Vaccinate for Abscesses or not?

[Ridgetop]

When we had dairy goats and Boers, an abscess was cause for a panic attack and instant removal from the herd. Then the goat was sent immediately to the local auction. However, with woolly sheep needing shearing we started to see abscesses from shearing nicks and stickers that worked into the wool causing sores. Now I have Dorpers - no or minimal shearing. 2 of my ewes purchased last May developed abscesses over the winter. When I called the breeder he said that he occasionally had abscesses develop but they just isolated the affected animals, drained the abscess, and treated the open area with antibiotics. When the abscesses healed the animals rejoined the flock. I have done this in the past. There is a lot of variation in how this is viewed among sheep people. And the abscesses are not necessarily CL either. I can have my vet draw blood from the affected ewes and send it in for a test. I used to draw blood myself from our dairy does every year to the CAE tests but gave away my red top tubes. also I am not sure I could do it any more since it has been 14 years since we sold our goat herd.

Now I wonder if I should vaccinate my flock against Caseous. I bought a bottle of Case-Bac and an trying to decide if I should vaccinate all the flock, or just the ewe lambs. The vaccinations are not effective if the ewes already have CL so no need to vaccinate them. They are very good ewes with excellent bloodlines and I would like to keep them. I do not have any daughters out of them yet, and they are only yearlings. They lambed with no problem, are good mothers and milk well.

Anyone have any experience with the Case-Bac vaccine? I think purplequeenvt posted years ago in a thread that she vaccinated but I could be mistaken. Once I start vaccinating I have to give boosters every year. Some people said in the reviews of Case-Bac that they give boosters every 6 months.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Following

 

[Beekissed]

I'd vaccinate the rest of the herd, isolate and cull the ones with abscesses. If you want to keep them you have to drain the abscesses somewhere on a hard surface that can be bleached and if they rupture out on the soil, it can take 8 mo. to leave the soil and you can't have the animals on it in all that time.

Not worth it, IMO....I'd get those girls to slaughter.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I don't vaccinate for CL. You should figure out if your flock actually has CL before decided to vaccinate or not (or to cull). Testing will be pointless if you vaccinate because they will all show up as positive. Where are the abscesses and have any of them drained? What comes out?

I have a few sheep that get lumps, but they aren't CL, they are sebaceous glands that get clogged with dirt and lanolin.

CL is definitely seen as a bigger issue to the goat world than the sheep one. Not sure why. We tested years ago for CL when we first got into sheep and bought some ewes that had lumps. They tested negative. While I'm not going to go nuts and test every single sheep, I would not buy an animal that I thought might have it. We actually refused to sell a breeding ram to someone once because she had a CL-positive flock. We were concerned that she would use him for a few years and then sell him to someone else. Since our name was on this sheep it would be our farm that would be blamed if he spread CL around.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

When we had dairy goats and Boers, an abscess was cause for a panic attack and instant removal from the herd. Then the goat was sent immediately to the local auction. However, with woolly sheep needing shearing we started to see abscesses from shearing nicks and stickers that worked into the wool causing sores. Now I have Dorpers - no or minimal shearing. 2 of my ewes purchased last May developed abscesses over the winter. When I called the breeder he said that he occasionally had abscesses develop but they just isolated the affected animals, drained the abscess, and treated the open area with antibiotics. When the abscesses healed the animals rejoined the flock. I have done this in the past. There is a lot of variation in how this is viewed among sheep people. And the abscesses are not necessarily CL either. I can have my vet draw blood from the affected ewes and send it in for a test. I used to draw blood myself from our dairy does every year to the CAE tests but gave away my red top tubes. also I am not sure I could do it any more since it has been 14 years since we sold our goat herd.

Now I wonder if I should vaccinate my flock against Caseous. I bought a bottle of Case-Bac and an trying to decide if I should vaccinate all the flock, or just the ewe lambs. The vaccinations are not effective if the ewes already have CL so no need to vaccinate them. They are very good ewes with excellent bloodlines and I would like to keep them. I do not have any daughters out of them yet, and they are only yearlings. They lambed with no problem, are good mothers and milk well.

Anyone have any experience with the Case-Bac vaccine? I think purplequeenvt posted years ago in a thread that she vaccinated but I could be mistaken. Once I start vaccinating I have to give boosters every year. Some people said in the reviews of Case-Bac that they give boosters every 6 months.

Any thoughts?

Abscesses can grow when viruses, bacteria, parasites, or other foreign substances are inserted under the skin and trapped. When the skin is infected, the body's immune system helps to combat the infection by sending white blood cells to the site of the infection, causing inflammation.

 

[Ridgetop]

I don't vaccinate for CL. You should figure out if your flock actually has CL before decided to vaccinate or not (or to cull).

