How to prevent abortion in sheep
- Thread starter Agri
- Start date
Not now they’re all in lamb... but 1 month pre tupping you can vaccinate for enzo and toxo
If you have had more than an acceptable number of abortions (say, more than under 1%), seek advice from your vet.
- Location
- West Wales
Shockingly I know some that enzo, toxo pre tupping, inject all ewes with alamycin on housing and then inject every lamb with amoxicillin at birth. They also heptavac, ovivac fully too, dosing continuously even with cocci doses too.
They still have big losses so it definitely doesn’t cure everything and I would not recommend doing those regimes!
- Location
- sw scotland
No bloody wonder they have losses. Their management cannot be corrected by blanket antibiotics and wormers just encouraging resistance. How does their vet prescribe so much?
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
IIRC it can help with toxoplasmosis
IMO best options
1/ enzo....if you havn't got it on farm....keep a closed flock buying in only rams
2/ toxo....take a 'risk based' approach....are there a lot of cats about?.....particularly mothers/kittens?......is your grazing likely to be at risk from dog do from walkers.....there are probably others
3/ blood test some ewes at shearing...different aged sheep.....give you some information
as @Al R infers once on a treadmill of jabs/vaccinations it's not easy to get off
edit....see @neilo post later
Last edited:
- Location
- West Wales
Not a clue I’ve never asked, when we had a quick discussion on vet/med/mineral/licks/everything purchased to put into or through a sheep costs I spent under 1/4 compared to them. I think from memory their spend per ewe on just enzo and toxo was more than my total yearly vet/med/bolus/fluke/wormer/footvax/mineral tubs cost per ewe.
Toxo and enzo together is about £6-7 I think [emoji15] painful ! How they ever expect drugs too work when they need them using like that I’ll never know
- Location
- West Wales
Last quote I had was closer to £9 a ewe for both if I remember right.Toxo and enzo together is about £6-7 I think [emoji15] painful ! How they ever expect drugs too work when they need them using like that I’ll never know
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Toxo isnot a bacterial infection, so antibiotics won’t stop it. Alamycin will head off Enzootic abortion, but annual jabbing (as plenty still routinely do round here
) will only lead to resistance, and will cost more than the vaccine now that the price of Alamycin has leapt up. I’d use antibiotics in the face of an EAE or Campy storm, but certainly not as a routine treatment.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
Toxo isnot a bacterial infection, so antibiotics won’t stop it. Alamycin will head off Enzootic abortion, but annual jabbing (as plenty still routinely do round here
I’d use antibiotics in the face of an EAE or Campy storm, but certainly not as a routine treatment.
oh feck i got it the wrong way round....thanks for correcting me
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
But that’s pretty much a lifetime cost, so worthwhile.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I think the recc on Toxovax is every 2 years now, and Enzovac every 4 years. I don’t know of anyone that doeseither more than once though, or can afford to.
5 years enzo and 3 for toxo my vet said but he said most people just do ewe lambs then forget about it ... he reckons there’s research too suggest toxo vacc only 100% covers you for the first year and it slowly wears off over the rest there lifetime but nobody really notices because you just get the odd small lamb here and there and odd abortion but never enough too worry anyone
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
5 years enzo, so all ewe lambs are vaccinated within the timeframe before tupping. With toxo, the ewe lambs are always brought into the lambing sheds before mucking out for routine checks, shearing, etc, so are deemed to have acquired immunity.
The oldest ewes are 9 years old, now. No problems with the health of their lambs, so imo the enzo is under control. The jab when they were lambs has more than paid for itself.
Nobody should be using antibiotic as prophylaxis again enzootic abortion. Our Vets would be having strong words if we did!
The oldest ewes are 9 years old, now. No problems with the health of their lambs, so imo the enzo is under control. The jab when they were lambs has more than paid for itself.
Nobody should be using antibiotic as prophylaxis again enzootic abortion. Our Vets would be having strong words if we did!
JD-Kid
Member
- Location
- Akaroa.. New Zealand
intresting you say that on toxo ...still say here once in lifetime but have noticed 3 years afterwards. can have storms in ewes