Post by mollymoo on Feb 22, 2017 17:29:46 GMT -5
So last fall I noticed one of my ewes had an abscess on her face. I had the vet out for some other reason and had her look at this ewe - figuring the ewe had just got stuck with a burr and got it infected or something. The vet lanced the abscess (after warning me of the potential for contamination of the pasture) and sent a sample for analysis at the lab to check for CL. Well, the sample came back positive for CL (as well as for a staph infection) - but the sheep quickly recovered after the abscess was lanced and hasn't shown any signs of problems since. My immediate reaction to the CL diagnosis was "OMG I'm going to have to cull my whole flock and start over!" Then I talked to a fellow 4H parent who raises goats - and he told me "there are two kinds of sheep and goat farmers, - those who admit to having seen CL in their flock/herd and those who don't"! So instead, I procrastinated - kept an eye on the flock (who all seem to be doing well) and finally got around to doing something about it three week ago.
At the vet's recommendation, I had ten of my adult ewes (I have a total of 12) tested (blood test/serology) for CL. (I didn't bother testing the one that had already had the abscess and one of them I couldn't catch!) Anyway, I got results back today and all ten came back negative!!
I do have to reduce the size of my flock - and I was going to just take them to the sale barn (where it's buyer beware) - but I am wondering now - should I go ahead and try to sell them on Craigslist where I can probably get a better price for them? I will probably cull the one that had the abscess (although I now wonder whether to go ahead and get the serology done on her - maybe the original test result was a false positive!)...
If anyone asked me about CL, I would be willing to admit I had seen it in my flock - but getting 10 clean results in a herd of 12 is pretty good isn't it?! What would you all do?
At the vet's recommendation, I had ten of my adult ewes (I have a total of 12) tested (blood test/serology) for CL. (I didn't bother testing the one that had already had the abscess and one of them I couldn't catch!) Anyway, I got results back today and all ten came back negative!!
I do have to reduce the size of my flock - and I was going to just take them to the sale barn (where it's buyer beware) - but I am wondering now - should I go ahead and try to sell them on Craigslist where I can probably get a better price for them? I will probably cull the one that had the abscess (although I now wonder whether to go ahead and get the serology done on her - maybe the original test result was a false positive!)...
If anyone asked me about CL, I would be willing to admit I had seen it in my flock - but getting 10 clean results in a herd of 12 is pretty good isn't it?! What would you all do?