Author Topic: Unexpected Lamb Death - why? (Read 9439 times)

silverflora · « **on:** May 10, 2012, 10:12:51 am »

My 3 month old ram lamb died yesterday, totally unexpectedly. He was an strapping, thriving lamb up till then. The previous afternoon he was acting a bit oddly- he kept away from the other sheep. Yesterday morning, he seemed ok - at noon, I found him on his side, dead.

He had a bit of catarrh-like discharge from his nose, and a watery, slightly bloody discharge as well.

Can anyone give me any ideas as to what he died from?

Thanks SF

Haylo-peapod · « **Reply #1 on:** May 10, 2012, 10:24:19 am »

So sorry to hear about your lamb, it's so upsetting especially when they have been doing so well.

By 3 months he would no longer have the antibodies from his Mum's milk, had you started him on his course of Heptavac P yet?

silverflora · « **Reply #2 on:** May 10, 2012, 10:30:31 am »

No, was about to as vet recommended starting at 3 months.

All my ewes were vaccinated 6 weeks before lambing, and all lambs were singles and fed by mums, so had full amount of colostrum.

SF

Haylo-peapod · « **Reply #3 on:** May 10, 2012, 11:00:29 am »

Hopefully someone else will be able to advise but looking in my books I wonder if the cause was pulpy kidney?
Had you recently put him on better pasture or increased the amount of creep you were feeding the lambs as it looks as though too rich a diet can sometimes lead to this.

plt102 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 10, 2012, 11:34:32 am »

hi there, I am so sorry about your loss.

I am worried about the rich pasture we have ready for our sheep once they have all been sheared and foot trimmed after lambing. We were hoping to grow the pasture for hay but with the weather, it doesn't look like it will happen. The grass is very lush though. Should I top it before putting the sheep in there? The ram and wethers are in there at the moment

Haylo-peapod · « **Reply #5 on:** May 10, 2012, 12:40:24 pm »

Quote from: plt102 on May 10, 2012, 11:34:32 am

I am worried about the rich pasture we have ready for our sheep once they have all been sheared and foot trimmed after lambing. We were hoping to grow the pasture for hay but with the weather, it doesn't look like it will happen. The grass is very lush though. Should I top it before putting the sheep in there?

Take a look at the Eblex guidance : http://www.eblex.org.uk/documents/content/returns/brp_l_sheepsbrp_manual_3_-_target_lamb_management_for_better_returns.pdf

It states that the target May sward height is 5–6cm rising to 6–7cm in June.

shep53 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2012, 12:59:45 pm »

By your description i would be thinking pneumonia

suziequeue · « **Reply #7 on:** May 10, 2012, 01:39:34 pm »

Quote

By your description i would be thinking pneumonia

I would agree. Pasteurella or something.

Three months is a bit late to leave vaccinating the lambs isn't it?. I thought the recommendation is to start between 4 and 6 weeks.

My understanding was that maternal passive immunity in the lambs lasts about three to four weeks if the ewes are vaccinated four weeks prior to delivery (we never get the dates spot on.....).

Sorry to hear about your boy. That happened to us a couple of years ago with a bought-in store lamb. Very upsetting.

VSS · « **Reply #8 on:** May 10, 2012, 04:24:37 pm »

Hard to say - could be any number of things, but pulpy kidney often affects the best.

Dougal · « **Reply #9 on:** May 11, 2012, 02:29:37 pm »

good lambs on the thrive is often pulpy kidney, with a nasal discharge i'd bet pasturella. Both colvered by Hetevac-p. Sorry to hear about it though, always a sickener.

PDO_Lamb · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2012, 03:01:46 pm »

Sorry to here about your lamb. The fact that the first clinical sign of pulpy kidney is the best lamb dying is one of the reasons to vaccinate. You don't say if you had vaccinated the ewes. I do and I risk not vaccinating the lambs till the autumn.

I am getting a bit stressed by all this cold rain too. It's not surprising that Pasturella is about

summermeadows · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2012, 04:24:32 pm »

Looking at the administration guidelines for Heptavac P Plus (on the Hyperdrug website) it says you can vaccinate lambs after the age of 3 weeks but not before. Mine are between 2 weeks old and 8 weeks old so I was going to wait till they were all 3 weeks, but some of the older ones are scouring badly so I think I've left it a bit late and will do them in batches next year at around 5 weeks. I've got one lamb currently on death's door, almost starved to death which I'm having to try to revive with various concoctions, so I do think I've left it a bit late.

dixie · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2012, 04:34:13 pm »

I lost a young ewe to pulpy kidney and vaccinate all the ewes prior to lambing, I don't do the lambs though.

Haylo-peapod · « **Reply #13 on:** May 11, 2012, 05:14:28 pm »

Quote from: summermeadows on May 11, 2012, 04:24:32 pm

Looking at the administration guidelines for Heptavac P Plus (on the Hyperdrug website) it says you can vaccinate lambs after the age of 3 weeks but not before. Mine are between 2 weeks old and 8 weeks old so I was going to wait till they were all 3 weeks, but some of the older ones are scouring badly so I think I've left it a bit late and will do them in batches next year at around 5 weeks. I've got one lamb currently on death's door, almost starved to death which I'm having to try to revive with various concoctions, so I do think I've left it a bit late.

Have you wormed your lambs? If not the mucky bums are probably a sign the lambs need worming and not due to the lack of Heptavac P.

It could prove very pricey to Heptavac your lambs in batches, I would have thought that as long as the ewes have their booster jabs 4-6 weeks prior to lambing that you would be very unlucky to experience clostridial diseases in your lambs so early. I would have thought you should be able to wait until the youngest are old enough to be vaccinated and then do them all together. Remember they will need 2 jabs 4-6 weeks apart. The only exception might be if your land is highly stocked.