Everybody,
I think the supplements are doing a good thing, certainly not hurting
my sheep. At least in my flock. Here's what happened at my farm:
I lost 5 lambs all at the same time to white muscle disease
(selenium/vitamin E deficiency) several years ago. They were from my
spring lamb crop, and were about 4 - 5 months old when they
died. They were weaned and had been doing fine prior to their
illness and death. This was during early summer. I had a necropsy
done, and white muscle disease was the official diagnosis. The vet
recommended Bo-Se shots for all my lambs, since Illinois soils are
deficient in selenium. I have been giving a Bo-Se shot to each lamb
ever since then, and have never had this problem again.
During the five or six years since then, I have only lost one weaned
lamb. It suffered bloat at about 6 months of age, and though we
saved it from that immediate crisis, it was never the same, and
eventually died at about 10 months of age in spite of my efforts to
save it. I had no indication that this lamb death was in any way
related to toxicity.
I guess what I'm saying is, I surely don't dispute what others have
brought up, but in my selenium-deficient soil area, the Bo-Se shots
have been a wonderful step in the right direction to get these lambs
"kick-started" to good levels of selenium in their systems. And most
importantly, I am simply not seeing lamb deaths at all. Of course, I
am also closely monitoring for parasite load, and I think that also
lends to my good results.
For my flock as a whole, I feed (free choice) a 50-lb. white salt
block as well as a 50-lb. sheep mineral block (product is the
Moorman's AU625 block, now manufactured by ADM, costs about $22 per
block). I think the presence of a white salt block as well as the
mineral block keeps the sheep from ingesting too much sheep mineral
when all they really want is salt. Works for me, and I've never had
a problem with this.
The theory according to the vet after the necropsy was done, was that
(hypothetically) the little lambs were not able to get enough
selenium (through the mineral block supplement) into their systems at
that early age to counteract the building deficiency in their young
systems due to the selenium-deficient soils. So the one-time Bo-Se
injection gives them the start they need, and (hopefully) as they get
older, they rely on the mineral blocks to give them the supplements they need.
I would also like to add that a good friend of mine, Barb Lee in
Oregon, had quite a time several years ago deciding whether the poor
performance in her AB flock was due to deficiencies of certain
minerals. She examined copper toxicity, selenium deficiency, and
even the possibility of copper deficiency, as well as other chemical
imbalances in the nutrients her flock was getting. Her postings to
this Blackbelly Listserve were quite intriguing. You can read them
(I think) by searching the archived posts to this group.
Mary Swindell
At 11:22 AM 10/17/2011, you wrote:
Carol and Cecil--
Phosphorus is now a worry?
Selenium kills sheep?
And I thought we were worried about copper (and there have been discussions
on both sides of that issue).
I know my sheep need iodine here. That is why I had been giving them some
sheep mineral mixed in with their grain. I had purchased some iodine and
the info with it scared me to think I might overdose them by trying to mix
it in their grain. I don't do huge quantities at a time; the conversions to
smaller portions were too confusing to mess with so I never used it.
One of my original flock (Nicole) died a couple of years ago, never could
figure out what her problem was. She seemed kind of wheezy, couldn't seem
to get any weight on her. De-worming and antibiotics didn't seem to help
her at all. One of her daughters died this year with pretty much the same
scenario. Maybe that bloodline was much more susceptible to selenium.
Is it true? We are killing our sheep by trying to keep them healthy?
-eldon-
Eldon Andersen
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