The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: trish.farm on August 21, 2014, 05:43:49 pm
-
My lambs are all weaned, 6 months old and first dozen are ready for slaughter, they are on good grazing and small amount of finishing pellets every day. (purely so that i can get my hands on them to check condition for ones ready for slaughter.). " days ago they went off their feed, half of them started scouring the most stinky poo you can imagine!! Clik is just about run out so have now had to Crovect them all which gives me a new slaughter date (grr) but bums were too messy to risk it. Got them all in and wormed them all (withdrawal date yet again).
Have put them on fresh pasture. No idea why they have suddenly gone pooey, off their food and dropping condition. All happily munching on grass.
Any ideas?
-
Can you define what colour the stinky poo is if its greyish then its the pellets green then its the grass or worms black with maybe blood cocci / worms
-
Cocci would be my thoughts, if not worms. Worms however doesn't usually stop them eating?
-
I wouldn't rule out cocci either. we had a rubbish time of it this year. eventually they dried up but only after several false dawns and throwing the kitchen sink at them and they are behind where they should be so will need to feed them to catch up where we normally finish on grass. we just ran out of luck and are sure our land just got sheep sick. Have decided not to lamb this year to rest the land better and wont be sharing grazing with our neighbour again- his lot bloody started it :innocent:. stool sample to vet likely to be best option
-
Are they cudding much? A flush of soft wet grass often doesnt provide enough scratch factor for good rumination. Putting on older rougher pasture, offering hay ( but they often wont take if plenty of grass) or adding probiotics to a small hard feed daily often help.
-
Yep going through em like a dose a salts possibly. What about having some mag buckets around.
-
Now thinking it was the lamb finishing pellets. Have stopped feeding it, they are on clean pasture, have been wormed. They are all very perky now and drying up! Major panic then that it was cocci. Have got vexocan but will observe for a few days and if they are all dried up i will assume it was the hard feed!!
-
Most of my lambs are scouring too but this seems to be since the time that I more or less stopped the hard feed. Could it be that they are now eating more grass and if so are there any suggestions? The poo is very green.
They were all dagged today and had their bums washed. They were wormed on 21st July.
-
it could well be the grass but 6wks between worming if you have worms is a long time , so either take a poo sample for FEC or worm them
-
Thanks Shep. I will probably get a FEC done this week.
-
How many times do you all worm lambs then? If born March and going for slaughter around October? I tend to worm around 6-8 weeks old then only if bums are looking dirty. I think I have wormed 3 times this year as been a bit paranoid and some lambs not looking as big as normal.
-
I have a very good vet who is a worming expert. Usually I only worm after a FEC as I would like to do my bit to help against worm resistance.