[Harebell]

Most of my ewes were due to start lambing on Friday 18th March (two early lambing ewes had healthy twins a few weeks ago but we still have 20 or so to lamb in the main flock).  However, last week a shearling ewe I bought in last October aborted a single lamb.  The lamb looked a week or two premature and the birthing fluid around the lamb looked slightly odd in colour, too yellow-ish maybe - we couldn't find the placenta or any afterbirth.  The ewe seemed fine and unconcerned about the dead lamb so we removed the dead lamb from the sheep field.  I hoped that it was just 'one of those things' as we've never had problems with abortion before in several decades of keeping sheep and don't vaccinate against it. 

This morning we found a big, healthy looking ewe lamb had been born over night but I did notice that the small amount of afterbirth I found where the ewe had lambed looked different - dark brown.  Then this evening another ewe (one that I've had for a couple of years and had a nice set of twins last year as a shearling) aborted a slightly premature looking lamb which was covered in dark brown afterbirth (see photo).  We immediately cleared away the dead lamb and disinfected the ground she lambed on.  Now I think we might have an abortion storm on our hands, and I have no idea what to do!  Phoning the vet first thing tomorrow but perhaps might be too late to PM the lamb then?  I think it might be Enzootic abortion.

We have shut the ewes out of the field with a footpath, as slightly concerned this might be a public health issue too, ahhh nightmare! 

[shep53]

Speak to your VET for a pm you need lamb  and placenta , could be 5or 6 different things .       IF ez  then you can inject tomorrow to help   slow it down .

[waterbuffalofarmer]

It could be contagious abortion, I would have a PM done asap. Also moving the ewes away from that field and seperating the 2 ewes which aborted might help; However it may be too late. I am sorry that you have had to go through this and I hope it all works out well 

[fsmnutter]

Should still be viable for pm tomorrow, obviously the fresher the better but as this lamb has the after birth with it, you have everything going in the right direction to potentially get a diagnosis.
Not sure how close you are to the local large animal lab as this may be most fruitful pm as otherwise vet is taking samples and sending to lab, your vet may offer you to take lamb straight to lab which usually have very good deals on pms.

[Harebell]

Should still be viable for pm tomorrow, obviously the fresher the better but as this lamb has the after birth with it, you have everything going in the right direction to potentially get a diagnosis.
Not sure how close you are to the local large animal lab as this may be most fruitful pm as otherwise vet is taking samples and sending to lab, your vet may offer you to take lamb straight to lab which usually have very good deals on pms.

OK, we'll speak to vet 1st thing tomorrow.  Not sure where our nearest lab is, we're near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

[Sbom]

Seal in in a bag so no other critters get to it overnight.....hope it's not enzootic as that's a pretty grim outlook for the rest of lambing

[fsmnutter]

The big ahvla lab is Winchester tho not sure off the top of my head if they do regular pms or just national health stuff, been a few years since I was there!
Your vet will keep you right.
you get answers that can help you, for future years even if this lambing may continue to have problems.

[SallyintNorth]

Fingers crossed for you 

We had a start somewhat like this in one group two years ago.  And similar a few years before that, too.  In both cases, nothing was found in the remnants we took to the lab.  (They said they needed a good piece of placenta, so you have that going for you, but they also wanted it within hours.)  The vet had said we could inject the remaining ewes with Alamycin, which would help reduce the impact in other sheep in the group if it was Enzo.  (I think I'm remembering this right.)  And that they could take bloods from a group of aborted ewes, something like up to a month after lambing, and be able to analyse what had happened from that.

However, in both cases, after a few horrible mornings, the abortions stopped and the lambings proceeded normally thereafter.  In following years, both groups lambed fine.

Again, fingers crossed for you, and some more hugs.   

[Talana]

 We once started to have problems with abortion vet diagnosed enzootic, and recommend we inject the remaining ewes with antibiotics which helped salvage the rest. Then at least 1 month before putting to the tup all the ewes were vaccinated and now we only vaccinate new gimmers/ewes coming onto holding as the ones already here are immune you only need to vaccinate once. however if it's toxi I believe it needs done more regularly.
Best wishes hope the rest of your lambing goes better.

[harmony]

Three of my four suffolks aborted lambs a couple of weeks ago. Apart from the first who didn't open enough to push the lambs until the next day, the other two, with help, delivered lambs that appeared just to have died before exit.


Remove your sheep that have aborted as they will be a real risk to your other sheep. 


For a PM you need placenta also. We took ours the next morning (a wednesday) and didn't get prelim results until monday.  Talk now to your vet about injecting your other sheep. You may be in better position to us in that your sheep are outside.


Your first lamb sounds as though it may have been stressed from what you say about the colour.


Mine aborted with a strain of champylobactor coli. Champlyobactor being a common abortion agent but not the coli strain. There are only some strains you can vaccinate for.


There is some good info on NADIS.


 

[Harebell]

Thanks so much for all the messages.  We took the dead lamb in to the vets this morning and had a good chat.  The vet said they may not be able to tell what it is from just one dead lamb, or be able to prevent any more abortions but she did suggest that we blood test any ewes that abort or who are barren later in the year, so that we can be better prepared for next lambing.  I currently have 7 apparently healthy-ish lambs vs. 2 aborted lambs... we'll just have to see what the rest of lambing brings, 14 ewes left to lamb. We'll be extra vigilant for any aborting ewes and clean/disinfect areas with afterbirth.

It seems to be one thing or another with sheep doesn't it?!  Still love 'em though.   

[Harebell]

Just a follow up post, for those who may experience something similar this year or in the future...

It took a couple of weeks to get the PM results on the miscarried lamb from the vets.  It didn't come back positive for Chlamydia, Toxoplasma or Campylobacter (was worried it might be Campylobacter as a friend on a farm not far away suffered huge losses with this in their flock of 300 ewes).  The vet said the miscarriages may or may not have been caused by an infectious agent - it may have just been 'one of those things'.  However we will probably blood test any miscarried/barren ewes in the next couple of months just in case and then we can look into vaccinating for next year if needed.

The rest of lambing has gone well, with just two Tail End Charlies left to lamb.

[kanisha]

Just curious did they test for schmallenberg virus?

[Harebell]

Just curious did they test for schmallenberg virus?

Not that I'm aware. I know I spoke to the vet last year about it in passing, as they had tested several big flocks locally but no positive results.  I will ask the vets if they found it locally in any flocks this year when I next see them.