The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Blackbird on July 14, 2012, 06:57:47 pm
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I'm new to sheep and my first five arrived yesterday, all settling in, eating well and seem content. They were Clik'd, wormed and vaccinated before they came to me. One of them, a 3 month old Dartmoor is scouring and has a very mucky bottom and legs. No sign of flies and he's not acting as if flystruck, but I'm a bit worried. I've left a messsage for the breeder I bought them from as he offered ongoing advice and help, but wanted to see what folks on here think too. If I wash his bottom and clip his fleece back, do I risk "undoing " the Clik treatment and need to do it again? Any thoughts welcome thank you.
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Hi Blackbird.
I'm not a Clik user and don't know how/where it's applied or how it works, so we'll have to wait for someone else to come along and comment on that. And on when it would be safe to reapply if necessary.
I'de definitely clip back any long mucky wool on the rear end though; whatever meds have been used, they don't protect through dung.
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I use Clik.....but totally agree....clip it all off and find out a bit more regarding what he was wormed with etc. Contact previous owner asap
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Thanks both, OH managed to get him pinned down and I clipped most of the mucky bits off him, let it dry and gave him a spray of Blowfly Repel. No signs at all of maggots. Previous owner did come back to me and confirmed worming and Clik cover etc. We think it's probably because of the lush grass he's now on (no choice there I'm afraid), plus stress of moving. We are monitoring him closely and I will register the "flock" with the vets tomorrow and ask further advice. Bit of a steep learning curve today. :o
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To answer the question, if you dag after applying clik you must re apply to that area, clik binds to the wool
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We have grey faced dartmoors. Dag them (cut off all fleece around tail and back end) very regularly and keep a very close eye on them. Ours got fly struck above their shoulders on their necks so don't just check back ends. Crovect or clik after you trim. Invest in some electric shears as it will save you time and effort. Good luck xxx
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The mucky bum iws probably due tobetter grass then he's had before. Definately dag.
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I agree with others, dag and re spray. Electric shears are definately a good investment. I crutch the ewes with them before tupping and shear some early show sheep with them, they're so handy!
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Beware cocci in this weather. Check that the scouring isnt this - your vets should be able to tell you from a fecal sample.
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Good advice, SH, I've just had a goat kid, one of the three, have cocci. Very runny liquid green poo.
Three days of injections of norodine fixed it and she's right as rain again. But if it is cocci, as I found out last year, you have to move fast or it damages the gut irreparably and they don't 'thrive'.
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Well, the lamb is still scouring (over 4 weeks now), and my other GFD wether who up till now has had a commendably pristine bottpm has also started scouring. FEC done by the vet shows no worms and no cocci. I've no idea where to turn next. The one who's been mucky for weeks is in reasonable condition and eating well, but the one who's just started is a bit lacklustre and he feels thinner to me. Vet thinks fluke is extremely unlikely and that they'll get better by themselves.
In the meantime, I'm giving a little hay. They've been on the same smallish (and now very mucky) patch of land since I had them as I've been waiting to get the hay cut and didn't want to put them on even longer and lush grass. Hay now cut so I'll move them onto the aftermath once baled and hope this helps. :fc: Any other thoughts gratefully received!
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If you are still waiting to move them give them lots more hay, and see what happens.
In fact, can you get the two worst offenders in and feed them only hay?
And what sort of scour are we talking about here - can u describe or photo? :)
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We are completely new to sheep too and got our first 3 gotlands last week, we've also had a scouring problem with the change in grass. They are now in a very restricted area with hay. It was suggested I try yea ssac to help the gut. Has anyone used this? I was told to give them 100g each daily for a month and then cut it back to 50g adding to their feed, so we will give that a go and wash their back ends in hibiscrub or is clipping better? A learning curve, we thought we could put them straight out into the paddock and they would be fine!
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Foobar, we're talking very liquid green (not dark or black) poo. It's just the 2 GFD wethers, the other 3 sheep -GFD mother (10 years old) of one of the wethers, a Shetland lamb and Heb lamb, all roughly the same age are eating well, show good condition and normal poo.
Yvonne, what is the yea ssac you refer to? (will ask Uncle Google!). We having been washing their back ends in soapy water - I don't think Hibiscrub is needed - and we have clipped them short as well.
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Hmm. Well four weeks with liquid poo is not good and you need to change something that's for sure. :)
Ask in your local agri store for some "scour halt", and/or some rumen reactivation stuff like "provita rumen stimulant". If you can't find anything ask your vet.
