The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Harebell on January 13, 2014, 12:25:40 pm

Title: Grass stained mouth & mucky bum
Post by: Harebell on January 13, 2014, 12:25:40 pm
Hello all,

I bought 5 pedigree Wiltshire Horn ewe lambs a couple of months ago, they live with some of my home bred Wilt ewes and ewe lambs.  One of the ewe lambs has had a bit of a mucky bum and grass stains on her lower lip for some time, which seems to have become a bit worse recently.  She is alert, eating and cudding fine it seems, I've also seen her using the nutritional lick I put out for them recently.  She was drenched with Combinex about two weeks ago.  Could it still be worms?

None of the other sheep have mucky bums or a grass stained mouth.  She was the least good looking of the 5 ewe lambs I bought though.  I haven't had a good look at her mouth to see if she has bad teeth etc, which I thought might cause the green lower lip but would bad teeth/mouth ulcer/undershot or overshot mouth cause a sheep to have a mucky bum too? 

Any ideas what might be causing this?
Title: Re: Grass stained mouth & mucky bum
Post by: Hillview Farm on January 13, 2014, 01:28:51 pm
I had a ewe lamb exactly the same, she had an over shot jaw. Culled it, problem sorted. She was cracking, eating fine and keeping on weight but I don't want that in my flock
Title: Re: Grass stained mouth & mucky bum
Post by: Harebell on January 13, 2014, 03:32:28 pm
I had a ewe lamb exactly the same, she had an over shot jaw. Culled it, problem sorted. She was cracking, eating fine and keeping on weight but I don't want that in my flock

Interesting, thanks for the feedback.  Yes, I'll probably cull her, I just haven't come across it before and wondered what could be causing it.
Title: Re: Grass stained mouth & mucky bum
Post by: Marches Farmer on January 13, 2014, 05:16:25 pm
Jaw problem likely culprit.  Mucky backside may just be a coincidence.  Occasionally we see a gimmer with a mucky backside when it's put on a field with much better grazing than it's been used to.  Doesn't happen to the ewes.
Title: Re: Grass stained mouth & mucky bum
Post by: shep53 on January 13, 2014, 07:13:58 pm
 I think you've learned a lesson  you  didn't like this animal from the moment you saw her, you have to look at this sheep every day , never buy if you don't like .    check her mouth first then isolate her collect a dung sample and take it to the vet for a worm count she may need wormed with a different wormer  .   Privately bought sheep should be wormed hopefully by the seller or by the buyer before leaving their home then isolated and wormed with a different wormer group to prevent bringing resistant worms onto your ground