# When to Tag and First Shots



## hillbilly123 (Jun 3, 2012)

How old are your lambs when you tag them and give them their first cdt? I have been waiting until they are a month or so old....but would rather do it now.

I have some that are a couple of weeks old and was thinking about giving them their shots and putting in their permanent tag this weekend, before I have more and get confused about whos who.....


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I tag right away, or a day or so old (if I can easily tell them apart). I vaccinate my ewes a month before lambing, so I wait to vaccinate my lambs until they're 8 weeks (at weaning) and booster 3-4 weeks later.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I do like MDKatie. CD/T at 2 months and 3. However, this year, I didn't get the ewes vaccinated in time so I'll vaccinate the lambs at one month per my vet's advice.

I usually only tag if they are leaving the farm or when their ears aren't so cute so it doesn't hurt me so much to do it.


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## crittermomma (Sep 26, 2013)

One of my girls lambed earlier than I expected, so I missed vaccinating the ewes; but I gave my first little ram lamb his first CDT shot at one week, along with putting in his ear tag. I will give him his follow-up shot in 4 weeks. I did call the vet first before giving him his shot - she had no issues with doing it at one week, but she did say to just give him 1mL instead of the recommended 2mL since he was so tiny. I felt so bad - he was so friendly before we did this - now he runs away when we go into the pen.


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## Moboiku (Mar 7, 2014)

I was in a similar situation to crittermomma. Because our ram runs with the flock all the time, I didn't know for sure when the ewes were due. I took a guess and gave the ewes CDT shots on a Sunday and the first delivered the following Wednesday, only 3 days later. My next door neighbor is my friend but also happens to be a large animal vet and I invited her over to see the cute lamb. While chatting with her, I mentioned the CDT situation. She said the lamb was unlikely to get any immunity from the ewe after only 3 days, so I asked if I should plan on giving the lamb its own shot fairly quickly. She said there is no point in doing it before 6 weeks as the immune system is not yet mature enough. Fortunately that lamb is now 5 weeks old so I can give the shot next week, and the other ewes waited to deliver until their CDT shots had time to provide protection to the lambs.


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## crittermomma (Sep 26, 2013)

I find it interesting that all of us have heard different opinions on when to give our lambs their first shots! So, besides catching the ewe BEFORE she lambs - what is the BEST time to give lambs their first / second set of CDT shots?? THANKS!


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## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

We give our lambs CDT, Bose, band their tales, castrate males, and ear tags at 1 week and 3 weeks. The ewes received their doses when they were born, and we don't re-vaccinate the adult sheep with CDT. Before we learned the hard way, (a dozen or so years ago), we did indeed lose lambs to overeating disease. It happened before 6 weeks of age, so we will never wait more than a week to begin vaccinating. No problems ever since.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

This is from the Sheep 201 Site:



> Passive immunity
> To confer passive immunity to lambs through the colostrum (first milk), ewes should be vaccinated with the CD-T toxoid approximately 4 weeks prior to lambing. Ewes lambing for the first time should be vaccinated twice in late pregnancy, four weeks apart. *Maternal antibodies will protect lambs for six to eight weeks so long as lambs consume adequate amounts of colostrum.* It is recommended that a lamb consume colostrum in the amount of 10 percent of its body weight.
> 
> Lambs
> ...


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