[andywalt]

Hi all, I am steaming up my ewes and starting to prepare for lambing at the end of March,  I have had a problem over the past 4 weeks with our charollais ram bert who was fine until his hep p injections, maybe pure coinsidence but he started scouring, ive brought him into the garden and fed him hay and some nuts  (attle ewe 18 and not sure that this is good long term !!  )  also gave LA antibiotic he did improve and his poo became more like a dark sausage but now has gone back to muddy water !! I have doesed him again with LA anti bioatic and hope he will improve again, ive just checked him and he is chewing his cud and has hay when he wants it, can anyone give any further advise other than calling for a vet, he has lost a little condition not a massive amount at this point !!

any advise welcome many thanks  andy

[plumseverywhere]

when did you last worm him?

[landroverroy]

 I would continue just feeding him hay. Cut out any concentrates. He doesn't need  exta like your ewes do and the nuts  will encourage any bad bacteria in his guts.
 In addition, give him garlic each day, which you can get as a powder or granules from the feed store. About a desertpoon each day should do. It's very effective at sorting out gut problems.

Good question, that about worming - I had assumed as you were vaccinating that your worming is up to date. but if you haven't wormed recently, it's obviously worth doing them all before lambing.

[andywalt]

he was wormed when we brought him last autumn but not done since, I should think about worming this year altho Ive not had any worm problems to date, last year i wormed all with panacure 2.5%

[andywalt]

We do have some granulated garlic which we feed the horse !! how do I feed the garlic?  just open up and tip it in  and let hum chew it? hold his head up?

[Dougal]

i know it is unlikely but if the scour is very dark Liver fluke? They are usually pretty thin though befor ethe fluke mekes them scour.

[Fleecewife]

Hi Andy - ewe feed is a definite no-no for all male sheep, as it can cause urinary tract stones, which can block the urethra causing acute pain and death if you don't realise what the problem is and deal with it promptly.  He doesn't need any anyway, especially not with such a high protein level of 18% which is for big breeds of in-lamb ewes where you can expect multiple births, so just stop that and carry on with ad lib hay until he dries up.
One of the signs you look for when deciding on when to worm is scouring - so get him wormed and well dagged.
I don't see the point of antibiotics in this situation and in fact they will tend to clear out his natural gut flora and possibly make him scour even more.
Let us know how he is after worming, in case that is not the problem, and good luck with him.

[landroverroy]

We do have some granulated garlic which we feed the horse !! how do I feed the garlic?  just open up and tip it in  and let hum chew it? hold his head up?

Give it with a small amount of any high fibre feed you have for the horses, eg mollichop, sugar beet pulp, or even a BIT of any hard feed you have for them - just enough to mix the garlic with.

[Remy]

If you do one thing it's worm him!  There is some evidence of resistance to Panacur so I would try another type.  I am paranoid now after losing three of my sheep this year - two to worms.  My worming regime was more frequent than yours, but they still succumbed.  My vet said he has seen a lot of it this year.

One of my young rams was also scouring so I wormed him immediately, despite the fact I'd already done it three weeks earlier - and the scouring stopped almost straight away.

The first thing I check with all of mine now is the state of their rear ends! 

Good luck and keep us posted 

[Hazelwood Flock]

Try a clear wormer like Oramec, and the garlic granules could be mixed with a little coarse mix which is safer for rams.

[plumseverywhere]

The one we lost earlier this year was probably due to worm burden. My neighbours must think I'm mad, I spend most of my time bent over examining their butts (the sheeps - not the neighbours)
We managed with Panacur to dry them up but always a worry.

[Moleskins]

Panacure dried my ram up but the wormer I gave was Combinex as this does fluke too, vet said treatment for adult fluke is different to immature ones or worms, you may know this but just in case ..... Fasinex is the one for fluke only .... Please bear in mind I'm not regulated by the FSA so not really allowed to give advice 

[bazzais]

I echo what fleecewife says (sound advice as normal!), are you also keeping him in with the ewes? is that why he is sharing ewe pellets?

Baz

[andywalt]

really good to hear all your advise thanks very much,

 i did have a couple of ewe lambs from last year that had pine disease, they are eating like mad now and are due to go back to the field. so yes he used to bully his way to get some some how.

taking all advise on board and will prob get combinex as my next wormer and get him done this week end,  a main question would be would he be better off back in  the field with the other ram? i was worried that if it was contagious and was trying to protect the other ram!

[Dougal]

I'd stick him back with his mates, they always do better as a group. Dose all the tups and then there isn't the same chance of spreading. The chances are that all the stock will have the same parasites just some are more suseptible than others.