The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: country soul on February 20, 2011, 09:33:27 pm

Title: scouring lambs
Post by: country soul on February 20, 2011, 09:33:27 pm

i would welcome anyones thoughts on why my 4-6 week old lambs  are suffering from scour.
I have had sheep for ten years and never suffered a problem like this.
They are housed in a new building ,well bedded and well fed.They are still bright and eating well but have very dirty behinds and almost liquid droppings.some appear to be drying up and then  get worse agian .
Any advise would be welcome

Title: Re: scouring lambs
Post by: shep53 on February 20, 2011, 10:51:17 pm

My initial thought would be COCCIDIOSIS is the scour grey

Title: Re: scouring lambs
Post by: woollyval on February 20, 2011, 10:58:09 pm

Shep...my thoughts exactly......get a sample to vet pdq

Title: Re: scouring lambs
Post by: VSS on February 21, 2011, 12:33:12 pm

Could be - it's certainly worth looking at as they are the prime age for it.

It is caused by a parasite and the scour is usually dark and sometimes bloody. Have they been housed since birth? It is usually picked up at grass. Most sheep can tolerate low levels of coccidia infection but young lambs are obviously more susceptible. Relatively easy to treat with an approporiate dose, but it will set the lambs back a bit.

Of course, it may not be that at all.....

Title: Re: scouring lambs
Post by: country soul on February 21, 2011, 06:53:10 pm

thanks for the advise.I thought it may be coxy after looking into it.Everything seemed to point in that direction.I spoke to the vet he thought the same ,he gave me some baycox to dose them with.lets hope it does the trick.
The strange thing is i have never lavished such attention on these sheep as they were all pedigree hamp shearlings.Myold ewes have to rough it a bit and never had any problems.Thats sheep for you!