Author Topic: Young lamb shedding fleece (Read 4670 times)

dmoran · « **on:** March 05, 2013, 10:44:16 pm »

One of our orphan lambs has started shedding some of it's fleece, the lamb is only 3 weeks old. There are some bleeding wounds where the fleece has shed, we don't know if this is due to the lamb scratching against something or if the fleece shedding is leading to raw skin. The only patch where the fleece has come away is on the shoulder, the rest of it is okay. The lamb is in good spirits, feeding very well and shows no other signs of illness.

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be, could it be lice? Ignore the iodine spot in the photo, this is just a marking and is not because of an open wound or injury. Apologies for the lack of resolution on the photo, the forum made me reduce the quality as the file size is limited to 512k

Pedwardine · « **Reply #1 on:** March 06, 2013, 07:56:25 am »

Ooh that looks sore. Hope someone can help

FiB · « **Reply #2 on:** March 06, 2013, 09:10:30 am »

That looks just like one of my recent probs and was generally thought to be scab (looks a bit agressive and big a patch for my experience of biting lice, not experienced sucking lice though)- not sure if lambs that young would get it though? Being as portable as it is (being on the bottle etc) I would pop down to the vet and get a skin scrape (although I appreciate that it might not be a 'pop' for you!) - I was on the verge of this but vet said we would do no harm dectomaxing the flock (knowing the area we live in and what other peoples sheep surrounding us have I guess) and it does seem to have knocked it on the head. Good luck and keep us posted.

dmoran · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2013, 09:42:10 am »

Thanks for the replies, I will have a good look in to the fleece today to see if there are any mites/lice etc. It is a bit strange as it is only 1 lamb out of 22, hopefully it is not going to spread!

fsmnutter · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2013, 11:38:03 am »

Hi there
As a vet, I have to ask, has it had any injections around that area, looks quite localised, and like you said, with only one affected it's a bit less likely to be scab, but best to get it checked out just in case.
Sometimes an individual will react to what they use to preserve injections, so it might be an individual reaction.
Hopefully your vet will be able to tell by looking, touching and skin scraping it, as hard to be sure just from a photo.
Best of luck
Suzanne

dmoran · « **Reply #5 on:** March 06, 2013, 11:59:58 am »

I've just spent some time looking very closely at the fleece surrounding the area, I cannot see any sign of mites or lice.

fsmnutter: thanks for the info. We have had this lamb for 2 weeks (it was already 7 days old when we collected it). We haven't given it any injections yet but I will check with the farmer that it came from to see if this was the area of any injection. Will also get in touch with our vet for their opinion.

kaz · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2013, 02:16:23 pm »

It could be that it has been rubbing itself on something. I am also paranoid about magpies and crows as they will peck away at a lamb given the chance especially if they are a bit weak.

twizzel · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2013, 03:59:32 pm »

I've also got a lamb losing fleece- but he's had orf. I was kind of expecting hair loss on his mouth/nose and eyes as that's where the orf was the worst, the thing that is confusing me is that he's lost all of the hair on his ears, knees and now he's losing the hair on his feet

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #8 on:** March 06, 2013, 08:30:25 pm »

If your lambs are from different farms, and this is the only one from the one farm then I would be highly suspicious of scab. It's highly contagious, so if you think it could be this you will want to get it and the others treated pronto.

dmoran · « **Reply #9 on:** March 06, 2013, 08:36:00 pm »

They are from the same farm and were all held in adjacent stalls (6 lambs per stall) for a few days before we collected them. If scab is that contagious then it can't be it as all our lambs have lived in close proximity since being born.

Will have another look tomorrow to see if any more fleece is coming away. Thanks everyone for the ideas/suggestions!

FiB · « **Reply #10 on:** March 07, 2013, 08:44:51 am »

I thought that as only one of my sheep looked like this (though others had tufty loss more sypmptomatic of biting lice). But it most likely was. Skin scrape is only sure way of knowing...