The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: scremmit on June 18, 2016, 12:14:10 pm
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Hi team...
We noticed a little fresh blood on one of our lambs chin so we had a look and found this... It's not his tongue, but a swelling between the bottom teeth and the inside of the bottom lip.
It's swollen enough to draw blood while he's nibbling on grass.
Anybody who has read previous posts will know we're newbies so be nice if this is a stupid question... But does anybody know what this is and what we do next?
The rest of our little flock - 5 ewes and 5 lambs are fine.
This one seems a little less sprightly than the rest, but not massively so.
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Vet.
It's hard to tell from a photograph, but if it's bleeding every time he eats grass, its probably also stopping him suckling, and he will lose condition rapidly if he can't eat.
As just one lamb, it may just be an injury to him alone but there are contagious diseases such as orf or (God forbid!) foot and mouth that can cause mouth lesions so should really get it checked out.
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How long have you had these sheep and did they come from the eastern side of the UK? .....Bluetongue?
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VET
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Sorry cant advise, but definitely not a stupid question, looks horrendous. poor little fella.
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Yes agree with others it would be good to consult the vet, he may have picked up an infection. Is it his tongue or lip which is giving him pain? Because I think you said lip? My guess is that he has cut himself and it has gotten infected, vet is the best option, for AB's and Anti inflamatories. All the best and let us know how he gets on :thumbsup:
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Update!
Just had our sheep farming friend around who managed to herd our sheep into the corner of the field in about ten seconds flat and picked them out one by one and examined them all. Amazing! It took us 15 minutes to catch that lamb!
It's an infection, probably orf, and gave us a can of (forget the name but it's blue!) to spray on it.
We'll keep it sprayed and keep an eye on it and if it doesn't get better with the spray, we'll take to the vets next week.
Further to our previous post - our five ewes with a ewe lamb apiece has turned out to be one ewe lamb, four males - two castrated, two uncastrated.
Fun fun fun!
It was good watching how they were herded into a corner and looked over in fine detail... We'll try it for ourselves tomorrow for a respray!
Next lesson will be trimming feet!
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Advice re trimming feet is only to do it if/when the animal is lame... otherwise leave well alone. Of course if you are showing your sheep foot trimming e essential, bit I haven't touched my girls' feet for well over a year now...
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Ouch - that looks really nasty! I'll be honest, I'd be getting a second opinion from the vet, either by taking the lamb down there, or by sending a few photos by Email.
Just be aware that if it's orf, you can get it too, so you want to be wearing surgical gloves until this clears up.
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Sorry but I would still say vet. Spraying terramycin in the mouth - is that OK? Just a warning - there are a lot of amateur vets around! Best off with the real thing :-)
Edited to add I'm no expert - we've lambed 50-80 ewes over the last 5 years and never seen anything like this.
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Would have to agree with the above looks very nasty worth getting a vets opinion.
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Only seen orf on outside of mouth, that looks swollen and cut somehow to me I dunno? I also agree vets, rather odd?
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I don't buy the Orf diagnosis either. Looks very fleshy and I have never seen it inside the mouth. The consensus on here is talk and/or take to the vet.
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I have seen orf inside the mouth, but not without external lesions too.
However, I do think a vet should see it. You can usually take a lamb to the vet, to save the callout fee.
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I really am sorry that you have been screwed by this farmer ( no tags not ewe lambs and not even castrated males ) MOST farmers would have supplied what you asked ,for so I apologise for all of us . And I still say VET as all I can see is a tumor on the bottom pad
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Friends are great for advice and sharing info but I would def. take the poor little fella to the vets - and make sure you ask to see the 'farm vet'. I wouldn't be spraying terramycin into his mouth (going out to the barn to check the can now :raining: ).
On the bright side, at least you won't have the dilemma this autumn 'who stays and who goes'. The boys need to be split up from the ladies by mid-summer, before any hanky-panky starts. Also the castrated ones might not have been done properly and may be rigs - our first store lambs were like that. Your shearer can probably check for you. The entire boys can be sent off in the autumn :yum: . Sheep are fun!
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Thanks for the replies, team...
Luckily, the farm vets is very close by so Mrs scremmet will be taking the above photo in tomorrow, and if need be will pick up the little lad and take him in for a visit.
Will report our findings
:(
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Quicker and easier to email photo?
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Quicker and easier to email photo?
Not really. We have a horse vet for the horses, but we need to register with the farm vet because we've not used them before... And it's really close so it wouldn't harm to pop in.
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Another update! (sorry for the delay)
Mrs scremmet went to the vet, had a chat, and the vet came out later in the day to check over the flock.
It was, indeed, orf and it is apparently ok to spray it with terramycin.
We've been doing so since then, along with a few tiny sores on some other sheeps mouths and it's subsiding quite nicely.
We've also bought four hurdles and for the time being we're checking them over with a fine tooth comb every evening!
Scremmet.
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I'm glad that's sorted scremmit. I thought it was something much more horrible than Orf.
Great you have met your livestock vet, and they've had a chance to see your place and your animals - always worth doing in advance of any emergencies :thumbsup:
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:thumbsup:
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:thumbsup: :relief:
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No pictures like that on the 'net, so we've learned something from your post as well, thanks for sharing.