Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Blind sheep  (Read 6687 times)

feldar

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • lymington hampshire
Blind sheep
« on: February 07, 2012, 01:44:04 pm »
We have found a ewe who is totally blind. She is a month from lambing though i suspect she has reabsorbed, and we can find absolutely no reason why. We have penned her and she is finding it hard to eat and she looks not poorly, but a bit depressed. Has anyone come accross this before ? even our vet is stumped

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2012, 04:50:52 pm »
CCN? If it is - she won't be upright for much longer - you will need a Vit B injection asap.

bigchicken

  • Joined Nov 2008
  • Fife Scotland
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2012, 05:10:42 pm »
get another vet one that knows about sheep
Shetland sheep, Castlemilk Moorits sheep, Hebridean sheep, Scots Grey Bantams, Scots Dumpy Bantams. Shetland Ducks.

darkbrowneggs

  • Joined Aug 2010
    • The World is My Lobster
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2012, 05:34:13 pm »
I bought a ram once, that had come 4th at an annual breed show and sale. 

I thought he was nice and quiet, and when I got him home instead of heading for the ewes he waited till they came to him. 

Next week I found him totally entangled in some electric netting, fortunately very quickly and rescued him. 

Eventually he fell into a pool and drowned.  I thought it was the weight of the show fleece that had finished him off.  It was only when I realised that 2 of his daughters had been born blind (from 2 different ewes) that I realised what had been causing the problem.
To follow my travel journal see http://www.theworldismylobster.org.uk

For lots of info about Marans and how to breed and look after them see www.darkbrowneggs.info

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2012, 06:22:51 pm »
aye he might have been blind but he could still perfom ;) :farmer:

feldar

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • lymington hampshire
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2012, 08:46:32 am »
CCN? If it is - she won't be upright for much longer - you will need a Vit B injection asap.
She has had all that and our vet has perscibed all the usual antibiotics and steroids but she is still blind and unfortunately loosing condition, i just thought i'd ask as we have a wide knowledge on this forum and somebody may have had the same thing happen but i think today hubby will put her out of her misery cause it's not fair for her to suffer much longer.
Thanks anyway
Trust you Robert   ;D  our one eyed ram is still the quickest in the flock!

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2012, 09:34:03 am »
aye he might have been blind but he could still perfom ;) :farmer:

Ever seen the film "Scent of a Woman"?

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2012, 09:47:38 am »
that reminds me of a joke i will post it on jokes and funnys
just imagine if men had that same sense of smell as animals it would cause mayhem ;D :farmer:

Mel Rice

  • Joined Sep 2011
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2012, 10:31:25 am »
Human sense of smell is not developed as well as in other animals....ie it is there and we choose not to develop it. We cover ourselves in all sorts of modern living smells If we did go back to the wild then we too could smell each other and notice the changes!!!!

Lostlambs

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Canada
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2012, 11:16:10 am »
Sure you've probably checked this but I had a run with blindness is my ewes last summer. I believe it was an infection pink eye. I noticed the eyes tearing a lot then would film over cloudy causing the eye to be totally blind. It was self limiting and all seemed to recover ok. I did lose one older wether that went blind but he had a previous bout of caseous and seemed to have neurological symptoms.

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2012, 12:09:24 pm »
lostlambs cattle get it as well it is caused by flies :farmer:

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2012, 12:18:26 pm »
On the moorland farm we would get a few sheep go blind every year, some years almost an entire batch.  We were never completely certain which of the many possibilities it was, nor was the vet, and we were not convinced that antibiotic powders made any difference.  We would give them antibiotics (in case it was listeria) and B Vits and they pretty much all always recovered.  Any so blind they were in danger of hurting themselves we'd bring in and pen until they were safe.  Mind, catching them wasn't as easy as you'd think - their hearing was not impaired!  You would need two of you, and/or a dog or dogs, so that there would be sounds coming from several directions and you could confuse her and grab her.

The sheep's eye seems to be capable of extraordinary regeneration.  I had one ewe got flystruck in her eye, she had collapsed in 300 acres of thick moorgrass and wasn't found for a few days, by which time I am afraid to say the entire eye had gone.  We treated her, she recovered - and a year later she had a complete new eye, which looked perfect.  She couldn't see out of it but you could only tell that because she didn't blink if you flicked your finger in front of it.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

mmu

  • Joined Aug 2011
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Blind sheep
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2012, 12:24:43 pm »
That is truly amazing Sally! 
We keep Ryelands, Southdowns, Oxford Downs, Herdwicks, Soay, Lleyn, an Exmoor pony and Shetland geese.  Find us on Twitter as @RareBreedsScot

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS