At 04:34 PM 8/18/2008, Tracy Wessel wrote: >This Winter I had several sheep get sore behind. I assumed it was the doing of >King Henry, my ram now in the freezer :0. Then I notice one ewe began to lay >down a lot, and finally had what looked like pink eye in one eye. I hit her >with LA200. Several folks suggested coccidia. This ewe came to me about 6 >months prior to falling ill so anything my sheep could have been carriers I >suppose. In any case, the ewe recovered, lambed, then 3 weeks later, died >after several days of wasting and appearing to stagger and be drunk. I did try >the LA200 but too late.
That was probably either ketosis (aka pregnancy toxemia, low blood sugar), or more likely hypocalcemia(aka milk fever, low blood calcium). A bucket of warm water with a half cup of molasses after lambing is the best way to prevent/treat ketosis, and a small handful of calcium tablets(or tums) administered with a bolus gun is the best way to treat hypocalcemia. I've never had these problems with my sheep, but my goats have been afflicted many times. After losing a really nice Toggenburg doe, I now routinely treat for both after kidding, just in case. There may be a link between nutritional deficiencies and ketosis/hypocalcemia. > Each year there were a few sheep here that got scours and got really thin. > The vet felt that those individuals were eating a toxic plant (something > yellow, like Buttercup). Other cattle/sheep people I talk to feel that some > sheep just can't handle the Spring grass. I have one ewe that just gets > sickly each Spring and I keep thinking I'll butcher her. But this year after > the grass died, she started laying down a lot. I was going to hit her with > LA200 and was concerned she'd fallen to the same fate as the one that died. > But she's suddenly appearing better, and has recovered her weight and no > longer has scours (until next Spring, unless the new property they are going > to has a more agreeable pasture). That's probably grass tetany or staggers, which is a magnesium deficiency usually associated with low soil magnesium levels. You probably should cull the ewe that has that problem every spring, since she'll pass that weakness on to her offspring. Treatment is 50-100ml of a 50% solution of magnesium sulfate given sub-q. Having more legumes in your pasture mix may also prevent the problem, since they tend to be higher in magnesium. Julian _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
