Heptavac. Anyone not bother??

Bwcho

Member
Location
Cymru
I ended up having a late lamb ( June) that missed getting a heptavac p jabs last year, guess which lamb I found dead in November after frosty night?:arghh:.
I tried brovoxin the year before as a cost cutting exercise on the lambs and I lost a lot to pneumonia so back to hept p for me
Pasteurella or pneumonia?
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Dropped Heptavac P here nearly 10 years ago.

Covexin8 everything per lambing (have wondered about using Brovoxin10). Apart for 3 years ago iv not regretted it... and even then it was only a handful of ewes I lost - probably cost less then the savings Ive made. The change in weather pattern, I did wonder about going back to Help P... but iv not 'jumped' yet.

Don't vaccinate any lambs, atall. Stopped that just over 10yr ago. Absolutely no regrets there!!
 

Bwcho

Member
Location
Cymru
I went to a sheep group meeting last night, where we had a discussion with a prominent sheep vet that has her own flock too. That's exactly what she did. Heptavac P+ for the ewe lambs and yearlings, then everything on to Bravoxin 10 after that. Her reasoning was that older sheep rarely get pasteurella and there's a clostridial disease covered by Bravoxin (but not Heptavac), that is becoming a lot more common. I can't remember the name of that clostridial, but it causes rotten smelly lambs then dead ewes.
She was still doing her lambs with Ovivac P+ IIRC though.

I've not been brave enough to stop yet, but seriously considering it. If only because I think MSD have been taking the pee with price hikes in recent years.:mad:
Sorry @neilo, but just to clarify what the vet was saying:

All lambs: Ovivac P.
Ewe lambs(for breeding?): Heptavac P.
All in-lamb ewes 4-6wks before lambing: Bravoxin 10.

Have I got this right? Apologies for being a bit slow on the uptake :woot::bored:
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Sorry @neilo, but just to clarify what the vet was saying:

All lambs: Ovivac P.
Ewe lambs(for breeding?): Heptavac P.
All in-lamb ewes 4-6wks before lambing: Bravoxin 10.

Have I got this right? Apologies for being a bit slow on the uptake :woot::bored:

As I understood it, yes. Shearling ewes were on Heptavac P I think, then onto Bravoxin after.

It was a question I was going to ask next (after I had asked about pasteurella that's not covered by the 'P'), after reading about it on here. @andybk does just the same IIRC.
 

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
I went to a sheep group meeting last night, where we had a discussion with a prominent sheep vet that has her own flock too. That's exactly what she did. Heptavac P+ for the ewe lambs and yearlings, then everything on to Bravoxin 10 after that. Her reasoning was that older sheep rarely get pasteurella and there's a clostridial disease covered by Bravoxin (but not Heptavac), that is becoming a lot more common. I can't remember the name of that clostridial, but it causes rotten smelly lambs then dead ewes.
She was still doing her lambs with Ovivac P+ IIRC though.

I've not been brave enough to stop yet, but seriously considering it. If only because I think MSD have been taking the pee with price hikes in recent years.:mad:
Sordelli (spelling?) is one of the 2 not covered by hep. Neighbour now does his sheep with bravoxin and we had about 6 or 8 sheep die of it 2 years ago in the fortnight before lambing. Not had any that I've been aware of again so haven't switched vaccine yet.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Sordelli (spelling?) is one of the 2 not covered by hep. Neighbour now does his sheep with bravoxin and we had about 6 or 8 sheep die of it 2 years ago in the fortnight before lambing. Not had any that I've been aware of again so haven't switched vaccine yet.

That's the one she mentioned.(y) Said it was getting more common.
 

andybk

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Mendips Somerset
As I understood it, yes. Shearling ewes were on Heptavac P I think, then onto Bravoxin after.

It was a question I was going to ask next (after I had asked about pasteurella that's not covered by the 'P'), after reading about it on here. @andybk does just the same IIRC.
yes done it that way for years , very rare to get pasturella in older sheep , though we do vax lambs as normal with ovivac p , and a booster in autumn (frosted clover and very new leys in winter after mild spells caused a few losses ) , and again following spring after shearing , then any keepers will go on covexin system pre lambing .
 

MF 135 Man

Member
Trade
If you have seen Ben Strugnell's excellent presentation on post-mortem findings in a knackers yard, you wouldn't even be asking the question. The diseases sheep are protected from by the vaccines are major causes of death in unvaccinated sheep.

Where can this presentation be found?
 

Tim W

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Only started vaccinating for clostridials/pasturella 3 years ago (25 years without)
Started due to large death rate in one flock one year
It has vastly reduced lamb deaths from both causes
lambs get Hepto+ and then onto Bravoxin as adults
Here, adult deaths due to pasturella are v. low/non existent (as far as I know)
 

shearerlad

Member
Livestock Farmer
At what price do folk reckon it becomes too expensive?

I'm usually 50p per dose.

All lambs get at same time as nemo dose and 2nd when ever 4 weeks after that occurs.
Ewes pre lambing and also do hoggs at that time as I feel that it's too long to leave them until they are shearlings
 

Danllan

Member
Location
Sir Gar / Carms
I'll get my hard hat on before I go further, but... despite the obvious fact that we will always lose some sheep to disease, am I the only one who thinks that continually vaccinating will reduce the residual enrichment of more resistant genes in each person's and the national flock?

I am sure there are people with good stat's to demonstrate that hept' / hept' P have done their flocks and profits the world of good; but I know others in all parts of the UK except NI - in addition to some posts above - who haven't noticed any positive difference and some who have even seen increased mortality.

Surely to use either hept' without prior need is a mistake? And then to be a slave to it for evermore, rather than seek an alternative long-term solution(s) is just to compound the mistake.

Edit to add: @bovine is this wishful thinking?
 
Last edited:

Tim W

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I'll get my hard hat on before I go further, but... despite the obvious fact that we will always lose some sheep to disease, am I the only one who thinks that continually vaccinating will reduce the residual enrichment of more resistant genes in each person's and the national flock?

I am sure there are people with good stat's to demonstrate that hept' / hept' P have done their flocks and profits the world of good; but I know others in all parts of the UK except NI - in addition to some posts above - who haven't noticed any positive difference and some who have even seen increased mortality.

Surely to use either hept' without prior need is a mistake? And then to be a slave to it for evermore, rather than seek an alternative long-term solution(s) is just to compound the mistake.

Edit to add: @bovine is this wishful thinking?

Agree with your thoughts ---the only reason I started using was because of a severe problem that developed
 

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