Get them in on hay only and a little hard feed.
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Whoops spelt it wrong, have just come back in and looked at the bag.. Yeasacc. It contains yeast and is supposed to help rumen function. Someone recommended it so we will try it tonight.
I thought having sheep would be easier than ponies.. Not so..its been a stressful first week! :)
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I have just heard about someone having problems with nematodirus, which is unusual this time of year. It can present with green liquid scour. I know your vet has tested for worms... but... (analyses depend on how the samples were collected and stored, when and how they were processed, etc.)
Moredun's advice (http://www.moredun.ac.uk/news/scientists-warn-nematodirus-risk-young-lambs) is, if you think you may have the problem, to worm three times at three week intervals, which is unlikely to be anyone's normal regime. And they advise the rest of us to worm twice at three week intervals as a preventative.
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the good news is Nematodyrus should appear in an FEC. I had it earlier in the year in minor ammounts - seems to be gone now after one worming.
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Blackbird I hope your lamb is improving.
We moved all our lambs last weekend - ewes to one field, tups and wethers to another. All were clean and dry. The following day all GFD lambs in both fields had green mucky bums :-\ and all the Shetlands were fine - and have remained fine. As someone said previously - rare for a reason (but I still love them). Guess what we are doing this weekend :roflanim: more dagging and washing :roflanim: . Deep joy.
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Stress can make lambs scour badly. One of my show lambs is always runny the day after a show so he gets a good hose down! I hope he'll grow out of it :fc:
Sheeps' bums will always conspire against us ;)
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Many thanks all for your replies and advice. I'm moving them onto the hay aftermath on Wednesday and will see if that improves matters before trying a rumen improver/other medication (the Scour Halt seems to be only available on prescription). If matters don't improve, will ask vet for re-test and further advice. Mucky Bum is still trying to feed from his mum - is this normal at 4-5 months? Could it indicate he's not properly weaned, or is the poor little chap just hungry? Hoping to have them sheared tomorrow so will see if this helps matters too.
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Pfizers scour formula is available non-perscription.
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A neighbour has just been telling us that his 4-5 months old lambs had stopped growing. They've weanted them and they're picking up; his theory is the lambs were spending all their time chasing their mums trying to get what little milk was left. Once their mums weren't there, the lambies settled down to eating solid food properly.
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Lambs came back from shearing yesterday, with a few nasty gashes, treated them with purple spray. Absolutely mortified that shearing revealed that Mucky Bum has been flystruck despite twice daily checks and bum washing - just a patch in his abdomen where it's really difficult to check. We have Crovected them both on the basis that the Clik they were treated with when we got them has been clipped away, so fingers crossed.
They look thin and a little sorry for themselves and am embarassed to report that I burst into tears when I saw them. I had another look at Hazelwood Flock's photos of GFD lambs pre-and post-shearing to reassure myself they will look better soon. Still, they will be easier to keep clean.
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A neighbour has just been telling us that his 4-5 months old lambs had stopped growing. They've weanted them and they're picking up; his theory is the lambs were spending all their time chasing their mums trying to get what little milk was left. Once their mums weren't there, the lambies settled down to eating solid food properly.
Just hope that happens here, mine got weaned a week ago, and went onto nice grass (clover plus rain) - mucky bums all round... been dagging all weekend... but just hope they start growign again sometime soon..
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We had flystrike on treated lambs last week. We had sprayed with crovect three weeks before but found two with maggots in their bums. these were replacement ewe lambs for our flock. They are fine and we trimmed the maggots out but hubby went back to the agri merchant and complained. They said they would feedback to the rep for that company.
I think either the flies are becoming immune or the stuff isn't strong enough but we find Clik doesn't work at all in our area and Disect works but nearly kills us in the process of putting it on; horrible stuff. Vetrisin was good but we can't get it anymore.
Hard to know what to do in the future we don't want to overspray lambs but we don't want flystrike either >:(
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I liked vetrazin too - it did scab etc as well as flies if I remember. I believe the license has expired and hopefully you should be able to get a generic product sometime in the future.
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I believe they now do a product called Clikzin? a mixture of both, i bet they put the price up on that one. We may have to use it anyway if nothing else is going to work :rant:
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OH came home overnight Sat/Sun and spent yesterday washing mucky lambs and checking for flystrike :( ::) (on MY sheep). Has gone back to work in London for a rest :innocent: :innocent: