[StephB]

Hi all.

This is our second year raising lambs for meat.

Last year we bought 2 month old lambs and reared until they were 6 months old and they produced lovely meat.

We thought we would try it a little differently this year, and have bought in 9 orphan lambs.  Only wanted 5, but they farmer gave me that last four he had as they were not looking too good and i am soft and gave them a home  .

They are one week old and we are feeding them 4 times per 24 hour period.  They are taking around 200-400ml per feed.

Last year all we had to do with our weaned lambs was treat them for fly strike in early summer and that was it until slaughter.

What I wondered was, do I need to vaccinate or treat them with anything during their short lives.?

I am sure if I enquire at my vets, they will say they need injecting with something, but I don't want to blanket treat them if it isnt necessary.  Before last year there were no animals on this land for over 15 years as previous owner did nothing with the land, so should be no build up of parasites etc.

Sorry such a newbie question.
thanks in advance

[MarvinH]

They will need clostridial vaccination (x2) with interval of 4-6weeks apart.(Hep p+ for example)

[MarvinH]

First dose should bew from 3 - 6 weeks of age

[TheCaptain]

What's clostridial when it's at home then and what does it treat?

[Marches Farmer]

Clostridial diseases are mostly soil-borne diseases they will encounter when out at pasture but some are in the environment generally.  Vaccination covers things like pulpy kidney, blackleg, braxy, tetanus and pasteurellosis.  As with all young animals disease can very quickly overwhelm them and the first thing you'll know about it is when you find them dead.  Pasteurellosis in particular always seems to take the biggest and best lambs out of the blue.

[SallyintNorth]

Pasteurella isn't a clostridial.  Most of the vaccines cover many or most of the clostridials, some cover Pasteurella too - the "-P" indicates that it covers pasteurella.

[TheCaptain]

so, do you vaccinate because you have these diseases present or as a precaution?

[dmoran]

You need to vaccinate as a prevention before they become ill.


To answer the OP on what else to consider, you will probably also need to use a worm drench every 6 weeks or so.


We took on 20 orphans last year and 17 of them made it through the year to finishing for slaughter, we lost 3 very quickly to coccidosis in May 2012.  We only found out what killed them when we had a poo sample tested from one of the dead lambs.  It was preventable with a dose of Vecoxan but we didn't know that at the time, so we will probably give a precautionary dose of Vecoxan for our next batch of orphans after they arrive in Mar/April.

[Bionic]

To answer the OP on what else to consider, you will probably also need to use a worm drench every 6 weeks or so.

I'm new to sheep keeping but everything I have read and heard says don't just routinely dose for worms as this builds up resistance to them. I would suggest that you speak to your vet about how to deal with it in your local area.

[dmoran]

To answer the OP on what else to consider, you will probably also need to use a worm drench every 6 weeks or so.

I'm new to sheep keeping but everything I have read and heard says don't just routinely dose for worms as this builds up resistance to them. I would suggest that you speak to your vet about how to deal with it in your local area.

You are quite right of course, it may not be necessary to drench at all but in my opinion it is another item on the list of things to consider.

[twizzel]

We used heptavac on our orphans last year and also 1 worm treatment (combinex) part way through the summer.

[Marlboro]

We have had 20 orphans the last two years. We have not vaccinated them, may be risky but none have died,  we only vaccinate the follow ons before lambing, adds to the timing complications but it seems ok. We did not worm the first year as they had gone in August and the land, at that time was fresh. Last year we wormed about July when it became clear they were not going anywhere very early. We also fluked the ones which didn't go till November.

I do remember getting blackleg and other nasties at home when I was young (or rather the sheep did) and maybe I will change my mind if we have a problem, we may have been just lucky, in fact while posting this I am thinking that we may well vaccinate them all this year! We have 27 in lamb ewes hogs, 11 follow ons and one who aborted for some reason plus Tony and specky the tups. Poor speckled tup has to go this year hes only two but we have too many of his daughters, usual problem.

[TheCaptain]

I went to a very interesting evening put on by my vets about worming and the effects of the different wormers and what and when and why you should be worming.


Headlines were - Do a FEC before you worm (no point in worming if you don't have worms); don't worm routinely 'just because that's the way it's always been done'; don't worm all of your ewes (leave your strongest ones without worming); make sure that if you are worming on pasture you put them back onto the 'dirty' pasture for 4-5 days; if you have wormed then you do a FEC to see if your wormer has been effective (worms are, for all intents and purposes, now resistant to gp1 wormers) and last, but not least, only use the new gp 5 'purple' wormer for worming new flock in your isolation system before putting them onto 'dirty' pasture.


I'm sure this will open a can of worms (thank you, I'm available for birthdays/christmas/bahmitsvas)

[StephB]

Hi

Thanks alot for all your replies.

So, If I have it right,  I need to:-

Heptovac P twice from 3-6 weeks old.
Vexocan for coccidiosis in Spring
FEC to vet to check for worms Spring / summer
Dose for Fly Strike early summer.

I have heard that you can either get the vet out for the Heptovac or inject yourself.?

what do you all do?.  We had to inject a pig last summer a few times and it wasnt pleasant.  but i dread vet fees so like to do all I can myself.

If you inject the lambs yourself, do you have any tips / Advice.

Thanks so much all, I have done a sheep course at my local agricultural college but I learn much better actually getting on with it, than trying to memorise it all from paper.

xx

[Richard Underwood]

Some treatments to prevent fly strike have longer efficacy than others so depending on what you use you may need to repeat the flystrike treatment halfway through the summer - check before you buy as it makes a difference to what is best value.