[country soul]

I have  triplet lambs ,10 days old which were thriving. They are now unable to walk freely and one is completely unable to stand it just flops around.They are still bright and readily feed from the ewe .Any thoughts on what it might be .I never had anything like it in  my time with sheep.I had thought it may be a deficiency of some kind but  what?
advice appreciated

[Marches Farmer]

One for the vet perhaps?  First things that sprang to mind are White Muscle Disease and Joint Ill.

[Cosmo]

Is your ground defficient in copper that you know of?


Copper deficientcy can can cause these symptoms I think. If you call the vet they (if I'm right) will inject the lambs with copper.


Hope this helps.

[fsmnutter]

Copper and selenium(white muscle disease) deficiency can both cause muscle weakness/floppiness.
I would be asking the vet, as they will likely know what will be short in your area, and can test as necessary.
Bear in mind sheep are very sensitive to copper, and can equally succumb to copper poisoning, so don't just give copper unless likely to be or tested as deficient.
Lambs that go off legs can also be joint ill, though you might have noticed some heat or swelling in the joints if this was the problem.
If they're not improving or getting worse, I would definitely suggest speaking to your vet or having them looked at.
Suzanne

[woollyval]

My money is on joint ill! Get them on antibiotics. Deficiencies will not be the cause as they are too young!

[fsmnutter]

Deficiencies will not be the cause as they are too young!

White muscle disease commonly affects newborn lambs, and copper deficiency can also be seen in very young lambs.
Joint ill is incredibly common in young lambs, but none can be ruled out from the description given.
Hope you get an answer and they get better soon
Suzanne

[country soul]

thanks everyone ,I spoke to the Vet white muscle disease is what she reckons.They have now had an injection and I'm hoping to see some sort of improvement .

[SallyintNorth]

  it's treatable.

My understanding of copper deficiency and lambs is that copper deficiency in the womb can lead to inadequate skeletal development; the lambs can be born with 'swayback'.  Severely affected lambs will go off their legs, less severely affected lambs may make it to fat weight but do walk with a swagger - truly the back does sway.

On the moorland farm we had to treat all the ewes with a copper supplement mid-gestation.  Here, the flock has more Texel in it which are naturally more able to cope with low dietary copper, so we just supplement the mules.

[Marches Farmer]

I believe copper deficiency tends to be worse in years with a dry summer (remember 2011 ....?)  Shepherds used to refer to it as a "Swayback Year". It's often not that the ground is deficient in copper but has minerals (iron, manganese) that inhibit the uptake of the available copper by the ewe.  Blood testing and copper bolus pre-tupping generally fixes it as the neural system of the lambs is affected in the womb and it's too late to do anything about it once they're born.

[woollyval]

Apologies...what I meant by cannot be min def is they are not grazing yet...of course in utero min defs are known and white muscle is one...glad you have it sorted.