The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: MrsJ on October 23, 2011, 08:27:13 am
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Two days ago, I went to feed/check our small flock and found one of the ewes had tried to jump the fence. She had caught her foot between the top rail and the wire. It was horrible, I thought she was dead. She could have been there all night. I felt dreadful. I managed to extract her foot (though I don't know how as I couldn't bend the wire when I tried to show someone later). Her poor face was swollen on one side and her eye nearly shut. She eventually got up, but was not putting any weight on the hoof. We gave her an antibiotic shot and a pain killer, and then penned her in the race with food and water. Yesterday, we gave her another pain killer. Her face was a lot better and she did stand on the foot for a while, but when my OH joined me in the pen, she got spooked and as she hobbled away, the hoof was folding under. We're going to give her another shot today and just see how she goes. Would hate to lose her as she's such a sweetie.
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I'm sorry to hear that. I really hope she recovers quickly. :wave:
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Shame - hope she recovers. Give her some oatcakes - won't help the foot but will give her something to live for ;D
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It sounds as if it will heal up given time, rest and patience. We had a similar thing years ago with a Shetland tup who got his back foot caught in the top wire. We thought for a while he would never recover, but after a while it was impossible to see which leg had been injured :)
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It sounds as if it will heal up given time, rest and patience. We had a similar thing years ago with a Shetland tup who got his back foot caught in the top wire. We thought for a while he would never recover, but after a while it was impossible to see which leg had been injured :)
We had the same thing, twice, this year. One a lamb and one a shearling ewe. In both cases we had to cut the wire to get the foot free. Both made full recoveries in time, even though the lamb's foot was cold when we rescued her and the foot curled under for many weeks. If it weren't for the fact that she has a patch of black wool on her back we wouldn't be able to pick her out of the flock now.
As to why, in the space of a few weeks, two different sheep managed to tangle their feet in regular stock fencing, in different fields in different areas of the farm... it's still a mystery. One of the fences was rather loose, the other was a good tight fairly new fence. It was months ago now and my paranoid daily checking of every metre of every fence on the farm is finally settling down...
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I hope she gets well soon. From the other posts it sounds like she will. Good luck.
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I have a wether who did a similar thing. He has walked (and run) around with the hoof under ever since. BUT...in the last week or so I am having trouble picking him out (it used to be really obvious) and noone is lagging behind the rest now as he did.....so am hoping when we gather them next weekend I am going to see it is finally getting better!
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Thanks for all the good wishes, I'll pass them on to her! It's good to know of others that have recovered from similar injuries. I'm feeling a little more positive now. Will let you know how she gets on.
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Sounds like she has some nerve damage or bruising. I'd keep giving the painkillers and then just time. I recently had a similar problem with a goat and she's now fine.
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I often find that sheep recover really well from injuries - quite horrid ones sometimes, but then keel over at the slightest whiff of something else.
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I often find that sheep recover really well from injuries - quite horrid ones sometimes, but then keel over at the slightest whiff of something else.
So, so true. ::)