[Moleskins]

Just picking up from another thread which has gone from injections to what we inject.
In the past I've not injected lambs for clostridial diseases because  I've used  Heptovac on the ewes prior
to lambing I understood this covered the lambs.
However I notice that many people use it again on the lambs or use an equivalent to Heptovac.
Doing them at about 5 weeks, which seems the norm, is gonna be difficult as they've been spread over about
four weeks due to a ram problem last year.

[suziequeue]

Moleskins

It only covers the lambs for the first few weeks after birth as the lambs get antibodies through the breast milk (just like humans) which is why our ewes get their annual booster three or four weeks prior to lambing.

After this time, the immunity wanes and further vaccination is necessary. Then the lambs get their first dose at four week and a second dose about four weeks after that.

Then they go on to have an annual booster along with the other pregnant ewes the following spring.

[jaykay]

You can do them from 3 weeks, so if you 'split the difference' and do them at 5, some will be 3 and some 7 - should be ok,
As Suzie says, the passive immunity from the mum only lasts a few weeks - after that they need vaccinating so they can make their own immune response.

[feldar]

Please make sure you do it too. We forgot one year and lost some very good quality show lambs at 5 months old. that's a lot of money when you've had to put work into them to get them up to standard. We always vaccinate now.

[plumseverywhere]

When I did my lambs at 4 weeks I 'lost' some of the heptavacP on one of them, Really cross with myself as I know I injected and some went in but in a quick wiggle some spurted onto the wool. Very hard to ascertain how much and I didn't want to try and guesstimate and potentially get it wrong with a second shot same day. Should i have? they are due their 2nd lot in 2 or 3 weeks from now.  Next time Hubby clamps them down for me - find the sheep so much harder to vaccinate than the goats (that steep learning curve again...)

[feldar]

It's hard to say if you don't know how much she had the first time. If she got most of the shot then the next booster is activating the Memory cells again, so she should be ok.
if she didn't get the majority of the shot, you could play safe and reboost her in another 4 weeks after the second shot but this will be expensive if you have to buy a full bottle of Heptavac for one lamb.
If you know anyone who is boosting near you can you have 2ml of them?

[jaykay]

You can't really 'overdose' with vaccine (within sensible limits obviously) so I give them a second dose if I think I've injected their fleece rather than them.

If you think she got some of the original, I would have thought the normal second dose in 4 weeks will be enough to ensure an immune response.

[plumseverywhere]

I would say he got more than half (so at least 1ml probably 1.5ml) but hard to be 100% as it trickled on wool. Thanks for the info both

[suziequeue]

(that steep learning curve again...)

Is that steep learning curve or sheep learning curve Plums?

 

.......and lost some very good quality show lambs at 5 months old

Sorry to hear that Feldar 

[PDO_Lamb]

Ovipac P is the vaccine for lambs. I assume it is cheaper than Heptavac if you have to buy it specially for just lambs.

[jaykay]

There are various products on the market to offer protection. Examples include Heptavac, Heptavac P Plus,Covexin 8, Covexin 10 and Tribovax 10. Ovipac P is aimed more at lambs destined for slaughter as it does not cover as wide a range of protection.

All are suitable for lambs.

[Moleskins]

Thanks, Heptavac on order from vet