Orf

[chris elk]

Right I've never experienced it before I've had some lambs with it on mouths and noses etc question is what happens now,I've been purple spraying them and it seems to have gone or clearing up nicely. Had salt out with them too. I must of bought it in from somewhere? What do I need to do vaccinate for next year? Cheers

 

[Jerry]

Brinnicombe orf buckets. Or 3 in 1 for orf and Cocci.

 

[spin cycle]

orf is a challenge for me....particularly if grazing has a few thistles ect....i reccomend 'fro tub' from dennis brinicombe....not cheap but look at it as doing your minerals to and saving labour

 

[cotswoldcs]

Think very carefully about whether you need to vaccinate. Once you start scratching you can't stop! We've been vaccinating for 30+ years now and I don't think we'll ever be able to stop. It's a pain to do. Try the buckets first and vaccinate if it gets out of hand.

 

[Danllan]

Think very carefully about whether you need to vaccinate. Once you start scratching you can't stop! We've been vaccinating for 30+ years now and I don't think we'll ever be able to stop. It's a pain to do. Try the buckets first and vaccinate if it gets out of hand.

@bovine is this the case, that there is never a way out.

 

[Ysgythan]

The spray is good to get on top of it but to help recovery dab some barrier cream or Germolene on it.

As to vaccination once you have an issue it's a no brainer. Pennies to save pounds.

 

[Blod]

I can't see why vaccinating is any more terrible than having the wild strain on farm

 

[Ysgythan]

I can't see why vaccinating is any more terrible than having the wild strain on farm

Because it's a live vaccine you are introducing the infection to the environment which is daft if it's not there. As you say if there's a wild strain then vaccination is crucial.

 

[bovine]

I agree the vaccine is vital IF you have the disease. It's a massive welfare issue (pain and suffering) with economic consequences (massively reduces growth rate). Personally I don't see it as an acceptable solution waiting for them to succumb to disease and then lick things to seemingly speed up the cure.

The vaccine is excellent at preventing the disease, but only on farms that have the disease.

 

[chris elk]

Thank you everyone I'll try the buckets next year and see how I get on. The grass has been long this time so I don't think that has helped either . Can you deal direct with brinnicombe ?

 

[chris elk]

What about keeping ewe lambs that have had it ? Is that a no no ?

 

[Danllan]

I agree the vaccine is vital IF you have the disease. It's a massive welfare issue (pain and suffering) with economic consequences (massively reduces growth rate). Personally I don't see it as an acceptable solution waiting for them to succumb to disease and then lick things to seemingly speed up the cure.

The vaccine is excellent at preventing the disease, but only on farms that have the disease.

It's a Catch 22 then. I've read up on it and it seems that there would have to be an extremely long time without sheep / goats to see a place rid itself of the virus.

 

[bovine]

What about keeping ewe lambs that have had it ? Is that a no no ?

It's fine.

It's a Catch 22 then. I've read up on it and it seems that there would have to be an extremely long time without sheep / goats to see a place rid itself of the virus.

No it's not, it's very simple. My view if you have orf you should vaccinate. If you don't then you don't need to. If you have it, then it will never go away. You need to keep vaccinating.

The vaccine is very effective and pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Danllan]

Fair enough.

 

[chris elk]

Thank you

 

[Coximus]

I found after eradicating thistles it pretty much vanished without vaccinating, keeping the pasture clean has removed the main transmission vector and its not an issue for me.

Get the knapsack out!

 

[JohnGalway]

I found after eradicating thistles it pretty much vanished without vaccinating, keeping the pasture clean has removed the main transmission vector and its not an issue for me.

Get the knapsack out!

To the OP vaccinate.

Though I did have an interesting find one year. The singles were on part of the farm with lots of creeping gorse, they got orf. The twins were kept to the cleaner part, only seperate by a single sheep net fence, they didn't get orf.

Draw your own conclusions but I now vaccinate and don't worry about orf. It is another job but it's 10,000 times better than having orf, particularly the strain on this farm.

 

[Paddington]

Our hedges are mainly blackthorn and hawthorn but we don't have that many thistles, can hedges carry orf ?
We have a ewe this year with orf (as well as a few lambs), is that unusual ?

 

[Downtrodden Dad]

You can deal directly with Brinicomb but they have never given me a better price than I get from going through an agent [emoji53]

 

[chris elk]

I've had lambs in two batches one batch had nothing other had a bit in it. Probably 30% with it. No thistles all new leys, all there was was long grass and black grass! I don't want to start vaccinating if it was a freak thing? Or does it not work like that, if they've had it once is it something they don't get again?