[kanisha]

I am hoping this cold weather has slowed any spread although that doesn't help if ewes were affected some while ago. I read somewhere that the type of problem and deformities seen can determine to a degree when during the pregnancy the ewe was affected. I will by treating my pregnant ewes with fly repellant until they lamb it may not make a difference but who knows......

[feldar]

We had 4 sets of prem lambs this year which is unusual for us, but our ewes go to ram a lot earlier than most. The lambs were mostly ok and not deformed so hopefully not this virus.
But we are worried about this year because we are on the South Coast and in a very fly heavy area with lots of marsh and ponds

[mab]

Worrying.

My ewes aren't pregnant this year, but as I'm hoping to re-locate from suffolk to west wales in the near future I'm wondering if I should move the sheep ASAP (before the mozzies) or get a friend to keep them here 'til the Welsh lambing season is over. as at least one of the new (Welsh) neighbours has sheep they might not appreciate my sheep coming over (possibly?) carrying this virus.

I  guess I should talk to Defra before the move anyway, and see what they say.

mab

[YorkshireLass]

Kanisha, my understanding was the the midges will have struck in late summer / early pregnancy, so fly repellent now might not do anything for an already-deformed lamb?
 

[kanisha]

Hi Yorkshire lass yes I completely agree it might well be far to late to do anything but on the off chance I will continue to provide some ? protection to my ewes if at all possible whilst they are pregnant on the other hand once they have lambed I am hopeful they will gain immunity before they get pregnant again.

I under stand the most likely period to have problems is at around 40 days gestation and those affected early tend to abort later on whilst those afftected in later pregnancy produce deformed lambs;

Unlike BTV I am hopeful that this will be a relatively easy problem for my ewes to cope with its the pregnancy that poses a problem.

[SallyintNorth]

My ewes aren't pregnant this year, but as I'm hoping to re-locate from suffolk to west wales in the near future I'm wondering if I should move the sheep ASAP (before the mozzies) or get a friend to keep them here 'til the Welsh lambing season is over. as at least one of the new (Welsh) neighbours has sheep they might not appreciate my sheep coming over (possibly?) carrying this virus.

mab, if more sheep- and cattle-keepers were as considerate as you, we would have less disease all round.  Bless you.   

[Bramblecot]

[
But we are worried about this year because we are on the South Coast and in a very fly heavy area with lots of marsh and ponds
[/quote]

Also on South Coast (Dorset), and concerned.  Last year we had one ewe lamb born with shortened tendons on front legs and she 'walked' on her knees - the vet thought it was just being cramped in the womb by her twin - but could it be this?  What type of deformities occur?

[kanisha]

Its hard to know from what you describe if it was schmallenberg but i would think it unlikely. lambs are born every year with the type of problems that you describe. It would probably take an unusual number of these types of deformities to raise suspicion that you were seeing something out of the ordinary.

http://www.stackyard.com/news/2012/01/veterinary/01_rs_scmallenberg_virus.html


I also found this on testing for the protection of midges using pour ons. I found midges flying last week in their usual spot after an extended period of cold ( subzero weather. ) my sheep are now treated!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19015877

[Small Farmer]

http://www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla/news

The Defra site on the matter

[mab]

Thanks SallyIN  though I still don't know what I should do yet - I've not talked to Defra or the friend yet.

mab

[deepinthewoods]

now found in cornwall, just on the tv news.

[FiB]

Aweful.     Fingers crossed for all your lambings.

[Tilly]

Hi everyone 
This new virus has been playing heavy on my mind  ,  and being on the frontline (Norfolk) on marsh's where we have lots of flies etc. I did brace myself for a hard time  this year
............ but we have nearly finished lambing now, and the single Black Ewe in the flock, which I class as lucky (i`m a bit superstitious) ,has done her job!.
In the main we have had a very good lambing with lots of bouncy healthy lambs Lincoln Longwools Leicester Longwools Shropshire's Greyface dartmoors and a small flock of commercial sheep.

WE HAVE HAD 5 LAMBS BORN which I would not class as" deformed" but term as " abnormal", and as I have never seen such  symptoms before in 20 years lambing I assume this is the new virus -- rigid fused legs and fused twisted back head. We also had a few  aborted lambs  in first group of ewes to lamb ,  but not sure if that was connected or not.
I can only say what has happened on our farm but have heard some neighbouring farms have been hit  hard with many losses.
 The ewes here that have had the affected lambs have all had to have assistance lambing- 3 out of the 5 lambs (all singles), were backwards and I assume that because of the fact both legs locked solid in a bent down position and also neck twisted back with head locked back could not turn properly into the correct lambing position and as the legs were solid caused the lamb to get stuck inside.
I do not wish to appear pessimistic as I say out of our 70 or so ewes which have lambed already only a VERY small number have contracted this virus.
Best of luck to you all and your    Tilly  ....

[Bramblecot]

Sorry for your losses Tilly, but thank you for describing exactly what happened.  Now at least I can be prepared and I don't think my problems last year were inherited faults.  Were any breeds affected more than others and were they served all around the same time?   In your first group (the ones that aborted), when were they served please?  I am already planning for next year; I think I may revert to late lambing.  Lovely photo!  Thanks.

[kanisha]

It was good that you are able to be so positive Tilly. But I think it brings home how rampant and indescriminate this all seems to be. sorry that you have had to go through this and thank you for posting your expereiences. I am trying to imagine how it is even possible to lamb lambs with their heads fused back and front legs as you describe.