This has been one of the worst days of my life as a shepherd. On the advice of a veterinarian ( several) I gave selenium injections to my flock. Within 4 hours I lost 5 of my lambs. 4 of my smallest and one that I was bottle supplementing. By yesterday morning I had lost another 3 lambs. I gave selenium and Vitamin E injections labeled MuSe at the dosage recommended by the vet. That dosage was 2 times the rec immended cattle dosage on the package insert which I did not read until it was too late.
The little ones were just overdosed by the operation of the automatic syringe I had. That was my fault. I hope to recover emotionally from that. I now have about 15 head with a severe limp and walking on the ankle of the leg that received the shot. I hope this will work out in a couple of days. The clinical signs of selenium were present. However it could be many other things. Sheep folks here inject selenium at birth like it was the first thing to do. Sheep folks here lose a lot of lambs. I did lot of research in the last 24 hours on selenium. The difference between deficiency and overdose is one decimal point! intramuscular injection requires only half the dosage to be lethal that subcutaneous does. My advice is do not inject selenium.... If you think you need it, take a blood sample and then feed it. If you inject anything, read the label, inserts, and do a thorough search on the net before injecting. Also, most of the injectables we get are for cattle and we have smaller animals. The best method is to use a sterile diluent and dilute the material so that you can inject a larger amount of material with a smaller concentration. If I had diluted this stuff in half, I would probably still have my lambs. I lost a little guy that was very timid and would follow his brother to get a bottle but not let me feed him. I had to catch him three times before he would come up to be fed. He and his brother would run across the yards from the barns when I came out to feed the 2 bigger ones on a bottle. Knowing that I was the cause of his death is more than I can really take. I never had a dog as a kid and these are like pets I never had. I love lambing season as I get to play with the little ones. The decision to inject was finalized by the loss of a baby who did not get colostrum and caught pneumonia. I have had weak lambs this time from allowing a sheep trader on the place who brought in Chlamydia and probably Campilobacter. I don't have the heart to let these diseases run their course as losing one is personal. So far I have lost 6 to suffocation in the barns from getting laid on I guess. 3 to a ewe that was "lesbian" 3 to abortion. 1 to pneumonia and 8 to selenium. The worst night I had was when coyotes and dogs killed 6. I even outdid the coyotes! Like I said, this has been the worst day. Please do not make my mistake. Any trace mineral should only be given orally. There is no antidote for overdose with injectable. You can only wait to see how many die within the next week.... Cecil in OKla _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
