[dyedinthewool]

Hi All,

I only have Eight sheep at the moment; Two ewes who have had lambs this year and Three Yealings all waiting for visiting ram in November, plus Three, this years ewe lambs (just separated them so lots of BAAAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhing wheres my mum ).

The Five have been moved onto 'new' grass - we have only been here a year and the holding was/still is needing a lot of work; overgrown hedges/no decent stockproof fencing.  Over grazed by horses for a year so lots of buttercups, but no sheep for 3-4 years.

One of the yearlings has been acting strange lately; She has always been timid but now she keeps lying down mostly in the hedging bonfire ash!! tucking her feet in under her but then she 'snakes' her head, waggling it about, ears back almost like 'itching' her belly?  I have seen her doing this when led down in the grass as well. She ignores the little bit feed I give them -mostly sliced apples with a bit of rolled barley, sugar beet and a handful of ewe nuts - just so i can see that they are all alright.

Other than the lying down bit she seems bright enough eating (grass) running about when the other do.

I wormed them in April when I bought them - kept them in barn for 3 days so wormer cleared through before turning them out. Should I get a worm count done - don't like giving them wormers un-necessarily.

Any advice gratefully recieved. OR am I worrying for nothing and she IS only itching her belly

[Fleecewife]

Please check her carefully for fly strike, all over her body and look deep within the wool for maggots. If she is clear then we can think again.

[Fleecewife]

Hello Dyedinthewool.  What have you found with your ewe?  If she has flystrike then she does need to be treated urgently.  There are other things this could be, but please eliminate flystrike first.

[Sylvia]

And there are still flies around, I've seen them.

[darkbrowneggs]

I would definitely suspect fly strike, especially in this changeable autumn weather.  Although I am very "anti" chemicals when I had sheep they were done for fly after shearing, and again before the autumn problem time, and I had black welsh mountain which are less susceptible than most, as their fleece is wiry rather than soft and does not hold dampness so easily.

All the best
Sue
Dark Brown Eggs

[Anke]

Whar about lice? Or is there any loss of wool - some kind of mange? If she is trying to "scratch" her belly on rough ground I would suspect some skin/wool irritation.

If she had flystrike (there has been frost all over Britain now, so unlikely that flies still lay eggs), she would by now be down and not grazing I would guess...

[dyedinthewool]

Hello Dyedinthewool.  What have you found with your ewe?  If she has flystrike then she does need to be treated urgently.  There are other things this could be, but please eliminate flystrike first.

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies - didn't have chance to pen her in - shes a bit of a madam about being caught -will have another go tomorrow.

She tucked into the food bin with all the others to night, though I've had a busy day so haven't noticed if she has been 'itching' to-day.  I've watched out for flies - it's the Bottle-Green flies we have to watch for isn't it? and I haven't seen any.
 She was sheared in early May as was the others and I used Clic - though I found the 'spray' pretty usless.  I haven't sprayed any of them this Autum. We have had a lot of wet weather here plus a hard frost - not much Sun!!! to make it humid for flies.
I will report back tomorrow after I have had a better look at her her.

[waterhouse]

Scab?

I thought it had been eliminated but all my sheep have it.  Started with one scratching a bit, then rubbing against the fence now we have a woolly field and naked sheep, poor sods. 

[dyedinthewool]

Scab?

I thought it had been eliminated but all my sheep have it.  Started with one scratching a bit, then rubbing against the fence now we have a woolly field and naked sheep, poor sods. 

I'm pretty sure it's not fly strike. still haven't managed to get her in - I have a scatty Welsh Black as well, must have a bad experience at sometime as she is very suspicous if she see's me setting up hurdles into a pen - and 'Shaggy' the 'itchy' one follows her.
I've been out in the paddock all afternoon (hedging) and she's been grazing happily, until I fed them 'in the hurdle pen' hoping to shut them in there; when she *uggerd off', went to the bonfire patch to have a scratch - so I didn't let her, and she went off and grazed!!

I have now found out that the last sheep that ocupied our smallholding possible had scab, seems they grazed the paddocks while the property was being sold in 2008 (the people we bought it from were only here a year) we purchased in 2009 - how long does it remain potent, most of the fencing is all new that we have put up but there is some that isn't.

 If it is scab why has it taken til now to show up - I've had 7 ewes since last April (1 had to go for cull) plus 2 yearlings bought in September from local mart, they are very good condition shouldn't think they brought it with them -how does it get brought onto the holding  -  what am I looking for - what do I do to eradicate it.

 Do I have to notify DFRA.

 Will it mean the Ram I was borrowing in November won't be allowed to come in case it gets passed onto him...

Sorry lots of Q's but want to stop it before it gets to all of them if it is scab.   

[waterhouse]

You get yellow a exudate in the wool and flakes of skin widespread in the fleece.  Looks kinda like scabby

It's not notifiable

Treatment is 1ml Dectomax per 33kg of sheep but there's a 70 day withdrawal period.  The vet came on thursday and they aren't scratching by today so its an easy fix.  Vet said it's typical for this time of year.  Put on fresh grass and keep away from others for 14 days

[OhLaLa]

....still haven't managed to get her in - I have a scatty Welsh Black as well, must have a bad experience at sometime as she is very suspicous if she see's me setting up hurdles into a pen - and 'Shaggy' the 'itchy' one follows her.

It might be worth considering making a permanent 'hurdle style' area around their field shelter using post and rail. As the gate would be permanently open they will get used to it and wander in and out as normal, then when you need to catch them all you have to do is close the gate to it when you see them in.

    

[Fleecewife]

Good idea.  Also, when they are caught in an area which is familiar to them, they are much calmer and easier to handle.

[waterhouse]

I'd be interested to know more about sheep scab too.  All I know is that the dipping of sheep which was compulsory up to 1992 was aimed at scab.  Presumably the combined effect of the OP toxicity and the elimination of the disease persuaded them to stop the process.  I do remember the local bobby had to supervise too

I've done some digging -

www.sac.ac.uk/mainrep/pdfs/sheepscabchecklist.pdf
http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Sheep+Scab?opendocument

but the source of infection is a bit of a mystery.  There are no other sheep within 5 miles, they've been on the holding since July and there have been no other animal movements.  We are next to a main road though.

[Anke]

If they arrived after shearing they may well have brought the scab mites with them.... only in short wool most of them will die and few will stay alive in the damper areas of the sheep, once the fleece gets longer they will start to lay eggs again and multiply quite quickly. So probably you have done nothing wrong, and it would be difficult to spot these in the summer.

[dyedinthewool]

Hi All,

Just an update: Finally managed to corral her!!!!! She does have a small 'scab' between her front legs on her nearside about an 1" round.  I managed to 'pick' a little of it off and the skin is clean and pink beneath though the scab was 'crusty with a yellowy-cream ring on it's edge - not pusey, couldn't see any mites/lice .  Checked her all over couldn't find any more (or any maggots - so not fly strike).  Other than her fleece being matted with bonfire ash between her front legs her skin and fleece looks clean.  Checked the others and no scabs etc (as yet ) Their fleece looks good and clean.  The same with the two Suffock crosses bought in late August.

I did give it a squirt with antibiotic spray if only to keep any further dirt infecting where i had pulled off the scab.

Do you all still think SCAB?

If so which of the 3 injections do you think is best  to use?

Thanks in advance for any reply's -good to get some help when you are a newbie with sheep.