The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Copeson on April 27, 2014, 09:12:12 am
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Hi could anybody help we have had some cade lambs of a local farmer they have had colostrum of the ewe , navel sprayed and a squirt of spectam every now and then we find one slightly blown and are unable to let down they also start fitting and die the latest is a 7 week old lamb who has been weaned of milk weighed 9kg the vets don't seem to have any ideas ! its so frustrating
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Have they been vaccinated?
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No and we have spoken to the farmer and he doesn't vaccinate the ewes so we are looking at vacci the rest of the cades
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Vaccinate and get a vet who knows sheep ::)
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Good idea IMO. I would expect that cade lambs would be particularly vulnerable even if they had colostrum.
The colostrum will only provide passive immunity for a few weeks - until the lamb's own immune system kicks in - but there's nothing like vaccination for ensuring that particular diseases are covered.
There are plenty of threads on this forum about vaccines. We use Heptavac P+ and have never had any unexpected lamb deaths.
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... and don't buy any more cade lambs from said farmer!
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Are they on pasture with a high legume content? Sounds like bloat to me :(
One of the problems with cade lambs is how greedy they are, big feeds less often seems to stretch the stomach, you can always spot a bottled lamb by their pot bellies. They grow into greedy adults so it might be a good plan to let them fill up on hay before turning them onto pasture to stop them gorging themselves on the new spring grass. If you have an electric fence then strip grazing will help you control how much they can access at a time
Could easily be something pastoral too, vaccination is always a good plan, without more information it's all guesswork really but if you cover all the bases it won't do any harm.
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Non-vaccination leaves the lambs very vulnerable to the clostridial diseases, especially added to the stress of being separated from the ewe and transported.
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Thank you all for your replys we are going to vaccinate luckly we are given the cades and our vets are really one of the best in this area with livestock it just makes you very depressed when you cant save them , we have had a cow tread on her new born heifer calf today and kill that its days like this when we feel like packing it all in its very hard to pick yourself up and carry on :(
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:hug:
I absolutely know how you feel. To have all that work and care of that cow for 12 months, only to have such a stupid mindless accident leave you with no calf... :bouquet: :hug:
Shall you be able to get a set-on for her?
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Hi whats a set on ? also we remembed she did the same to her bull calf last year and broke his leg which luckly we had put in plaster and he was fine it makes you so mad, shes a lovely big home bred cow and the calf was one of the last calfs from our very quiet show bull who we had a lot of fun with at shows and we wanted to keep the calf :(
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Oh, shame. But with that history I wouldn't be breeding from her again ;)
A set-on is another calf that you set onto her as her own. If you've a local dairy farmer they may have a calf you could use, and may be able to give you some advice on setting it on.
Is she staying with the dead calf and wanting it or mourning it?
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Never had a problem before with her and shes had a few calves shes 9yrs old shame as got a lovely big bag and is easy to handle when calving at the moment my partner feels like getting rid of the lot ! :(
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just thinking ... does anyone else go near the lambs. my friend lost a lamb once cos her friend let it suck on her fingers...since then people are banned from touching them. i dont think they can deal with the flora that others have on theyre hands/fingers beyond that of theyre substitute mum ie me ...... just a thought ....
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More likely that in sucking fingers they have bloated with gas/air in their stomach, my lambs are handled by me mainly but others do handle them and they are fine, although I don't let them suck on fingers...
In response to the main question I'd say either bloat or clostridial disease will cause sudden death, bloat more so... I lost a 5 wk old lamb this year just about to be weaned off milk, the time period between being fine and healthy to dead was less than 2 hours. If you keep losing lambs though I'd suggest finding another farmer, a lot of it depends on the start they have had in life. Vaccinate the others with heptavac asap.
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Something else worth mentioning if anyone new to smallholding is reading, is when bringing in cade lambs to find out why the lambs are motherless; did the mother die and if so why? The last thing you want to do is import something nasty into your flock or onto your land and likewise, you don't want to invest time and money raising a cade for it to die on you several weeks later. If it was just a triplet then fine, but anything else needs investigation before taking it.
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Absolutely. Is it a cade because Mum had an infection, or it had a long and arduous birth and she rejected it, was she in poor condition and had no milk (and therefore the lamb was malnourished through pregnancy), etc..... We usually vaccinate lambs with Ovivac P Plus at 12 weeks and again at 16. Ewes are vaccinated a month before first lamb is due and we lamb over only three weeks so we hope that the effect will last well enough to protect the lambs. I doubt this is the case for an extended lambing period.