Use lambing as a time to get on top of potentially costly disease problems

With the lambing season virtually upon us, and the extra workload it involves, there’s no better time to plan ahead. Updating flock health plans now, before lambing commences, will ensure that you and your staff are able to implement disease control measures that will reduce stress during and after lambing.

Here, Intervet’s large animal veterinary adviser, Rosemary Booth, offers some timely advice that will help you keep on top of the diseases that could be robbing you of valuable profits.

Pasteurella and clostridial diseases

The pasteurella pneumonia bacteria are carried on nearly all sheep’s tonsils, Animals tend only to succumb to the infection when they are stressed, such as at lambing or weaning, or if their immunity is compromised in any way.

Likewise, the bacteria that cause clostridial diseases are also widespread and found in the soil. These can strike without warning and are often fatal. Blackleg, pulpy kidney, struck, tetanus and black disease are only a few of the clostridial diseases that can affect unvaccinated ewes and lambs. Infections progress quickly and many sheep may be found either dead or dying. Treatment with antibiotics is invariably too late so the importance of a comprehensive vaccination programme cannot be over stressed.

Vaccination

Breeding ewes should already have been vaccinated against pasteurellosis and the seven main clostridial diseases, not only for their own sake, but also to pass on protection to their lambs once they are born. Provided they have already received a primary course of, for example, Heptavac-P^® Plus (ideally when they joined the flock), an annual booster injection, given a month before lambing starts, will give year-long immunity and help ensure there are sufficient antibodies in the ewe’s colostrum to be passed to her offspring.

When lambs from vaccinated ewes suckle, they will acquire what is technically known as maternally derived immunity as long as they consume adequate colostrum in the first few hours of life. This immunity will help them cope with disease challenges before they can be vaccinated. All lambs should be given two doses of a pasteurella/clostridial vaccine, such as Ovivac-P^® Plus. The first dose can be given from three weeks of age, with a second dose required 4-6 weeks later. Omitting this second dose will leave lambs unprotected.

The cost of vaccinating against clostridial diseases and pasteurellosis is relatively small when you consider a typical cost benefit being in the region 5:1^[1]. Add on the improved animal welfare and peace of mind it can bring, there’s clearly considerable scope for spending extra time planning, and investing in ewe health, as we approach lambing to prevent what could be very costly losses.

[1] Tony Andrews, Pasteurella costings study, 2004