Why you should consider abortion vaccination for your sheep

Kath Dun, Galedin Vets (Kelso) explains how planning now prevents problems later

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Taking steps to understand the ovine abortion risk in your flock – and considering a vaccination policy if problems are identified – is a worthwhile measure ahead of the next breeding season.

Firstly, you need to assess whether there is a problem with ovine abortion in your flock.

Look at your lambing percentage for this year and compare it to your scanning percentage – if there is a noticeable difference between the two figures, this could be an indication of problems.

You should also look at the number of abortions in the flock from the most recent lambing season; once the abortion rate gets to a 2% incidence, it is possible that infectious causes may be involved.

WHAT CAUSES OVINE ABORTION? 

There are several causes of abortion in sheep including:

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