I too, recall, after doing my first testing for MV, all the 'mastitis' seemed to disappear. I was lucky, in that I only had 12 or 13 positives out of 300, so a very small %. Paula Menzies did the testing in the pilot program and she was shocked that an indoor flock had such a low incidence.
But since the subsidy from CFIA was removed, I had to pay all the testing costs myself, so I did it my own way. The research stated that a mere 1/3 of the lambs from positive ewes tested positive themselves. The official program required me to pay to test all of them from 6 mos old and up when those results are unreliable until after 1 yr of age, so a waste of time, stress and money. The official program also said that I had to cull all lambs born from positive ewes, and I didn't do that either. I just raised them separate from the ewes from 2 mos old, in their own age group, like I had always done previously. All the lambs were separated at weaning (2 mos) into male/female groups and most of the males were marketed as meat anyway.
I just tested every animal over 1 yr of age every year, shortly after shearing, so we had better access for the blood draw. It took a Vet Tech and a Vet student 2 days to draw blood on the whole flock. 3 of us.
My g/f Liz Dobinson, of Whispering Pines Farm up in Sundridge, ON has Katahdins. Some registered, some not. She is organic. May be a source of some new genetics for you.
I too, recall, after doing my first testing for MV, all the 'mastitis' seemed to disappear. I was lucky, in that I only had 12 or 13 positives out of 300, so a very small %. Paula Menzies did the testing in the pilot program and she was shocked that an indoor flock had such a low incidence.
But since the subsidy from CFIA was removed, I had to pay all the testing costs myself, so I did it my own way. The research stated that a mere 1/3 of the lambs from positive ewes tested positive themselves. The official program required me to pay to test all of them from 6 mos old and up when those results are unreliable until after 1 yr of age, so a waste of time, stress and money. The official program also said that I had to cull all lambs born from positive ewes, and I didn't do that either. I just raised them separate from the ewes from 2 mos old, in their own age group, like I had always done previously. All the lambs were separated at weaning (2 mos) into male/female groups and most of the males were marketed as meat anyway.
I just tested every animal over 1 yr of age every year, shortly after shearing, so we had better access for the blood draw. It took a Vet Tech and a Vet student 2 days to draw blood on the whole flock. 3 of us.
My g/f Liz Dobinson, of Whispering Pines Farm up in Sundridge, ON has Katahdins. Some registered, some not. She is organic. May be a source of some new genetics for you.
https://www.facebook.com/whisperingpinesorganicfarm