The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: wonderpupp on May 30, 2012, 11:28:08 am
-
My sheep called Colin (he's a very special sheep) had worms, then liver fluke in April, and the vet cured him of that. (Lucky) Then he got maggots in his belly wool (would have been flystrike, but I had to shear some wool off him to get rid of the maggots) and he didn't walk for a while (still recovering from Fluke), then I cut lots of wool off his back / shoulders (a good couple of kilos) which helped him get up and walk again. Then a bit of bloat as the hedgerows got greener, but it lasted about a day tops. It's been really hot, he's healthier and happy again now, and this morning, his remaining fleece is falling off - I noticed fresh new fleece underneath.
Is this just because he's been poorly, and now he's better, his wool is growing again and the gap in the middle from when he was sick means the old fleece is falling off?
Or should I be worried about something else on poor Colin?
He's not scabby anywhere, and nothing nasty under the falling fleece...
He's not stressed to look at.
Any comments / suggestions? Or is my gut instinct right?
-
This is normal after a sheep has been ill or had nutritional stress :farmer:
-
definitely normal - dont worry at all about it. Stress and illness cause it, the wool will grow back and its one less to shear :-))
-
Yup, a sheep which has been ill will have a weakness in the wool dating from that point. Later on, the wool will break along the line of weakness, giving you a one-time self-shearing sheep. :D Usually they're fine after that.
-
Thanks guys for the reassurance.
He is such a special little sheep, is Colin. :sheep:
-
hee hee! Colin the sheep!! love it :-)))) :sheep: ;D
-
This happened to two of mine earlier in the year who were very ill, it got to the point where I literally just pulled it all off! They both looked far better than my shorn ones do!