Ram Tested positive for CL

I have a ram I acquired about 2 years ago. Late last summer he developed an abscess on his jaw. I didn't think anything of it as it quickly cleared up and we did have a lot of spear grass around at the time. He developed another abscess a month ago and warning bells went off in my head. I lanced it and treated heavily with antiseptic cleaning up all the pus. It is healing nicely without drainage. I sent the pus sample off to WADDL and it came back as positive for CL. Now what?

I was planning on using this ram to breed 3 of my ewes in May and then selling him . I will butcher him as I don't want to sell a problem to anyone. I do not have a replacement ram yet. He is not separate from the ewes/lambs so they have been exposed. Would you cull him now and skip May breeding or do you think any harm is already done and I can breed and then cull? Are there any transmission risks in breeding him? The ram is in good condition, and I'm sad he has to go to butcher.

How would you handle the ewes/lambs? Test and then vaccinate? Would you vaccinate? I understand that vaccination can lead to false positives but titer levels should decrease over time. I also understand that the vaccination itself is a bit risky-would you vaccinate?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

sorry to hear this My understanding of CL is that it can be spread when the abscess opens and the pus gets onto the other animals. The information I have read, talks about keeping the animal away from the others until the abscess is healed to prevent spread.

As hard as it is to cull him, that is probably the best thing to do.
Can they even test the ewes/lambs if they aren't showing abscess?

Hopefully others like @SheepGirl and @purplequeenvt will have some thoughts.

I don't have sheep but CL is more common in sheep than in goats however more often internal.

If the others have been contaminated it will be able to be tested for in 3 months.

Once the abscess is completely healed over you can still breed him.
Animals that have internal abscesses will be condemned by the slaughterhouse.

Do you breed for commercial stock/ slaughter lambs?

Is the rest of the flock negative?

If so and you want to keep a neg flock then cull him but if they aren't negative than why cull him.
I wouldn't necessarily cull him if he is a really good ram. What were the titer levels?

I would imagine the ram had CL last August when he had the abscess then. So all my ewes would have been exposed-I also have goats who have run with the sheep, who would be exposed too.

I guess at this point it wouldn't hurt to breed him as planned since his abscess is pretty much healed over and then cull him. I was planning on replacing him this year anyhow, and culling will now be the only option. I don't have titer levels as it was a pus sample (supposedly more reliable than blood and since he's asymptomatic I don't think there is any doubt this is CL).

Now what do I do going forward? My flock is primarily for training dogs but I do raise registered stock so that they can pay for their upkeep. I'd like to vaccinate but then I won't have a clue who is positive and who is not. Would the wisest thing to be to test the ewes now? The lambs are just a few weeks old so I can't test them but could vaccinate, but I've also heard that animals can have reactions to the vaccine and then with those lambs I wouldn't know if they carried it or not? I'd like to work towards being CL free again but won't cull everyone to that end.

I've never dealt with CL and it is something that I hope I never have to.

If you've owned this ram for 2 years then he either came with CL or he got it from one of your animals. I'd test your girls and go from there. If they are positive, then there is no harm in breeding to him in May. If they are negative.....keeping him until he's done his job might be fine or it might not.

I don't know anything about the CL vaccine, but I'd be inclined to pass on it.

If you are planning on selling registered breeding stock then you should probably get this under control before you sell anything. It is our responsibility as breeders to sell only the best. I don't sell just anything as registered breeding stock and I won't sell anything that isn't healthy.

purplequeenvt said:

If you are planning on selling registered breeding stock then you should probably get this under control before you sell anything. It is our responsibility as breeders to sell only the best. I don't sell just anything as registered breeding stock and I won't sell anything that isn't healthy.

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The issue is MOST sheep breeders do not test for CL, and from what I understand cases of CL in sheep are usually internal not external. This is very common. I talked with one of the vets at UCDavis awhile back and she was sharing about how they study the CL and they generally study sheep, not goats... anyway it was very informative and lengthly and would probably bore you.

CL testing isn't perfect yet at the same time I can not tell you how many times I have heard that "we have never had a lump" and those animals they sell end up having lumps and abscesses on their new farms. Happens all the time.

I wouldn't want it ether but look around and see how many sheep breeders test for CL. I really don't think many do and it may be just how the sheep community relates to it.

@purplequeenvt do you all test your flock?

We actually don't test, but I would in a heartbeat if there was any reason to suspect that our flock had it. No one in our area seems concerned about testing or CL, OPP, etc... Over the 15 years of breeding, we've never had a single case or symptom - and I keep a close eye out for it. We actually had a scare right at the beginning of our sheep raising. We bought a group of ewes from an old breeder that was retiring. Most of those ewes had bumps along the tops of their shoulders and ribs. It wasn't in the right spot for CL, but we had the vet out and he sent some of the puss off for testing. Not CL. It was clogged sebaceous glands - pimples basically.

I don't know what percentage of sheep have CL and how often it is internal vs. external, etc....but I have NEVER found internal CL abscesses in our sheep. We generally slaughter most of our older cull sheep for our own consumption ourselves and I like taking a look through the organs. Maybe I'm weird, but I've always liked examining stuff like that. My mom likes to tell the story about the time that my sister and I dragged a dead ewe into our mud room and cut her open. We already knew why she died (she had hemorrhaged after lambing), but we wanted to see what it looked like. Can you say "Homeschooler"???

There is only one flock with CL in our area that I know of. We almost bought/borrowed a ram from them a number of years ago and then they causally mentioned that the ram they were offering had CL. Um, no.

It seems many sheep breeders are pretty casual about CL, but goat breeders not so much. Since I also have goats I'd really like to keep them clean. I guess a round of testing is in order before vaccinating so I know where I'm starting at.