Project highlights importance of lamb vaccinations
AHDB
| AHDB Beef and Lamb
Producers are being reminded to vaccinate lambs before the autumn sets in following the results of an AHDB Beef Lamb-funded post mortem project.
The Fallen Stock initiative was launched to determine whether meaningful diagnoses could be made by examining fallen stock and, if the results were promptly relayed to producers, whether they could take action to prevent further deaths.
Results show that there was a peak for pulpy kidney, a common clostridrial disease, in lambs in October 2014. It is suggested that this could have been triggered by changes in gut flora as a result of dietary change. In the case of the lambs receiving hard feed, examined at the Fallen Stock Collection Centre in County Durham, most had not received a booster prior to the change in diet. Any immunity they may have had from drinking colostrum at birth may have waned, suggesting that a booster would have prevented most of the losses as the vaccinations generally work very well in sheep and are cost effective.
The results also showed a peak of cases where pasteurella was the cause of death in lambs in October, gradually increasing from September. This autumn peak has important implications for control of the disease.
Dr Liz Genever, senior sheep and beef scientist, said: “If producers are keeping store lambs during this period, they should be vaccinated ahead of any anticipated adverse weather or other stressors such as moving. Lambs that are vaccinated when they are young, from one-month-old, may lose their immunity by the autumn if not given a booster around September.
“There is a clear need for this as lambs had been vaccinated according to the data sheet in only 12% of the outbreaks monitored.
“These diseases can be prevented by the administration of appropriate vaccines and should be done as soon as possible.”
The Fallen Stock project has shown that carrying out post mortems at Fallen Stock Collection Centres provides useful and timely animal health information for producers.
The project ran between April 2014 and June 2015 across Northumberland, County Durham and North Yorkshire. It was led by Ben Strugnell of Farm Post Mortem Ltd at John Warren fallen stock collection centres in County Durham.
