enzootic abortion in sheep

razor8

i had some problems with Enzootic abortion in my flock this year (around 40 - 50 lamb have died) sent some samples to lab and came back positive, inconclusive etc,

thinking of getting sheep vacinated next year against this, has anyone experience of using the vaccine enzovax or any other remedies for combating this disease, its the first time we have every had such a large outbreak of abortion and im attributing the purchase of hoggets last year to the route cause of the outbreak

im told enzovax is very expensive around 8.50 a sheep but you only need to use it once and then vacinate replacements every year, is this the case or has any other sheep farmers had success with combating this disease using a product like this or other methods?

not sure to let it take its course again next year but due to the cost of losing so many lambs this year i need to consider my options for next year, told that vaccines can take months to arrive after initial ordering and dont want to get caught out

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

i had some problems with Enzootic abortion in my flock this year (around 40 - 50 lamb have died) sent some samples to lab and came back positive, inconclusive etc,

thinking of getting sheep vacinated next year against this, has anyone experience of using the vaccine enzovax or any other remedies for combating this disease, its the first time we have every had such a large outbreak of abortion and im attributing the purchase of hoggets last year to the route cause of the outbreak

im told enzovax is very expensive around 8.50 a sheep but you only need to use it once and then vacinate replacements every year, is this the case or has any other sheep farmers had success with combating this disease using a product like this or other methods?

not sure to let it take its course again next year but due to the cost of losing so many lambs this year i need to consider my options for next year, told that vaccines can take months to arrive after initial ordering and dont want to get caught out

Very infectious disease, very common in sheep flocks these times, I use both toxovax & enzovax and find it good, some farmers use alamycin during an abortion storm, usually helps, labs are able to diagnose toxo in couple of days but enzo takes much much longer, so when toxo is ruled out, they use alamycin on spec.If you wait for a proper diagnosis of enzo, everything is usually lambed/aborted. You have to use the vaccine as soon as you get it, and at least a month before mating. Unlike toxo, a sheep can abort every year with it, anyway see your vet.

razor8

Thanks rancher

i think my flock is farirly immune to toxi, i have a few every year that i can live with but first time i had such an outbreak of enzootic and yes by the time lab results came back the worst of the storm was over

do you still vacinate every year or just a once off?

what kind of price are you paying compared to the €8.50 i was quoted, i was told about alamycin, maybe just as cheap to use it

also are you saying that if a sheep aborted this year with enzo she may do so again next year, i have been told that they are immune, is this not right?

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

Thanks rancher

i think my flock is farirly immune to toxi, i have a few every year that i can live with but first time i had such an outbreak of enzootic and yes by the time lab results came back the worst of the storm was over

do you still vacinate every year or just a once off?

what kind of price are you paying compared to the €8.50 i was quoted, i was told about alamycin, maybe just as cheap to use it

also are you saying that if a sheep aborted this year with enzo she may do so again next year, i have been told that they are immune, is this not right?

I vaccinate all my replacements, it wasn't available last year and again I had a good few abortions in my ewe lambs, so I'm not wasting my money.
Going in with alamycin is an emergency action, if you inject all the ewes when they start aborting, there will be lambs in the ewes already affected and will break your heart when they do come, the alamycin only lasts a short time and ewes can get infected when it wears off.
Your price sounds very high, I hope its not that dear, Toxovac plus Enzovac cost me 8 euro per ewe in 2009, as I said I couldn't get it last year.
Finally my experience has been that ewes can abort twice, maybe more but they don't get the oppportunity here, however if you just vaccinate your replacements you should be alright.
Enzo is very infectious,

razor8

thats a price i was quoted from a vet clinic in Cavan

reply much appreciated

razor8

¬!