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1 June 2019
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Animal Health

Healthy ewes make for healthy lambs

The muster prior to lambing is the last opportunity to influence ewe health, milk production and lambing performance. Feed levels and condition score are set, so what else can you do to maximise your return at weaning?

Knowing whether ewes are carrying singles or multiples enables accurate feed allocation. It also allows pre-lamb treatments to be tailored to the ewes that need them. Those with poor condition (body condition score of less than 2.5), lambing hoggets or carrying multiples may benefit from longer worm protection. 

Using a long acting, broad spectrum drench such as Cydectin® Long Acting Injection for sheep helps protect against Teladorsagia (Ostertagia) circumcincta for 112 days, Haemonchus contortus for 91 days and Trichostrongylus colubriformis for 42 days. A 2017 New Zealand trial comparing long acting treatments found that poor conditioned ewes treated with Cydectin Long Acting were on average 3.2 kg heavier at weaning than untreated ewes, and their lambs weaned 2.6 kg heavier¹. Other New Zealand trials have demonstrated the negative effects parasites have on ewe milk production and the subsequent impact on lamb growth rates2,3.

For ewes that don’t need the length of action offered by Cydectin Long Acting, Eweguard® is a medium-acting product that provides at least 35 days protection against Teladorsagia (Ostertagia) circumcincta and seven days against Trichostrongylus colubriformis. Conveniently, it is also a 5-in-1 clostridial vaccine, plus prevents cheesy gland (caseous lymphadenitis) and is available with or without selenium. New Zealand studies have shown Eweguard treated ewes have less dags⁴.

All sheep, including rams, should get a clostridial vaccination annually. For ewes, this protects them while on crops, in muddy paddocks and when giving birth. It also allows them to pass on protection to their lambs via the colostrum when they start to feed suckle, maximising their survival. 

Ewes should be vaccinated three to four weeks pre-lamb, and their lambs should receive their first vaccination at tailing followed by a booster at weaning. Weaning is often a time of high risk of death from pulpy kidney disease, so vaccination of the lambs is important to increase the chance of survival. 

Your local PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative can offer more information on the treatments you can add to your pre-lamb management to get a bumper crop of healthy, fast growing lambs this spring.

Supplied by Zoetis New Zealand

 
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