Author Topic: sheep loosing hair on face (Read 4085 times)

ThomasR · « **on:** March 28, 2017, 10:02:38 pm »

After being inside for almost a month I have 3 sheep starting to loose hair on their foreheads and around their eyes and under there chin. Not tonnes of hair missing but it is going.
What is causing this lack of sunlight, they are out now?
I put crovect on them all on Sunday

fsmnutter · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2017, 10:36:50 pm »

It may well be something like lice or mites, particularly hay mites, or rubbed on hay feeders etc?
Crovect should settle any wee friends, but if itching or not improving outside, worth getting the vet to do a skin scrape, any suspicion of sheep scab in Scotland must be reported to the authorities which your vet can help with if it looks like scab.

ThomasR · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2017, 11:01:07 pm »

Thanks was reading up on scab and the symptoms are too close. No blisters or anything just a slight decrease in hair that is all. If it is lice etc will the hair grow back and if so how long would it take? I have some special horse hair regrowth stuff called megatec which i bought for a tup with fight scars a few years back to get hair to grow back should I put that on?

fsmnutter · « **Reply #3 on:** March 29, 2017, 09:19:06 pm »

The reason there are a million different cures for baldness is that none really work! If the hair follicles aren't damaged, hair will grow back, if scar tissue in the skin, it won't, but i don't think any hair regrowth remedy will make it grow where it wasn't going to, or really have much chance to make it grow in faster. Hopefully they'll be looking beautiful? again before you know it!

ThomasR · « **Reply #4 on:** April 01, 2017, 12:06:06 pm »

Yeah thanks it didn't make much of a difference on the tup last year either so I don't think I will bother. I will need to keep a close eye on it and if it gets worse then start to look at other things. I initially thought it might have been a lack in vitamin D due to no sun but wasn't sure. Hopefully he will have a full face of hair by the highland

milliebecks · « **Reply #5 on:** April 03, 2017, 04:59:29 pm »

Could it be facial eczema, caused by competition at feed troughs and hay ricks?

ThomasR · « **Reply #6 on:** April 03, 2017, 07:22:16 pm »

photo of ewe lamb that was outside, getting concerned now. Will go into vets tomorrow evening, was in today but forgot to ask as was getting lambing stuff.

ThomasR · « **Reply #7 on:** April 03, 2017, 07:32:50 pm »

I have noticed the ones that haven't been treated starting to scratch and the one in the photo is lying down a lot more along with another which looks much the same. I walk in to the field and they get up and within a minute they are lying down again. Do I just need to notify my vet or do they need to come out? It would be cheaper for me if I just gave them a dose of dectomax (hate injecting cydectin at the base of the ear) and It will be difficult to catch them all twice in a week. Will the dectomax do them anyharm

fsmnutter · « **Reply #8 on:** April 04, 2017, 10:25:36 pm »

Dectomax is unlikely to do them any harm, beyond the usual side effects listed on the data sheet which can include things like lump at the injection site, possible reaction to the drug. Any in lamb could get stressed by catching to inject and can cause abortions.
If it is the wrong drug for the type of creature causing the problem, then it is a waste of time and money to use it, and would contribute to wormer resistance by using a wormer/parasiticide that is not required.
From the photos it does look like a parasite of some sort, but i cannot say if it is lice/mites or what type of those. Some will be killed by dectomax but some will not, so it would be best all round to check what it is you are dealing with.
Hope you get to the bottom of it soon

ThomasR · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2017, 09:55:46 am »

Thanks spoke to get and he know where we are and that no sheep have come on to the holiding since September. We came to the conclusion that scab would have shown it self before now so we think it is nights. The ewes aren't scratching and none of the animals are loosing wool on their body.
I brought them in yesterday by using the trailer, they are used to being handled so I don't think that I should cause that much stress. I put ectofly on them so that should kill all live before the lambs are born. The ones I put corvect on haven't got any worse and are never itching so it looks like we were lucky and it was just mites.

Foobar · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2017, 10:12:45 am »

Do you have any midges around yet? I get a similar thing on my black sheep from midges.

ThomasR · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2017, 01:56:29 pm »

yes I do have midges, in the evening you think that you are being bitten by something but it is hard to see them with very little light. We have a lot of flies going around right now so will ectofly them. I generally use crovect however they I couldn't get any close to me and needed it quick so got ectofly. It has the exact same quantities and instructions as crovect but is a bit cheaper, hopefully will do the job. We have a river/burn runnineg on the edge of the fields so perfect for flies