[moprabbit]

I've been following various topics over the last few days about problems people have had with poorly sheep and reading all the brilliant advice that has been given. I then began to wonder what I would do in the same circumstances if one of my sheep went down. I wonder if someone would be kind enough to give me a list of things that would be useful to have at home 'just in case' I had a problem. I've got a wormer - Panacur, I've got a purple antiseptic spray, also Crovect. But in the letters I've been reading Twin lamb drench is often mentioned to give to sheep even if they aren't pregant. So I wonder what would be a good idea to have in stock?
I hope all those sheep that have had problems are now responding to the treatments and are well on the way to recovery.

[Frieslandfilly]

Good idea moprabbit, no doubt my sheep was one of those topics, i have been wandering around this morning thinking about fact sheets, i have not actualy looked to see if there are any on here, but it occurred to me that the 'official' ones you get dont cover the nitty gritty that experience alone can enlighten you with. They also give you only the commercial options, what about ' if you dont have any ? you could use ? which you will probably have in your food cupboard as is often the case.

[colliewoman]

I keep (or try and keep) in stock;
Antibiotic injection
Antibiotic spray
Twin lamb drench
Calciject (i think thats what it's called)
Surgical scrub
lube
wormer
poultice
bandages
infacol (used for poorly gassy tummed rabbit, but I'll try it if i get a bloated beast too
molasses
cream crackers
rich tea biccies
clean feed bag stuffed with straw to kneel on (i dont do wet knees)
the vets numbers
and the number of someone who can dispatch humanely if a beaster cant be saved. horrible thought but i dont want to wait till it's needed before scrabbling around to find someone

[Fleecewife]

Lambing kit: latex gloves, lubricant, 10% iodine for dipping umbilical cord; castration rings and applicator; colostrum sachets, bottles and teats, milton; mini eartags; notebook; giant torch and head torch; binoculars.
Injectable antibiotics - both a penicillin based one and Terramycin, both long acting; Calciject; syringes of various sizes including a 50ml with long 'catheter tip'; various needles; sharps bin. Hibiscrub or Savlon type antiseptic scrub.  Old towels.

General kit: Antibiotics, syringes and needles as above; Calciject as above; gloves; blue spray; antiseptic scrub; Sorgene for disinfection of surfaces and boots; 'Golden Hoof' for bad feet; white spirit or meths for cleaning foot shears and tag applicators; foot shears and daggers; Hand shears; Glucose; Panacur (or other wormer when we swap); Crovect; UK 'bubblegum' ear tags and applicator; brush and sponge for cleaning up mucky bums.

Vets number on the mobile.

General: Hay; straw; Crystalix buckets; Sugarcorn buckets; Carr's 'champion tup' coarse mix (rather than ewe pencils which are too high in protein for our primitive sheep);  a large assortment of buckets for water, carrying feed, tools, lambing essentials etc.

From the house: Digestive biscuits; bandages and tape; dressings

I'm sure there's more 

This isn't really a first aid kit, just everything we use for the sheep, but what you need in an emergency depends on what the emergency is, and could use almost anything listed.

[Bramblecot]

For the woman who has everything...a Valentine's present.  Bought for me for Christmas though - a toolkit that slides over a standard sized bucket, has loads of pockets for all those bits and pieces, and is easy to carry around field or barn.  Cost approx £19 on e-bay, made by Plano.  A lot of money but nice to receive, and sooo useful.   Who says romance is dead?

[moprabbit]

Thank you for all the replies with ideas for the first aid kit. I hope people don't mind if I ask questions that might be obvious to them but not to me! Could I just ask Fleecewife what the Sugarcorn bucket is and Colliewoman - are the cream crackers and digestive biscuits just to tempt a sheep that is not eating? How would I go about getting antibiotics? Could I get a bottle from the vets? What does the twim lamb drench actually do? Thanks!

[FiB]

Brilliant post thanks... Ive got another sick sheep tonight she was lying down (head up) and actally let me go right up to her - which is not usual in the open field.  OH and I got her into our polytunnel with access to water hay and lamb starter/finisher nuts.  She did show a little interest in the food and I saw her drinking but its obviously off colour. She had a very mucky bum, so gave wormer and will reworm rest of flock this WE.  Following pnemonia death last week she had AB and Heptovac P last weekend,,,,,

My question is - what else from the first aid kit would anyone give her - wondered about some glucose or sugar in her water in case she is dehydrated... that sort of thing.  She was standing on her own yesterday, so didnt get to see her bum then, but would have noticed if it had been bad before that. 

[Remy]

I think most peoples' kits would comprise the things that they've actually had to use in emergencies - before I had all these problems with my newly bought in ewe lambs late last year, I had barely anything for my existing flock, who have (touch wood) never been a problem for the years I've had them!

Now I have added to my kit:

Antibiotic injection
Twin lamb drench
Various size needles (for subcutaneous and intra muscular jabs)
Various size syringes including those with long nozzle for drenches
Iodine
Lube
Lamlac for bottle feeding

Moprabbit, twin lamb drench is actually for ewes who have had problems with twin lambs, and is meant to replace essential nutrients and loss of energy in an easily palatable and long lasting drench (it contains glucose and syrup as well as the nutrients and key trace elements).  I used it for Tiny as it is high in energy, and as I had tried practically everything under the sun without too much success it was kind of a last resort!  It's hard to know whether it actually put her on the road to recovery or whether she was heading there anyway, but after I used it she definitely had more energy and was stronger than she had been for ages.  So it gets a thumbs up from me :-)

[Fronhaul]

Add porridge.

New to my supplies this year and if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed the difference that watery porridge bottle fed to an adult ewe could make.  Friend of ours had a ewe down and apparently dying after being found cast in some thick mud near a stream.  He was chatting to the vet and cursing his luck when he was told to try porridge.  The ewe has made a complete recovery and given birth to healthy twins.  He has tried it on another ewe successfully and my grocery order was increased by a bag of porridge oats for emergencies.

[OhLaLa]

Ohhhh - please enlighten me on the cream crackers and the digestive biscuits!!

I've got black treacle in my kit - anyone else use that - and what for?

[SallyintNorth]

I think I have read that black treacle is a good makeshift twin lamb drench if you have a ewe down and can't get the real McCoy straight away.  But I haven't tried it myself - I always make sure I've got TLD in stock.

[Dougal]

First on the list is a bottle o Dark Rum for the shepherd and then a decent dog to catch the problem. More seriously, needle and syringe, antibiotics, foot spray, calciject, string and a knife is about all you need for year round. Everything else is seasonal and so can bought a month in advance or for a specific management task so can bought a week before or whenever a decent offer appears through the post box.