Tetanus: Recently I have received many calls about tetanus antitoxin. One of the recent calls the producer had two lambs down and a third dead as the result of using tetanus antitoxin. Folks, I can’t make it anymore plain than this, more lambs will die of antiphylactic shock from antitoxin than will ever die from tetanus. Antitoxin is not very effective because its level of protection diminishes rapidly. The products to use are CDT and penicillin. When banding before leaving jug give 1cc of pen mixed with 1cc of CDT subQ in flank area. For demonstration go to my blog site and YouTube processing lambs and listen to the cats growl. http://askavetsheep.wordpress.com. If you have a real problem farm, you may want to consider repeating the process in seven days. The pen early also gives protection against navel infection.
We field hundreds of phone questions and e-mail questions weekly. On e-mail I am answering questions 24/7. Phone questions are answered during office hours. We enjoy providing the service and demand continues to increase. There is no free lunch so to be able to continue and expand service we need your patronage. We don’t expect you to purchase all your needs from us and you need to maintain a relationship with your veterinarian for prescription items and other service he or she can provide. In turn, we need some of your business to maintain service and I will take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage. E-mail questions are answered at gkennedy@pipevet.com. We don’t answer questions on face book but do post the most interesting and timely questions there, Pipestone Vet Sheep-Goats. Current information on sheep problems are posted on my Blog site https://askavetsheep.wordpress.com.
I continue to give thought to ASI’s plans to grow the sheep industry. We need a new paradigm. I recently received the Minnesota AgriView, a USDA statistical report that showed just short of four million sheep and 2.2 million goats. When I got into the Katahdin business I sarcastically stated that I now had a sheep in goats clothing and this was as close as I could get to a goat without owning one. Maybe someone should give that some thought. The goat people have been increasing their numbers in our area and without much fan fare. Nationally the numbers are almost the same. At our local auction market we now have as many goats as sheep, something that didn’t happen a decade ago. The goat market is not dominated by one large player and feed lots are not an issue.
There is a terrific opportunity in the upper Midwest and other parts of the country to use abandoned agriculture buildings and land not suitable for crop farming. I have observed over the last couple of decades how that thinking, led by Dwight Holoway, kept our practice area in the sheep business. Crop farmers added sheep to their programs where the bulk of the labor could be achieved at a time when they were not in the field. At the same time, our feed lots that we were serving were disappearing due to lack of a reliable source of lambs. The paradigm changed and I believe there is still opportunity in many areas.
One obstacle we continue to fight is the lack of veterinarians that want to take interest in the sheep and goat industry. I don’t know the answer, but as I write this, is this what makes it possible to do what we do on a nationwide basis. This will continue to be a problem going forward as more prescription products are developed and used. One thing I will say is that we get more thanks in a week serving goat and sheep producers nationwide than we do with the other species in a year.
Their time has come; the Katahdins led all breeds in number of sheep registered in USA in 2013. Trailed by the Hamps and Suffolks. Their time has truly come. The paradigm is changing, look for Katahdins to continue to make inroads as a more acceptable alternative for some people over the conventional wool breeds. All breeds have their place, pursue your choices but don’t become pen blind and find the breeds or breed combination of that meets your goals.
