# Lamb died immediately after docking and vaccinations



## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

We've been done lambing for 6 weeks or so, but my husband's parents are still in the middle of it. We were talking to them and they related an incident that has me stumped. They had a week-old large ram lamb, and after vaccinating him (we vaccinate at 1 week with Bose and CDT), and banding his tail, he immediately fell over dead. We've had lambs act like they are dying from the shock and pain of docking, but this is a first! My first thought was that perhaps they had an air bubble in the vaccination, but if it's given just under the skin, I don't think that would do it unless they hit a vein. Any ideas what would cause this? They were pretty upset that this nice, big lamb up and died on them!


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

It could have been a reaction to the vaccine, causing him to go into anaphylactic shock.

Injecting into a vein MIGHT have done it, but it's highly unlikely.

The best way to do vaccinations is pull back slightly on the plunger to make sure you're not drawing blood before injecting.


----------



## westcoastjazz (Apr 24, 2012)

New to sheep, but a thought, could he of had a weak heart?


----------



## Carol K (May 10, 2002)

I think Bearfoot is correct, on reading my bottle of CDT this weekend, it says that epinephrine should be given if they go into shock. 
I don't have any so put off giving my cdt shots this last weekend.
Sorry for the loss of the lamb,

Carol K


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Likely shock yes. Can't rule out weak heart. I loaned our cattle chute to a friend and he lost a heifer during de-horning to a weak heart. No fun at all.


----------



## sheepish (Dec 9, 2006)

This is slightly off-topic, but do you not vaccinate the ewes before lambing? If so, young lambs are getting immunity from their mothers and the vaccinations are in effect, rejected and useless. 

The manufacturer recommends vaccination at 3-4 weeks for lambs.


----------



## bruce2288 (Jul 10, 2009)

My shearing partner once had a ewe die while shearing. Heart we assumed or massive stroke.


----------



## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

I dont give CDT until they are 4 weeks old.


----------



## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I don't give it until 8 weeks.


----------



## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Death from anaphylactic shock can happen any time a shot is given, but is very rare. I keep epinephrine and small syringes on hand from our small-animal vet. She doesn't understand why we don't have a vet out to do shots. The large-animal vets tell her it's okay to sell us the epinephrine. Never had to use it after thousands of shots. Yet.

Sorry they lost the nice lamb. We don't vaccinate lambs until they are older, either, except for bottle babies. The ewes get done before lambing.

Peg


----------



## secretcreek (Jan 24, 2010)

I remember reading that during shearing- you can't leave a sheep turned up on it's back for too long, due to the /misplaced/compression of their organs( heart)...or they can die. 
-scrt crk


----------



## Carol K (May 10, 2002)

Is there anyone that doesn't give CDT shots??? I wondered at one point if it was more important to give the shot for grain fed animals or if grass fed animals suffer just as easily from overeating.

Carol K


----------



## LibertyWool (Oct 23, 2008)

Even if you don't do CDT, I would recommend that you still give a Tetanus vaccine. I do use the CDT vaccine and have never had any problems (knock on wood). A good friend of mine stopped giving the CDT vaccine after looseing two animals to anaphylaxis. She still did give just a Tetanus vaccine. Her reasoning was that she would loose the same number of animals to Cl. Perfringens C/D as she lost to anaphylaxis. The animals she lost to anaphylaxis were pregnant ewes, so in her mind it was better to possibly loose a lamb vs loosing a producing ewe. I have another friend who doesn't give anything and has had two cases of Tetanus/lock jaw. 

If you have enough animals, some are going to die, so I guess you just need to decided what is acceptable for you. If you are uncomfortable with the possibility of anaphylaxis, but are ok with the possibility of a lamb dying of tetanus or toxaemia due to Cl. Perfringens, then it is ok to not vaccinate. I'm not being glib with that statement, we all make decisions that affect the health and well-being of our animals.


----------



## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

We've always vaccinated our lambs at one week and three weeks, on the recommendation of our vet. We don't give boosters to the ewes. The majority were all born here on our farm, and had their shots at the one week/three week schedule. Those few that were purchased outside were given shots when we purchased them. When we first started raising sheep, we didn't vaccinate, and lost several nice big lambs to enterotoxemia (overeating disease), and we never want to go through that again! Our schedule seems to work for us, and we've not lost any more lambs to enterotoxemia since then. It's probably a good idea to have some epinephrine on hand though, it sounds! Thanks for all the responses!


----------

