[tommytink]

I have 24 lambs out on grass. A pair of twins got a bit scoury. No others affected and one twin dried up in a day or so. The other is still mucky. Seen her pooping and whilst it’s soft, not like water but not firm.
I didn’t know if it was to do with Mum as both were affected, or eating something she shouldn’t, or something sinister so took a sample to the vet.
Vet confirmed no nematodirus, no worms, but that cocci was present. They said sheep can have thousands of cocci without it being an issue so I think what they’re telling me is that it’s not at a level where it would cause an issue by itself, but combined with something else such as illness or eating something bad it could affect her. By all counts she looks okay, eating grass, moving around, and very alert as shown today when I tried to catch her to check her temp. I checked Mum’s bag and not showing any signs of mastitis (I said to vet could it be related to her and he said if she had mastitis her milk would have bacteria which could cause a bad tummy).
The vet has said to drop in a pooled sample of the lambs’ poop but I think this is more to do with nematodirus which they told me a few farmers in the area had had, along with our risk being medium and the temp blowing hot and cool. They said best to prevent it than have to deal with it.
I guess what I want to know is, if there appears to be no specific reason for scouring, what do you do? The vet is going to give me a vecoxan drench to clear the cocci out anyway - hopefully I’ll be able to catch her this time!

[twizzel]

There are different species of cocci- some cause problems, some don’t- that’s how I understand it. If she’s scouring and the cocci is present, then it’s the cocci species that causes problems. You’ll need to dose the whole group of lambs, not just the lambs showing active signs, as they will all have a burden that needs knocking out (normally they will start showing clinical signs about 2-3 weeks after being exposed). The lambs will become immune to cocci as they get older once they’ve had a challenge and been treated.


Nemotodirus is different, but the vet will more than likely check for nemotodirus eggs, strongyle eggs and cocci on a faecal egg count.


There’s normally a reason for lamb scouring, so I’d try and get to the bottom of it pdq. Normally a fec will show the problem.

[tommytink]

They’ve only said to do this one lamb, I think because they’re saying cocci can be present in numbers and be dealt with naturally so was guessing her numbers weren’t a burden but could get rid of them in case it was being exacerbated by something else, or vice versa. The nematodirus is what they said even one result shows an issue and you’d treat the lot.

[twizzel]

Best to follow your vet advice then. Mine have always advised if cocci is present the whole group that’s been exposed need treating. Same with nemotodirus.


With cocci, lambs are born and have no immunity to it, and when they have a heavy burden and start showing clinical signs (I.e scouring like your lambs) that is when you treat. But the others in the group likely have the same burden given they are in the same environment and will probably show clinical signs soon too, hence treating everything.  If you just treat the single lamb watch the others like a hawk for scouring over the next few weeks, and work closely with your vet.

[SallyintNorth]

I think you might be getting the two the wrong way round, [member=179834]tommytink[/member].  Vecoxan is for cocci, and it's nematodes which always present and don't always need treating.  Cocci pretty much always needs treating in lambs but you don't want to be *too* quick off the mark as you want them to develop some immunity before you knock the beasties out.  But you don't want to be too slow either or there will be lamb deaths.