The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: LLASH on August 10, 2017, 07:54:37 pm
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Whilst we had the lambs in for foot bathing today we noticed a lamb with Orf. He didn't have it 6 days ago when we last had gathered them and I hadn't noticed him whilst I have been checking them daily whilst in the field (but this may be because I was not especially looking for it)
Does Orf present itself as quickly as overnight?
The lamb has 2 lesions on his top lip and 1 on the corner of his mouth. No other lambs seem to have been infected and the lamb in question has been isolated.
Any suggestions on what steps to take next or any proven remedies/medications/creams/sprays I can buy to treat my lamb? I quickly went to our local Countywide store, but they don't keep any treatment for Orf in store.
He is a big strong lamb, so hopefully I have caught it early
Thanks
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Its a virus you haven't caught it early, like if you have flu you can't act quickly and catch it early. IF it gets secondarily infected (1 in 100s) it may require antibiotic injections. Salt seems to limit the size/spread of the lesions to some extent but that's about it.
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Thanks for the reply.
That's a shame, I was hoping there may be something I could treat it with to clear up the lesions. I read that sometimes the painful lesions will cause the lamb to stop grazing, and thought I had noticed early and I could treat to easy any pain and stop this from happening so he doesn't deteriorate any condition.
Is it just a case of keeping a close eye on it waiting for it to clear up? How will I tell if it gets secondarily infected?
What kind of salt?
Thanks
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Rock salt, "yellow rockies", what have you. I see 1000s with it every year, very few need treatment as such.
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Rock salt will dry the lesions up and lessen the effects of orf. Brinnicombe do a bucket called Frobut which is great for orf. It is contagious to humans as well as sheep so wear gloves when handling this lamb, and now you've got orf on the farm be aware it can lay dorment and reappear anytime. Keep an eye on ewes teats as lesions on the tests can cause mastitis. If you have a real problem with it year on year it would be worth vaccinating.
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An effective remedy is to get some sulphur (from farm supplier or chemist) and mix with about equal quantity of loose salt. Leave this out in a container for all your sheep to lick. This will dry up the sores and help prevent any more developing.
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I've had it and be careful as if he is still suckling his mum she can get mastitis from it !
I put sudacreme on the scores and it really helped, also vaccinate next year to stop it, we do as it's not worth putting them through the pain
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When I had orf it took 6 weeks to heal on my hands - and it had care
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I've had it and be careful as if he is still suckling his mum she can get mastitis from it !
I put sudacreme on the scores and it really helped, also vaccinate next year to stop it, we do as it's not worth putting them through the pain
The salt + sulphur will help stop the spread of it to other sheep and prevent it being carried over to next year's lambs.
We vaccinated before we were told about the salt/sulphur treatment by an old farmer, and found it pretty useless.
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I've had it and be careful as if he is still suckling his mum she can get mastitis from it !
I put sudacreme on the scores and it really helped, also vaccinate next year to stop it, we do as it's not worth putting them through the pain
The salt + sulphur will help stop the spread of it to other sheep and prevent it being carried over to next year's lambs.
We vaccinated before we were told about the salt/sulphur treatment by an old farmer, and found it pretty useless.
Thanks landroverroy, I have ordered a frobut bucket, but it won't be here until Monday so I'll pop to countrywide and see if I can get some salt and sulphur. I guess you mean loose salt? Also how much do you think is a good amount to mix? I don't want to mix too much and then just tip is over and waste it.
Thanks
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We vaccinated before we were told about the salt/sulphur treatment by an old farmer, and found it pretty useless.
It is a crap vaccine
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We used ovaloid capsules too, they have sulphur in them as well as a few other trace minerals.
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Are you certain it's orf? I've seen lambs with a staph. infection, probably caused when their skin was compromised through grazing thistles or other sharp herbage. Antibiotic spray sorted that out.
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Thanks landroverroy, I have ordered a frobut bucket, but it won't be here until Monday so I'll pop to countrywide and see if I can get some salt and sulphur. I guess you mean loose salt? Also how much do you think is a good amount to mix? I don't want to mix too much and then just tip is over and waste it.
Thanks
Yes loose salt -just buy a packet from a shop and add a similar amount of sulphur. I don't know how many sheep you have. I was treating up to 100 at a time, (I gave it to all of them) so I bought a large tub of sulphur from my farm merchant, and gave it to them until all signs of orf had gone. With just a few sheep you can get a small quantity of sulphur in the form of "flowers of sulphur" from the chemist.
It looks like yellow flowers but easily breaks up into a powder for ease of mixing with the salt.
Even with a few sheep you'll easily get through at least one packet of salt (from the grocery store). It's surprising how much they will take. You will need to put it in something they can't easily spill and that can be the difficult part!
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We vaccinated before we were told about the salt/sulphur treatment by an old farmer, and found it pretty useless.
It is a crap vaccine
We found it extremely effective on BH's farm - assuming you mean Scabivax? It's perhaps all in the application ? We did it on the inside of the thigh, high up in the 'lisk'. You have to press hard enough to break the skin, make a cross so that the second stroke crosses the first. Both lines hard enough to break the skin. Otherwise, if that's how you've been applying it, it would suggest there is resistance somehow, or diffferent strains, or something.
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Yes - that's exactly how we did it Sally. Scabivax and cross, breaking skin on inside of thigh. I still have vivid memories of it more than 20 years later. I upturned and held the sheep while my sister, who is a nurse, vaccinated them. She had done it before while helping a friend in the Dales, and being a nurse she was quite used to doing that sort of thing, so I used to get her to do injections for me as well.
The reason why the occasion is inprinted on my brain is because my sister is very accident prone, and anything to do with her and a sharp implements always had the potential for lateral damage. I therefore carefully watched every sweep of the needle to avoid getting vaccinated myself!
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We had a couple with it a few years ago, from what I remember we bathed with salt water or hibiscrub 3-4 times a day and put a bit of sudocrem or germaline on, kept a salt lick in with them and I think you can buy a special orf paste but we never got round to that as it cleared in within a week or two.
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Yes - that's exactly how we did it Sally. Scabivax and cross, breaking skin on inside of thigh. I still have vivid memories of it more than 20 years later.
I imagine there have been many advances in vaccination production over twenty years, hence why we find it very effective now.
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My lambs had orf last year I went straight to mole valley and got some orf paste great stuff it's green paste with a little spoon thing to apply paste so you don't touch the orf or you can catch it they where fine in a couple of days great stuff