The Importance Of Sheep Vaccination

The health of these animals should always be considered preventive. Do not lose sight of this aspect. In all animal husbandry, it is more costly and time consuming to cure sick animals than to prevent diseases.

Prevention through the application of correct hygiene plans to sheep and goat flocks allows you to increase production, obtain better quality products and ensure a more efficient use of resources.

All this translates into a reduction of production costs, which is essential to increase competitiveness. Vaccination protocols are fundamental and must be individualized according to the specific characteristics of each farm or hatchery and the presence of specific diseases in the area where the farm is located.

Sheep vaccination:

After giving birth, young sheep and goats are often exposed to unsanitary environments. Most of the time, these contaminated rooms are full of microbes. Therefore, these negative factors are likely to cause significant mortality in the specimens unless appropriate measures are taken, especially from the prevention point of view.

Immune capacity of lambs and goats:

Lambs, like unborn babies, have certain immune mechanisms naturally, which are quite limited because their organism is somewhat immature. This condition delays the functioning of important defense mechanisms against the numerous microorganisms that can affect health.
As for farm or farmed ruminants, they are animals with a very specific body structure. In this case, they have a kind of placenta, which hinders the transmission of antibodies from the mother during pregnancy. Therefore, passive immunity in ruminants is almost non-existent via the transplacental route.

Sheep and cattle health care plan:

If goats and lambs are not vaccinated in a timely manner, there is a high probability that they will become ill with various diseases caused by pathogens. Many of these microorganisms may be harmless to the mother, but not to the offspring.
The main objective of a vaccination program for sheep and goats should be the passive transfer of adequate immunity to newborn animals through the colostrum provided by their mothers. In this regard, it is important that the colostrum offered to the offspring be of the highest quality. To achieve this, it is important that the dams are healthy, well fed and receive the necessary vaccinations within 45 days prior to calving.

Recommendations:

In order to carry out the correct vaccination, we have to take into account several aspects:

• In certain cases, vaccination of animals that received colostrum from mothers vaccinated before birth is not effective, because it is “nullified” by the passive immunity acquired in the lamb or kid by the mother’s colostrum. Clostridium vaccines (Basquilla) are a clear example.
• Maintain adequate intervals between different doses of the same vaccine. Although some vaccines require a single dose (examples are tuberculosis vaccine or live chlamydia and abortion vaccines), most require a second dose in addition to the primary vaccination for adequate induction.
• Maintain intervals between vaccine doses to allow the sheep or goat’s immune system to recover and respond adequately to all doses.
• Booster doses are necessary to maintain long-term immunity in the flock.

About the use of the products:

• Vaccines should always be stored in the refrigerator and protected from light.
• Opened containers should be used the same day (what remains after vaccination is not used for revaccination).
  As with any other medication, remember the expiration date of the vaccine.
• It is important to keep the tools used for vaccination in good condition (clean the vaccines after each vaccination if dirt accumulates; use new needles, since if we use the same needle to vaccinate several animals we will get wounds that can become infected, etc.).
• Vaccinate animals in good health and nutritional condition. Use the route of administration recommended by the laboratory (area where the vaccine will be administered). As a guide, we provide a vaccination protocol for sheep and goats.

Example of the Vaccination Program:

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