Ovivac p plus or Heptavac p plus?

[farmer lee]

Hi, I understand you would vaccinate ewes and replacement lambs with Heptavac p plus as it covers more and provides passive immunity to lambs but why would you Ovivac store lambs instead of using Heptavac?

 

[JohnGalway]

Don't know the answer, always used hep p + on everything, never seen ovivac for sale locally or online in Ireland.

 

[farmer lee]

Ovivac is cheaper than Heptavac and good for store lambs but I can't work out why

 

[Bye heck how much!!!!]

I think there is something slightly different between the two, ovivac-p has something extra for lambs I think. I use ovivac on the lambs and hept on the ewes but basically its better to use either than nothing. ovivac might be a touch cheaper too.

 

[Bye heck how much!!!!]

Ha just looked it up and no real reason why use different ones

 

[farmer lee]

I didn't think there is a reason to use two different ones but it states 'Heptavac p plus is the recommended breeding stock vaccine since it provides optimal aid in the control of predominant clostridial diseases in adult sheep' ... still doesn't make a lot of sense to me

 

[neilo]

I think there is something slightly different between the two, ovivac-p has something extra for lambs I think. I use ovivac on the lambs and hept on the ewes but basically its better to use either than nothing. ovivac might be a touch cheaper too.

Correct. Heptavac P+ covers everything that Ovivac P+ does, along with lamb dysentery. That will only effect new born lambs, and not even those in the Cotswolds (& other areas?), so no advantage whatsoever in doing slaughter lambs with the more expensive vaccine. Cost about 10p/dose extra last time I worked it out. Over a lot of lambs, it might be worth consideration, over a small number, almost irrelevant I suppose.

Btw, a lot of breeding sheep on the Cotswolds are only ever given Ovivac P+. I only started using Heptavac when I moved.

 

[farmer lee]

Thank you so much it all makes sense now.
Is lamb dysentery common in the south or anywhere does anyone know?

 

[bj_cardiff]

I've often wondered if I could dose all the lambs with Ovivac, then if I decided to keep any for replacements switching them onto Heptavac when I did the pre-lambing boosters? I've not met anyone that does tho, so I tend to use Heptavac on the lambs..

 

[neilo]

I've often wondered if I could dose all the lambs with Ovivac, then if I decided to keep any for replacements switching them onto Heptavac when I did the pre-lambing boosters? I've not met anyone that does tho, so I tend to use Heptavac on the lambs..

The lamb dysentery cover might not be full, otherwise, it wouldn't create a problem. I believe lamb dysentery is a massive killer if you get hit, but thankfully rare these days because most sheep are covered by Heptavac or Covexin.

 

[farmer lee]

Yes you can do it that way but your have to give them the 2 doses of Heptavac 4 to 6 weeks apart for the replacement lambs to be fully protected. You may as well carry on using Heptavac for everything if your not sure what lambs your going to keep

 

[Yale]

Farm store near us pointed out you can't get Ovivac in 125 dose packs so in some circumstances it is cheaper to buy the Hep as it may suit better the numbers that need jabbing.

 

[AndyHaycocks]

We recently lost a pedigree tup (shearling) and the vets at postmortem could not find any cause of death. We did discuss the hep P as the tup was on the system and the senior vet advised to dose with ovivac aswell, sort of an in between cover. Not sure what the thinking is, but we are trying it this time to see if it makes any difference.
Be interested to hear if anyone else has ever been advised this?

 

[Al R]

Never heard that but i have heard that near 5% don’t respond to the vaccine. I would have thought giving both ovivac P and Hep P which are similar products carrying the same bacteria you could overload an animal?
How much is the post Mortem? I know some people that took ewes with problems they definitely knew what it was and every time it came back as “inconclusive”

 

[neilo]

We recently lost a pedigree tup (shearling) and the vets at postmortem could not find any cause of death. We did discuss the hep P as the tup was on the system and the senior vet advised to dose with ovivac aswell, sort of an in between cover. Not sure what the thinking is, but we are trying it this time to see if it makes any difference.
Be interested to hear if anyone else has ever been advised this?

It will boost the pasteurella cover just as well as doing them with Heptavac. My sale rams always get an additional Ovivac P booster in June, and an extra one as lambs in the Autumn, as the pasteurella protection is very short lived.

No reason at all that rams need to be on Heptavac rather than Ovivac btw, as they won't get lamb dysentery. It wouldn't be worth teh cost of opening another bottle of Ovivac for the number of rams on most farms though.

 

[neilo]

Never heard that but i have heard that near 5% don’t respond to the vaccine. I would have thought giving both ovivac P and Hep P which are similar products carrying the same bacteria you could overload an animal?
How much is the post Mortem? I know some people that took ewes with problems they definitely knew what it was and every time it came back as “inconclusive”

There aren't any bacteria in Ovivac or Heptavac, as they are killed vaccines. You won't overload them.

As to the post mortem, if a vaccinated sheep is suspected of dying of pasteurella, then the vaccine company will usually pick up the tab for the PM and the vet's time. IIRC they have to do that as part of their monitoring for licencing purposes.
Both times I've done that they have indeed been confirmed as pasteurella... but strains not covered by the vaccine.

 

[yellowbelly]

Saw on another thread (a few days ago) that someone was using Ovipast in conjunction with Bravoxin to combine pasturella and clostridial protection.

Been meaning to look up costs of both to see if it's a cheaper way of doing it now that Heptavac has got so dear.

Not got round to it yet and it's now Sunday afternoon and I can't get motivated to do it just now. Anybody got any idea, so I don't have to trawl the Farmacy website for a cost comparison

 

[AndyHaycocks]

Never heard that but i have heard that near 5% don’t respond to the vaccine. I would have thought giving both ovivac P and Hep P which are similar products carrying the same bacteria you could overload an animal?
How much is the post Mortem? I know some people that took ewes with problems they definitely knew what it was and every time it came back as “inconclusive”

Post mortem cost us £125 I think, possibly more

 

[hill farmer]

Saw on another thread (a few days ago) that someone was using Ovipast in conjunction with Bravoxin to combine pasturella and clostridial protection.

Been meaning to look up costs of both to see if it's a cheaper way of doing it now that Heptavac has got so dear.

Not got round to it yet and it's now Sunday afternoon and I can't get motivated to do it just now. Anybody got any idea, so I don't have to trawl the Farmacy website for a cost comparison

Spoke to Wynnstay rep couple of days ago, he told us that he'd priced some vaccines for another customer. Sure he said that 250 doses of ovivac-p £195 ish, ovipast was £199 ish, he wasn't sure if it was the same dose rate but thought that it was.
Heptavac-p was £260 odd!

We had Bravoxin off him, around £27 for 100 doses

 

[Highland Mule]

Saw on another thread (a few days ago) that someone was using Ovipast in conjunction with Bravoxin to combine pasturella and clostridial protection.

Been meaning to look up costs of both to see if it's a cheaper way of doing it now that Heptavac has got so dear.

Not got round to it yet and it's now Sunday afternoon and I can't get motivated to do it just now. Anybody got any idea, so I don't have to trawl the Farmacy website for a cost comparison

@Nithsdale Farmer