Living with horses predisposes my stock to tetanus. Having watched a horse die of lockjaw, this is not a risk I will take.
This next bit got me heckled off another sheep list, but I'll take a chance here. I went through a very difficult period with the sheep which extensive research revealed to be a trace element imbalance - read "imbalance" - not necessarily deficiency. In disastrous proportions. While I fully agree that chemical props used willy nilly are extremely detrimental to the gene pool, I would also like to propose that even highly disease tolerant animals which are fed/pastured on many of our trace-element-deficient/chemicaled forages, do not have all the immune system building blocks necessary to live up to their genetic potential. There's no doubt in my mind that a lot of the state of disrepair that some breeds/species are in is not so much the lack of genetic immunity, but the lack of immune-system building blocks. They are challenged by deficient/toxic feeds. To my mind this is the state of things which fuels the pharmaceutical engine. We are not putting money into rebuilding our agricultural soils and thus our health/the health of our animals, we are inventing another injectable band-aid. My land is not up to robust health yet, and none of the forages I have tested from statewide sources give me the confidence that my sheep are fully up to their genetic immune capabilities. We are working on it, but building that kind of health into the soil takes years. And since we must buy in hay for the winter, we are out of control of that phase of our program. Our time will come, but in the meantime, there are one or two items that I will vaccinate for. Regards, Barb L. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:38 PM Subject: Re: [blackbelly] colostrum feeding > Well I think it would be wonderful not to vaccinate. I only have a > few polled BB at this point. I would hate to lose them to overeating > disease or tetanus. So at this point I'm not sure I want to take the > risk of not vaccinating. I would consider it if I had a sizeable > flock. And in all honesty not vaccinating seems to run contrary to > everything I have read. Probably most of the material I read pertains > to woolies, so maybe that is the issue. My vet keeps wanting me to > use Covexin 8. I have not done that. I don't know anyone that uses > Covexin 8. I have also heard that because my sheep run with horses > they are more at risk for tetanus. Don't know if that is true or > not. > > > Elaine > > -----Original Message----- > From: Carol J. Elkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info > Sent: Mon, 15 May 2006 12:37:22 -0600 > Subject: Re: [blackbelly] colostrum feeding > > Are you sure you need to vaccinate with CD/T? > > Carol > > At 02:18 PM 5/15/2006 -0400, you wrote: >>My question (since I have my first bottle baby) is when do you give >>the >>first CD/T shot to these lambs? > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > > _______________________________________________ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info