The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: moprabbit on October 13, 2013, 11:31:09 am

Title: Lame Sheep
Post by: moprabbit on October 13, 2013, 11:31:09 am: Just wondered if anyone had ideas about why my ewe could be lame - she was lame on Thursday morning when I went to check them. So i caught her up and gave her a thorough going over - checked for thorns, cuts, swellings, heat, in-between her cleats and anything else I could think of but couldn't find anything. She didn't feel flinch anywhere when I touched her, so was at a loss. Sprayed around her hoof with blue spray and gave her a Metacam injection for pain relief and anti-inflammatory. Checked her again on Friday and Saturday and to cut a long story short ..today Sunday.. she's still no better. I wonder if it could be a twist or a sprain, but I would have thought she would have flinched when I touched her if it was. I would be grateful for any other thoughts on this. If she's no better tonight when I go, I think I'll get the vet out to have a look. Thank you
Title: Re: Lame Sheep
Post by: Fleecewife on October 13, 2013, 11:50:43 am: My little Shetland wether was limping for no obvious reason, but then I noticed that he was being bullied a bit by the tups he's in with. They were thumping him at the tops of his back legs so I concluded he had been bruised there. After a week or so it went back to normal. You could try gently pushing your fist against your ewe's muscles to see if there's any reaction there. It's the time of year when hormones are hetting up and even ewes are thumping eachother.
Title: Re: Lame Sheep
Post by: moprabbit on October 14, 2013, 12:03:10 pm: Thanks Fleecewife for your reply - it could be something like this. Fortunately when I went to see her last night she seemed a little better and again this morning, so I'm hoping that she's on the way to recovery now!
Title: Re: Lame Sheep
Post by: devonlad on October 14, 2013, 12:34:56 pm: we get the occasional unexplained lameness when feet etc seem fine. we've come to assume that it is a sprain of some sort. the lambs are always doing it early in the season when they are leaping all over the place. we got a ewe at the mo whose feet were checked only last week and we know were fine. we'll keep an eye on her for a few days but hope she's just tweaked it on our very uneven steep sided ground
Title: Re: Lame Sheep
Post by: devonlad on October 20, 2013, 08:58:35 pm: 3 days after last post the ewe showed no sign of lameness at all. sure it was a sprian
Title: Re: Lame Sheep
Post by: moprabbit on October 21, 2013, 03:53:28 pm: Well after a week she's fine now! So just like your ewe Devonlad I presume it was a sprain. Thanks for your replies!