21 Jul 2022
Sheep veterinary consultants Fiona Lovatt and Kate Hovers were among panelists to recommend all flocks with replacement ewes or have neighbours that lamb sheep should vaccinate.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Vets have been urged to contact their farming clients before tupping to discuss the importance of vaccination against enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE).
A round table event brought together a panel of leading sheep vets and commercial sheep farmers to review EAE, and many were concerned about the low uptake of vaccination for EAE and Toxoplasma species.
A report by the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance Targets Task Force in 2017 had recommended farmers increase the use of vaccines of EAE by 5% across five years to help reduce antibiotic use, but vaccination against EAE and Toxoplasma species peaked in 2020, at 50% and 31% respectively, for ewes intended for first breeding.
Sheep veterinary consultants on the panel included Fiona Lovatt and Kate Hovers, and they recommended that all flocks bringing in replacement ewes or that have neighbours that lamb sheep should vaccinate to protect against EAE.
The panel further advised that replacements should be sourced from EAE-accredited flocks to reduce the risk of bringing in the disease and that ewes should be lambed separately from the home flock for their first year to contain issues.
Vets were encouraged during the round table to proactively discuss the merits of vaccination for abortion with clients and incorporate protocols into future flock health plans. Practices were also urged to be proactive through their management systems to ensure farmers were contacted a few months ahead of tupping.
Dr Lovatt, a sheep veterinary consultant and director of Flock Health, said: “EAE is one disease that costs you a fortune if you just wait until it is in your flock before you take action. You have to consider what the risks are to your flock – and they are high if you ever buy in ewes or if you have close sheep flock neighbours.
“An outbreak of EAE is a failure of flock health planning as measures should have been put in place to prevent it happening.”
Katherine Timms, ruminant veterinary advisor at Ceva Animal Health, said: “It is essential to incorporate vaccination into flock health plans and proactively contact farming clients to discuss the benefits of vaccination well in advance of tupping by utilising practice management systems.
“This is particularly pertinent if they are known to have had abortion cases during the preceding lambing.”
