[twizzel]

£42 to do a worm egg count??? Get a new vet. That’s ridiculous. You need to know why they’re scouring so no point throwing wormer at them if it’s cocci that’s the problem. So yes, do an egg count first. Mole valley do kits you can post, much cheaper than £42.

[vfr400boy]

£42 to do a worm egg count??? Get a new vet. That’s ridiculous. You need to know why they’re scouring so no point throwing wormer at them if it’s cocci that’s the problem. So yes, do an egg count first. Mole valley do kits you can post, much cheaper than £42.

They not scouring just a bit thin thats all , I was very surprised at the price I was thinking £20

[landroverroy]

So not coccidiosis then.

[Richmond]

£42 to do a worm egg count??? Get a new vet. That’s ridiculous. You need to know why they’re scouring so no point throwing wormer at them if it’s cocci that’s the problem. So yes, do an egg count first. Mole valley do kits you can post, much cheaper than £42.

Our farm vet charges a similar price for FECs. 
And don't get me started on small animal vet fees ......

[SallyintNorth]

8 lambs they get a flap of a small bale of hay on a morning but only eat about 3 /4 of it and go off grazing again and on a night I give them a 3kg bucket of lamb and ewe pencils they eat most of that before the horse gets ther and has a bit , thanks for replying

3kgs between 8 is a very reasonable quantity for store hand-reared lambs over winter.  How do you feed it?  Can every sheep eat at the same time or are the stronger ones getting most of it?  (If the latter, then I would expect one or two of the sheep to be in significantly better condition than the others.  If they are all equally skinny, then it's more likely to be a mineral deficiency or imbalance, or fluke or worms.)

If they are eating lamb and ewe cake then they are getting some minerals, but I would probably still give them a chelated drench.  Whatever is the cause of the skinniness, a good mineral drench will "buck them up" and help them recover.  (Some suppliers offer a combined wormer with minerals, for this reason.)

(On a side note, sheep feed may not be good for a horse; I wouldn't let my horse be getting any.)


Feeding hay effectively to smallish numbers is a bit of an artform...   If you give only 1 flap, do you spread it out into a loooooooong line?  Or do they all gather around it in one heap?  Because if the latter, what often happens is that only the top couple of sheep really get any, then when they have had enough they walk off to graze, and instead of then getting their share, the sheep lower down the hierarchy follow the flock, so don't really get any hay at all.  (Similar applies to cake.)  Again, if this is what is happening, I would expect one or two of the sheep to be in significantly better condition than the others.  If they are all equally skinny, then it's more likely to be a mineral deficiency or imbalance, or fluke or worms.

My rule of thumb is either a loooong, looong line of hay, really spread out, or one heap of hay per 3 or 4 heads, each heap 3 sheep lengths apart (so that dominant sheep can't "guard" two piles at once.) 

Sheep generally won't eat tired old hay, so put it out in a different spot each day and clear up what they left yesterday. 

[twizzel]

How skinny is skinny though? What condition score are they? My ewe hoggs that are over wintering are far from fat, but with the spring grass and a good summer ahead of them, that’s fine. They always seem to come out of summer fat as butter   


You could always get the vet to have a look at them, run a worm egg count, if that’s clear they could run some bloods (is your vet a farm vet or just small animal? That could be the reason for price variation). Or is there another sheep keeper that could cast their eye over them?

[landroverroy]

Not economic to get the vet out for a handful of sheep. And with blood tests and worm count there's not likely to be any change out of £100.
It doesn't sound like there's anything seriously wrong. They're not scouring. So it's highly likely, as Sally suggested that a good mineral drench and ensuring they all have equal access to food is all that is needed.

[twizzel]

Not economic to get the vet out for a handful of sheep. And with blood tests and worm count there's not likely to be any change out of £100.
It doesn't sound like there's anything seriously wrong. They're not scouring. So it's highly likely, as Sally suggested that a good mineral drench and ensuring they all have equal access to food is all that is needed.

Whilst I get what you’re saying about vets and charges, it does depend if these are pets (in which case economics doesn’t really come into it), if they carry on losing weight after a mineral drench etc etc. Whilst vets are expensive, to advise someone not to call based on them only having a few sheep is maybe not the best advice to a novice?  [size=78%]That’s why I suggested seeing if a friendly farmer could cast an eye over them. But if they carry on looking poor, once drenched and the spring grass has come, ringing the vet would definitely be the best option. [/size]


And in the meantime; a postal faecal egg count kit should cost £15ish, and would be well worth doing, along with the mineral drench and looking at spacing feed out.


This fec kit is a tenner 
https://www.westgatelabs.co.uk/shop/by-animal/farm-animals/wg002-farm-animal-worm-egg-count.html

[Penninehillbilly]

I had a fec done by 'Abbey Diagnostics', website does say horses, and it's a few years ago, but at £6.50, maybe worth calling them?

[vfr400boy]

Iv wormed them today and have a shepherd coming from the local estate to drench them and give them a check over on Friday  ,
   The hay is thrown out in a line and iv started putting  pellets in a line now to ,
   Our vet is both small animal and large animals and horses, 

[vfr400boy]

Quick update since been wormed and mineral drenched they all ready look better , iv started feeding in a longer line too thanks for all the advice

[SallyintNorth]

Thanks for the update  .   Very glad things seem to be improving 

[vfr400boy]

Got my ewes back yesterday fist one is due in 2weeks and other 2 a week after they all look very  big, a sure they recognised us we have not seen them since beginning of November and all 3 come to see us ,

[vfr400boy]

So on the ride back from swimming me and my daughter was talking ( shes 9) about the sheep , she wants to set an istargram page up to show people her sheep and sell the lambs in halfs and grow our small flock , while she has a keen interest i will keep supporting her and might let her keep a ewe lamb back this year,  anyway she dose not know what to call her new business,,,,, so she needs some suggestions,  we live on the wolds , her name is amber,  she wants to try promote the free range happy life thing , but we can't thing of a good name , any suggestions?

[vfr400boy]

First 2 lambs born wife checked them at 5pm i went at 7pm and they they was all dried off so must of lambed soon after wife left