Author Topic: Urgent advice required (Read 8356 times)

Fleecewife · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2012, 11:33:51 am »

Hi FF

That's all encouraging

Did you give her the antibiotic injection?

Have you got some food into her?

A small 6 month old ewe lamb may well not have been old enough to take to the tup lamb, but the possibility is still there. Only time will tell, so meantime treat her as if she is in lamb.

Good Luck

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #16 on:** February 10, 2012, 07:18:21 pm »

Aye, don't beat yourself up FF, we all have days/weeks when it all goes ****-up!

I'd agree with FW, it's unlikely but possible she's in lamb so it would be best to treat her as a lamber, just in case. If the tup lamb went mid-Oct then she could lamb anytime up until mid-March.

And yes, getting her eating well now is the priority.

As soon as she is recovered from her immediate problems she should have Heptavac-P or Covexin-8 injections so that the immunity to clostridial diseases is passed onto the lamb. But she needs to be well herself before being vaccinated.

Anke · « **Reply #17 on:** February 10, 2012, 09:41:40 pm »

Yes I would keep on with the drench as long as she is not eating really well. and then putting her onto a good lambing ration as she would be well into her last 6 weeks if in lamb. It won't do her any harm to eat more even if she is empty. I would have a bottle of Calciject and a prelambing lick for her too.

Def Heptavac booster asap, she would be due one anyway, and you can do your other sheep/lambs at the same time?

I am though horrified that your farm vet is 2 hours away - even if they were outstanding, if you can get anyone closer it must be better for you and your animals.

Frieslandfilly · « **Reply #18 on:** February 11, 2012, 09:31:38 am »

Hi all, good news, she is bright eyed this morning, eating, drinking , baaaaing!!! I will indeed treat her as though she is in lamb, as you say if she is she should have lambed by the later part of March. If not she will go to slaughter as oringinally intended along with her 'sister'. Although i will find it a struggle after getting rather attached to her over the last couple of days. I could keep her back and change her tag but I am a bit worried that she would not be a good choice for a breeding ewe as she is quite small, besides I think I need to do some research and have good healthy stock for breeding purposes. If she does lamb and all goes well then she will obviously stay by default!

I have a couple of questions that occured to me during this, is Calciject available over the counter or is it prescription? Likewise with the antibiotics, I have only ever given them for any animal after a call out from the vet, forgive my ignorance but do you have a general antibiotic on standby at all times and can you just get it from the vet for no other reason than that or do they have to prescribe it first and then a continued prescription?

Thank you so much for all your advice, it really is like having friends on the end of the phone that you can turn to in times of need

Fleecewife · « **Reply #19 on:** February 11, 2012, 11:42:50 am »

I'm glad she's up and about today - great news

If you have only a couple of sheep it's not worth buying in a 50ml bottle of antibiotics as they quickly go out of date. The same with Calciject. It suits us to have them in stock although we throw out most of the contents once they reach their ubd. From experience, the time you need these meds is on a Saturday night when the vet is closed and will not be open again until Monday. If you don't carry them as stock items, then you will be less likely to use them, to the possible detriment of the sick animal. Reaching into the cupboard is so much easier than getting to the vets surgery. With sheep in particular, speed of treatment can make the difference between them surviving or dying.
With situations such as yours, where a sheep was found having been 'down' for an unknown period in the night, the very first thing it needs is an antibiotic injection to prevent pneumonia - downed sheep are VERY susceptible to this - I would say that you are lucky with yours if she didn't have the antiB.

If you need a single dose of any med from the vet, then you must get it for the specific incident so yes, you must speak to the vet direct. For buying a whole bottle, we get these when we are preparing for lambing and simply ask at the desk. Our vets used to rotate the antiB they used each year, so everyone in our area would be using the same one at any time, but they stopped doing that a few years ago. Some sheep keepers use a lot of antibiotic and others, like us, might only use 2 or 3 doses in a year - or more if we have problems. The downside of antibiotics is the development of resistance, so we must use them responsibly so if your vet doesn't know you he/she may prefer to prescribe as needed.

Calciject is also part of the lambing kit - just be sure you get one suitable for sheep, with the appropriate sheep dose marked on the bottle. When a ewe needs Calciject she needs it immediately so unless your vets is very close or you have a neighbour who carries this in his/her lambing kit and you can borrow some, it could be worth carrying it yourself.

Frieslandfilly · « **Reply #20 on:** February 11, 2012, 12:15:45 pm »

Thank you for that information Fleecewife

When we had the vet out out another lamb last Spring she talked of a 'pool' for smallholders like me with only a couple of sheep but she found the logistics of it too complicated, we are very few and and between here being mostly surrounded by Arable farming, which is why we lost a farm vet practice that was only 8 miles away, you very rarely see sheep here, there are two large flocks I can think of about 4 miles away and the radius after that is probably a good 15 to 20 miles before any more!! Which probably tells me it is not a good area for sheep thinking about it!!!!!!!!! It is mostly, Cattle, Stud farms and Arable.

I will definitely have to get some equipment in for lambing, just in case.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #21 on:** February 11, 2012, 02:17:21 pm »

Very glad to hear she is rallying. Well done for all your care.

Quote from: Frieslandfilly on February 11, 2012, 12:15:45 pm

Which probably tells me it is not a good area for sheep thinking about it!!!!!!!!! It is mostly, Cattle, Stud farms and Arable.

Farmers will make more money growing crops if it's a good arable area, so wouldn't have sheep year round, if at all. It doesn't mean it's not suitable for sheep, only that there'll be more profit in arable.

moprabbit · « **Reply #22 on:** February 11, 2012, 04:23:13 pm »

Glad to hear your little ewe has started to pick up! In my post - 'First Aid kit for Sheep' I've asked some similar questions to you about how to get an antibiotic. I hope your ewe continues to improve! Well done!