Abortion in Sheep (Campylobacter spp)

jfh

Hoping some here has had to deal with this dreaded disease.
we run a closed herd bar the ram which was bought in.
just a bit of detail,
we had 2 ewe's that aborted last year out of 100, thought nothing of it.

this year it has turned into an epidemic, over 25 so far.

The lab returned Campylobacter spp & advised nothing can be done about it.
if a sheep gets it, she immune for life.
ewe's never looked better, lambs are big & strong, just born dead.:(

anyone else have experience of this

rangler1

jfh wrote: »

Hoping some here has had to deal with this dreaded disease.
we run a closed herd bar the ram which was bought in.
just a bit of detail,
we had 2 ewe's that aborted last year out of 100, thought nothing of it.

this year it has turned into an epidemic, over 25 so far.

The lab returned Campylobacter spp & advised nothing can be done about it.
if a sheep gets it, she immune for life.
ewe's never looked better, lambs are big & strong, just born dead.:(

anyone else have experience of this

You have my sympathy, going through something similar in the ewe lambs, seven in the last week out of 125 and not due till first week march april, not diagnosed yet but its nearly the only thing that's left now,
I've had it before, years ago. Talk to your vet, labs don't seem to advise on blanket treatment of antibiotics, but I think antibiotics helps, even some of the ewes that go full term will have weak lambs, antibiotics helps to avoid that. Talk to your vet anyway

greysides

rangler1 wrote: »

Talk to your vet, labs don't seem to advise on blanket treatment of antibiotics, but I think antibiotics helps, even some of the ewes that go full term will have weak lambs, antibiotics helps to avoid that. Talk to your vet anyway

That would be my approach.

ihatewinter

Can someone tell me why is there a vaccination available in the UK for Campylobacter and not Ireland?

Green farmer

Frustrating when you go to the effort of running a closed flock and see off the likes of enzo and toxo, for something else to rear it's ugly head.

razor8

I thought it was confined to New Zealand?

Had both Enzo and toxo one after the other here a few years ago and know what your going through

jfh

greysides wrote: »

That would be my approach.

lab advised that there was nothing that could be done.

rangler1

jfh wrote: »

lab advised that there was nothing that could be done.

There's a bit of reading for you, opinions differ, That's why I said talk to your vet.
http://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/dead-lambs.19027/page-5

ganmo

razor8 wrote: »

I thought it was confined to New Zealand?

Had both Enzo and toxo one after the other here a few years ago and know what your going through

if you swab your fridge you're more than likely going to find
Campylobacter

jfh

rangler1 wrote: »

There's a bit of reading for you, opinions differ, That's why I said talk to your vet.
http://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/dead-lambs.19027/page-5

Good thread there. Vet actually prescribed alamycin this morning. Going to give them all a shot.

rangler1

jfh wrote: »

Good thread there. Vet actually prescribed alamycin this morning. Going to give them all a shot.

Hopefully it'll work now, I've seen it stop it here, They've ruled out Campy, toxo, enzo, here, They found some listeria, but I don't think the ewe lambs are sick enough for it to be that........straw is clean too and so is the ration, but there's thousand of feckin birds in the shed, never seen it a bad

AntrimGlens

rangler1 wrote: »

Hopefully it'll work now, I've seen it stop it here, but there's thousand of feckin birds in the shed, never seen it a bad

There's a big estate in this county that had a serious outbreak of abortions about 3 years ago, had over 100 ewes aborted, couldn't figure out what was causing it, but eventually turned out to be the birds coming into the shed and walking over and picking through the ration.
Must ask tonight what the actual bacteria was that caused the abortion, but samonella or ecoli rings a bell.

orm0nd

mate of mine had abortions in ewe lambs due to listeria last year, eventually traced to grazing too low to soil levels, even-though they had ad lib quality baled silage available,

rangler are you using nuts or ration, I find less attraction for the birds with nuts,

jfh

rangler1 wrote: »

Hopefully it'll work now, I've seen it stop it here, They've ruled out Campy, toxo, enzo, here, They found some listeria, but I don't think the ewe lambs are sick enough for it to be that........straw is clean too and so is the ration, but there's thousand of feckin birds in the shed, never seen it a bad

crows & ravens seem to be carriers of all types of disease.

ulleJ1

I had 5 ewes that aborted out of 100 last year..... used my common sense and moved all ewes to a new field... not fully sure if this helped but had no abortions after I moved them....
There were some cats in a wooded area near where the sheep first started aborting so I put it down to that..... Id move the sheep if I was you ... best advice I can give

solerina

They were talking about this bacteria (I think anyway) on ear to the ground the other night ....do you have a poultry farm nearby ? sounds like its at epidemic levels in chickens, maybe wild birds are bringing it your way.

rangler1

solerina wrote: »

They were talking about this bacteria (I think anyway) on ear to the ground the other night ....do you have a poultry farm nearby ? sounds like its at epidemic levels in chickens, maybe wild birds are bringing it your way.

Still waiting on results, only six yet out of 125, so not too bad yet, and none since Wednesday

Insp. Harry Callahan

Hi Having a few issues here lambing at the mo and would appreciate any advice..
Started lambing here 10 days ago started well enough but in the last couple of days had a 4 ewes lamb with lambs born dead, a couple were alive but were sickly and died an hour later, they were smaller than average. was gonna contact vet in the morning.
have a closed flock here, just buy a ram each year
had enzootic abortion here about 20 years ago but nothing ever since, I think I remember the symptoms were similiar to this
total ewes in flock 130

Username John

Insp. Harry Callahan wrote: »

Hi Having a few issues here lambing at the mo and would appreciate any advice..
Started lambing here 10 days ago started well enough but in the last couple of days had a 4 ewes lamb with lambs born dead, a couple were alive but were sickly and died an hour later, they were smaller than average. was gonna contact vet in the morning.
have a closed flock here, just buy a ram each year
had enzootic abortion here about 20 years ago but nothing ever since, I think I remember the symptoms were similiar to this
total ewes in flock 130

I'm not saying its not enzootic now - but could it be some kinda mineral deficiency?

I had something in the flock a few years ago, and was talking to a neighbour, and he had an issue very similar to what you describe years ago (lambs born weak, and died very soon later) At the time, it was diagnosed as iodine deficiency.

Not sure this helps...

Best of luck Inspt, hope you get to the bottom of it.

Insp. Harry Callahan

I have plenty of minerals in the feed so hadn't thought that would be an issue but you never know

Had 2 ewes lamb with doubles today and they were fine, I asked the vet and got some antibiobic to give the rest of them, if it happens again I will go to the lab with it.

Green farmer

Abortion rate running about 2% here so far. For the aborted ones , would guys give them another chance next year or would ye cull them ? 2-3 year old sheep. Closed flock and vaccinated for toxo.aborted over weekend ,1 week out from lambing so couldn't get lambs examined.

rangler1

jfh wrote: »

crows & ravens seem to be carriers of all types of disease.

Finally got a diagnosis on the abortion, as they thought, listeria.....surprising to get it from straw, I know the straw was turned before baling and there was a lot of stones in the bales so the tedder might have been set too low and dragged clay in

Green farmer

Make's you think about the plastic slats :rolleyes: