[maddy]

Last week I put a question on about my first triplets born 2 weeks ago 2 of them at 5 days old developed lameness.  I took them to the vets who gave 3 days of a/bs, metacam and vitresel (think thats how its spelt).  They are better then a total of 7 have had the same symptoms and then the same treatment.  This is my fifth year in lambing and it seems every year I hit a new problem.  I am very careful about iodine the navel, and the intake of colostrum.

I have spoken to my vet again this morning and he is wondering whether it could be selenium deficiency.

Does anyone have this problem and do you get your soil analysed?  Does anyone know if there is someone in the East Sussex area.  They have the Lifeline Ewe and Lamb licks. 

They also don't seem to be as robust looking as previous years and look abit thrifty.

[shep53]

Vitesel is a good product , has your vet not said that every lamb should get 0.5ml  im as soon after birth as possible  .  You can inject the ewes as well  or give them a selenium bolus and yes shortage can affect lamb viability and the ewes fertility , you get the vet to take bloods and send to lab

[farmershort]

Get some tissue analysis on your grass in a month or so once it's growing, to see what the mineral makeup is. Blood testing the ewes would be another way.

I'm not a fan of routinely injecting sheep with anything until you're certain of the requirement... Never inject 'just in case's is what I try to keep in mind.

[bazzais]

are the ewes an rams from local area?

[Marches Farmer]

It may be worth getting a selection of the flock blood tested for deficiencies - across the age range.