 

[mghley]

Everyone thinks Enzo and Toxo vac at around £7 is expensive until they have had a dose of it !!!!!
We had an abortion storm one year and thought we were never going to have a live lamb, nothing more deppressing. After a very bad start we got through it and things worked out ok.
It was going to cost a small fortune to vaccinate the whole flock, vet thought there would be an element of immunity in the flock so we agreed to following course of action.
1. Cull hard and graze out all older ewes
2. Vaccinated that years shearlings and ewe lambs
3. Vaccinate all shearlings/ ewe lambs entering the flock from that point on and not long the whole flock was covered and has been ever since
Good luck, you will get through it.

 

[LTH]

We breed all our own replacements and don't buy in females, we don;t vaccinate as the vet told us we shouldn't introduce something which currently inst in the flock as it is a live vaccine. Horrible thing to happen!

 

[Bob the beef]

I would suggest that is poor advice from your vet. Plenty ways the virus can get to your flock other than buying in replacements. Biggest cause of ea would be from wildlife on the farm, either from direct contact or contaminated cleansing

 

[twizzel]

We breed all our own replacements and don't buy in females, we don;t vaccinate as the vet told us we shouldn't introduce something which currently inst in the flock as it is a live vaccine. Horrible thing to happen!

Very poor advice! I vaccinated for toxo and enzo last year after screening bloods were positive for toxo but negative for enzo. Thought I just as well do enzo seeing it was cheaper and had the ewes in. Only a small closed flock of 20... So glad I did! Had 1 ewe abort right at the start positive for enzo. Had another abort but didn’t test that abortion. Culling both ewes and carrying on vaccinating. If I hadn’t vaccinated it would have been much worse

 

[LTH]

Very poor advice! I vaccinated for toxo and enzo last year after screening bloods were positive for toxo but negative for enzo. Thought I just as well do enzo seeing it was cheaper and had the ewes in. Only a small closed flock of 20... So glad I did! Had 1 ewe abort right at the start positive for enzo. Had another abort but didn’t test that abortion. Culling both ewes and carrying on vaccinating. If I hadn’t vaccinated it would have been much worse

Did that happen after you vaccinated, because it’s a live vaccine so you are essentially introducing it in to the flock, so that was probably why they aborted.

 

[LTH]

I would suggest that is poor advice from your vet. Plenty ways the virus can get to your flock other than buying in replacements. Biggest cause of ea would be from wildlife on the farm, either from direct contact or contaminated cleansing

Well the lambing fields have a river along one edge a road along the other and don’t directly border another farm so although it could still be possible I’d say that reduces chance of contamination not saying we are immune and be horrendous if we did end up with it but at the time being well stick to not buying females. I would rather not introduce it into the flock.