[SavageU]

Hi,
Update as follows.

Took him to vet. Explained, she said he had lost muscle tone and weight but wasn’t sure what it was.

Did ask me if I’d had sheep long…ouch.

She jabbed him with antibiotic, steroid anti inflammatory and something else…pain relief maybe.

I brought him home (still down) he’s perked up at intervals and standing, eating etc.

They rang me and said they thought he’d got a fluke and he needed a narrow spectrum wormer.

He is finally dry and normal poops but still down and his bleat isn’t back to normal.

Ive wormed him with Flukasil (prob not right name) and used a smaller syringe. I think last time we used a big one which might have meant he wriggled and didn’t get a full dose?

Anyway he definitely got dosed and it went in today.

But, he is still down periodically and he doesn’t look great. Kind of wobbled over and just kid with his head down not trying to get up, but I got him up and over to the Hay.

 Apparently shedding can be problematic/painful I think the Vet said.

So I’ve taken some grass in and he brightened up and ate that.

Is there anything else I can do for him to help him get stronger?

[shep53]

Time , keep giving fresh grass 3-4 times a day and  hard feed such as lamb pellets / coarse mix again small amounts 3-4 times a day , water and hay available all the time , maybe treats  occasionally  ivy /cabbage leaves / digestive biscuit  etc  , you need to slowly build up the digestive system , ask your vet in few days if mins / vits would help  .  Now you know you have fluke on your ground  ,talk to your vet for a plan to treat   and when you do a fec ask to check for fluke eggs  or ask about taking bloods

[SavageU]

Thank you that’s really helpful.

I am always worried about feeding boys course mix after hearing horror stories of infections with wethers  and being told not to. Farmer I know said rubbish and his vet half a bucket a day. He’s had a bit today. I’ll increase it tomorrow.

How much fresh grass, I did maybe a third of a bucket, not very much and he enjoyed that. Plenty of clover, grasses and broad leaf stuff.

He’s the only one poorly and pasture rotation wise I am a bit stuck at present as I’ve nowhere to move them to. They are in plenty grass though? 9 acres to 14 of them.

We need to get going with some electric fencing so I can manage stuff like this a bit better for grazing. Is topping likely to help or is it because it’s under stocked?

[shep53]

 You will see how much he will eat per feed over the next few days  , so long as there is a bit left when you bring the next lot of fresh grass then you know he's got plenty and you can reduce slightly if lots left or increase if non left ,  the  hard feed should say on the bag label if not to be fed to male's  .  You can maybe work out areas where fluke might be eg  open ditches  / dips in the ground that hold water / boggy areas  and then improve the drainage or fence them off Can't say if you need to top the grass  ,normally if the grass starts go to seed then you top to try and keep fresh green leaves , this will not have any effect fluke wise  ,  wet / damp is the problem as this is where the snails live , lots of information about fluke life cycle  and treatments

[shep53]

Just to clarify you said they were mar / apr born cades so you had them young to rear on a bottle so they must have picked up fluke on your ground ?

[SavageU]

Hi

Yes there’s a patch of bare ground under a tree where they shelter and grass that gets waterlogged ground when wet. I’ll have a think as I should be able to manage them doing some rotational grazing a day at a time maybe with hurdles if nothing else.

Yes, bottle fed and cake/hay and then turned out around Mid/late May early June off the top of my head. I weaned them as I’d had one die of bloat and as very new to rearing them, then wanted them out in a field and off milk.

Just been reading about fluke I’ll have to keep reading though as we have deer, rabbits etc that are present periodically too. Hurting my head a bit. Feels impossible!

[shep53]

Not impossible once you understand your enemy  , fluke needs the snails to breed and the snails need wet ground to live  , try taking a garden fork to the wet ground  stick it in then push as far in as you can get and then wobble to enlarge the holes , pull out and repeat  maybe think about improving drainage long term by taping in to any existing drains  , ducks will eat the snails

[SavageU]

It’s a massive hillside. Not sure what I can do drainage wise as we get a lot of run off from tops.

Footpath like a small stream today and it runs off into the field at various points. Some are obviously marshy/marshy type grass and water logged others, great field soil and firm. Might need to dig some trenches so it moves rather than sits in the water maybe.

[shep53]

Just wondering if you can clarify the name of the fluke product used ??

[Womble]

How do you do the fec test? Follow them until they poop?

There is another way which is only marginally more humiliating....... put on a surgical glove, insert a finger or two where the sun don't shine, then scoop!

BTW, if it is worms these have had, make sure you stay well on top of that for a bit, including next year's lambs, since your pasture is likely to be carrying high number of worms for the next wee while.

[SavageU]

Ok so he is up and eating and happy.

I’ve spoken to the vets and they are happy for me to put them out again…I might bring him in on a night and offer hard feed for a bit too, see how he goes.

I am honestly struggling getting my head round the fluke thing. So just aim for non waterlogged ground generally?

Our grass has been cut so I can put them on that, they were grazing longer grass but he’d already got the fluke.

Do I need to be really worried if only one lamb got it?

Don’t get me wrong it’s been bad enough to manage…just not sure about how I’m going to deal with the grass management side of it.

Perhaps I need to introduce more hedgehogs 😩

[twizzel]

Once you have fluke on your ground you just need to be aware of it at certain times of year. For the sheep I normally use a triclabendazole drench in autumn to kill all stages of fluke, and then a closantel based treatment at lambing to kill adult fluke. For the cattle we house them in autumn so that makes treatment a little easier, we treat 8 weeks or so after housing. That seems to keep things in control here. We’ve had cattle livers condemned at slaughter so know there is fluke here.

[shep53]

Once you have identified your ground as flukey then you need to treat them accordingly  , there is lots of information out there  , talk it over with your vets as they are local and understand the area

[SavageU]

I think that’s why I’m struggling with what to treat and when.

He’s been dosed with the narrow spectrum Closantel this time.

My flock have more widely been wormed and fluked with Rycoben.

So, from what you are saying, it would be a good idea to dose my pregnant ewes Dec prior to lambing?

It’s all what you do when. So many variables and when it’s ALL new, this bit feels like a lot. I’m sure once I’ve done it a few times, I learn by doing it seems!

[SallyintNorth]

Most rural vets will have a newsletter of some sort, in which they'll give reminders for fluking etc.  That's a better guide than sticking to the identical routine year after year, because the weather conditions can affect the fluke activity.  (It isn't just wet = more fluke, sometimes you can have active fluke even in a hottish dryish summer period because it was warm and moist at the end of spring...)