We tested years ago for CL when we first got into sheep and bought some ewes that had lumps. They tested negative.

You are right about getting definitive testing to make sure if these abscesses are actually caused by CL. I will have the vet draw blood when he comes out in a week or two. I think Babsbag posted an email address for a CL testing site at http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/submissionforms/index.cfm. I will go on the website and order the forms in preparation for the tests. I know sheep get other types of abscesses other than CL and once I vaccinate I will have to vaccinate consistently. No reason to vaccinate unless the tests come in positive. At that point, I can decide about culling and getting rid of these ewes, or keeping them in the breeding flock.
Thanks.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

When we had dairy goats and Boers, an abscess was cause for a panic attack and instant removal from the herd. Then the goat was sent immediately to the local auction. However, with woolly sheep needing shearing we started to see abscesses from shearing nicks and stickers that worked into the wool causing sores. Now I have Dorpers - no or minimal shearing. 2 of my ewes purchased last May developed abscesses over the winter. When I called the breeder he said that he occasionally had abscesses develop but they just isolated the affected animals, drained the abscess, and treated the open area with antibiotics. When the abscesses healed the animals rejoined the flock. I have done this in the past. There is a lot of variation in how this is viewed among sheep people. And the abscesses are not necessarily CL either. I can have my vet draw blood from the affected ewes and send it in for a test. I used to draw blood myself from our dairy does every year to the CAE tests but gave away my red top tubes. also I am not sure I could do it any more since it has been 14 years since we sold our goat herd.

Now I wonder if I should vaccinate my flock against Caseous. I bought a bottle of Case-Bac and an trying to decide if I should vaccinate all the flock, or just the ewe lambs. The vaccinations are not effective if the ewes already have CL so no need to vaccinate them. They are very good ewes with excellent bloodlines and I would like to keep them. I do not have any daughters out of them yet, and they are only yearlings. They lambed with no problem, are good mothers and milk well.

Anyone have any experience with the Case-Bac vaccine? I think purplequeenvt posted years ago in a thread that she vaccinated but I could be mistaken. Once I start vaccinating I have to give boosters every year. Some people said in the reviews of Case-Bac that they give boosters every 6 months.

Any thoughts?

Abscess development following immunization is a previously documented risk, usually associated with microbial contamination of the vaccine. ... While abscesses healed without sequelae, these occurrences promote an association between reception of aluminium adjuvant and sterile abscesses in susceptible patients.

 

[Ridgetop]

I have never had a vaccination site abscess. Occasionally a kid would develop a site lump that gradually disappeared. After a market animal seminar years ago I switched from rear leg vacs since they sometime contribute to abscesses and waste in the meat. Wanting to avoid that in our animals that were destined for either Fair auction or market sales, I changed the vaccination site. Now I vaccinate SQ in either the arm pit or SQ inside the rear groin. Since the lamb or kid moves around this massages the vaccine area and moves the vaccine around too. Using this site works for us.

 

[Baymule]

I agree, test them first to see if they actually have CL.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

When we had dairy goats and Boers, an abscess was cause for a panic attack and instant removal from the herd. Then the goat was sent immediately to the local auction. However, with woolly sheep needing shearing we started to see abscesses from shearing nicks and stickers that worked into the wool causing sores. Now I have Dorpers - no or minimal shearing. 2 of my ewes purchased last May developed abscesses over the winter. When I called the breeder he said that he occasionally had abscesses develop but they just isolated the affected animals, drained the abscess, and treated the open area with antibiotics. When the abscesses healed the animals rejoined the flock. I have done this in the past. There is a lot of variation in how this is viewed among sheep people. And the abscesses are not necessarily CL either. I can have my vet draw blood from the affected ewes and send it in for a test. I used to draw blood myself from our dairy does every year to the CAE tests but gave away my red top tubes. also I am not sure I could do it any more since it has been 14 years since we sold our goat herd.

Now I wonder if I should vaccinate my flock against Caseous. I bought a bottle of Case-Bac and an trying to decide if I should vaccinate all the flock, or just the ewe lambs. The vaccinations are not effective if the ewes already have CL so no need to vaccinate them. They are very good ewes with excellent bloodlines and I would like to keep them. I do not have any daughters out of them yet, and they are only yearlings. They lambed with no problem, are good mothers and milk well.

Anyone have any experience with the Case-Bac vaccine? I think purplequeenvt posted years ago in a thread that she vaccinated but I could be mistaken. Once I start vaccinating I have to give boosters every year. Some people said in the reviews of Case-Bac that they give boosters every 6 months.

Any thoughts?

(Case-Bac) is a combination of bacterin and toxoid, while Caseous D-T also contains tetanus toxoid and Clostridium perfringens type D toxoid. Safety is the main reason why Colorado Serum Company did not have a label for the use of these vaccines in goats.