[Old Shep]

Hi All


Really pee*d off today. A 4 week old lamb, being raised as a single (mother disowned other one which we mothered on) big strapping gimmer lamb, was just dead!  Lying against a tree, head between its front legs looking for all the world as if it was sunbathing, but stiff as a board. Well fed and healthy the night before.


Just some random facts to give you some clues:


Shearing mother, not too traumatic a birth but she didn't want either lamb at first, but we managed to get her to accept this one eventually without going in stocks.  Had plenty of colostrum and suckled well.


Was a good thriving lamb with a zest for life not one which was looking for ways to die ( if you know what I mean)


We moved the sheep and lambs including these the night before from my house to my sons.  Lambs were transported separately so they didn't get trodden all over and covered in poo.  Met up with mother fine and all were absolutely OK.  Put in big 12 acre field with other sheep and lambs.  It died at the very top of this field.


Ewes all had heptevac P prior to lambing.  Lambs have not had their booster yet.


Grass in new field is not long - probably a bit shorter than the field they left.


There were no clues on the body like snot or foaming or signs of trauma, or even of any illness by the way it was laying.


We are just concerned for the others - any ideas please?

[Alicenz]

Hi, that is awful.  I have had that happen once, but it was a bottle fed lamb.  From pulpy kidney or bloat and it had been vaccs

Things I would suggest you check are:bloat if the new paddock is very green, nitrate poisoning but not sure if that would happen in the season you are in I think it happens when there is a drought previously,


Most importantly is the vacc that you have given for tetenus or pulpy kidney?  You might need to check with the vet that the vaccine is ok still ( I think it should be kept in the fridge can become no good easily).  Should the lambs already have had their first pulpy kidney/ tetenus vaccs (regardless of mother having had it - I think they possibly should have and then a booster in a month or so after but youll have to check as its a while since Ive had little lambs and our vacc for those things is called 5n1. and may be different to yours.

Tetenus can be post docking or castration and pulpykidney often gets the lambs that are in perfect condition.  I suggest you talk to your vet re vaccs as soon as possible.

Good luck

[Pedwardine]

Grief! I really feel for you (and now lambless mum  )
Lamb could have been traumatised by all the activity I guess. I suppose Lightining Strike isn't a possibility? Only thinking this with it's location by a tree  . Really hope you get some answers. Have you already contacted the vet?

[Backinwellies]

My farmer neighbour had same thing.. one of best lambs month old.   Pulpy kidney suspected. Haven't heard result of pm.

[SteveHants]

It happens sometimes - even though you took care to minimise stress for the sheep, gathering/moving sheep is stressful for them, however tame/friendly they are.


If the lamb had something underlying, the stress of the move probably brought it to the fore. How many sheep have you got? I would suggest that one dead lamb is probably not a cause for alarm.


Any movement/gathering of sheep is basically a cost/benefit situation. In some cases it is a no-brainer (Like; vaccinations or that they have run out of grass etc) in others it is not so clear and I would always advocate people gather/handle their sheep only when they actually have to. I have plenty of colloquial evidence from people I know who run grazing projects that it is often the keen newcomer that suffers most problems because hey are forever gathering sheep, wheres the old hands don't, and suffer less as a consequence.


I realise that view may be somewhat unpopular around here, but we all know that being unpopular doesn't bother me. 

[SallyintNorth]

    It happens, and it's nearly always your best lamb .

What breed are they?  We do get the odd big-lamb-drops-dead and BH swears it's nearly always the Beltex type - we wonder whether, like the double-muscled Belgian Blue cattle, there's an issue with the heart muscle which makes them particularly susceptible to stress leading to heart attack.  (And so yes, we try to gather as little as possible, and very gently and controlled when we do, etc.)

[Loopylamb]

Hi

Horrid isn't it.

I had the same on Tuesday, a 3 week old twin that was bouncing around the field the night before. 

There wasn't a mark on him.

The only problem I'd had with him was I couldn't castrate him as only one ball had dropped!

I wonder if another ewe had butted him rather too hard.

I'm now checking the others regularly and  it's just a one off.  It's the first one I've lost (my 3rd lambing).

[Old Shep]

  It happens, and it's nearly always your best lamb .

What breed are they?  We do get the odd big-lamb-drops-dead and BH swears it's nearly always the Beltex type - we wonder whether, like the double-muscled Belgian Blue cattle, there's an issue with the heart muscle which makes them particularly susceptible to stress leading to heart attack.  (And so yes, we try to gather as little as possible, and very gently and controlled when we do, etc.)

If the lamb had something underlying, the stress of the move probably brought it to the fore. How many sheep have you got? I would suggest that one dead lamb is probably not a cause for alarm.

Thank you all for your helpful comments 
We (well they're my son's) lambed around 60 this year, texels and texel suffolk crosses.  This lamb was 3/4 texel 1/4 suffolk.  There is a bit of beltex in some of them too - think Mum had a beltex tup at one time. (the flock was inherited by my son from my parents - lifelong sheep farmers).  My thoughts were that as it was so close to the move that it must have had something to do with it, as careful and gentle as we were. Couldn't avoid the move though as I'm going on my hols so they had to go back to the main farm from my place.  May have to plan lambing and holidays next year so they are older before they move.

[ZaktheLad]

Very sorry to hear about your lamb.  These things do just happen at times, the same as in any species of mammal - even humans have been known to just drop dead - as in the SAD syndrome.  It's one of the hard things to get acquainted with when keeping any livestock I suppose.  Hope the rest of your flock will be OK - have a good holiday and try not to sorry about them too much whilst you are away. 

[Nortonhillbilly]

We too had this happen once. Again a big, healthy lamb, but six weeks old, and bottle fed and as right as rain in the mrning, but dead by the evening. Vets suspected pulpy kidney than

[Big Benny Shep]

the rest all all fine    (touch wood)
lets hope it was just a one off 

[suziequeue]

Oh god - sorry to hear that.


I know that if the same thing happened to our best lamb this year I would be devastated as he is absolutely magnificent.


So you have my heartfelt empathy and sympathy.

[VSS]

even humans have been known to just drop dead - as in the SAD syndrome

  My OH and I were talking about this while we were having lunch today!

[novicesmallholder]

Hi,
 
we had this happen, lovely big ewe lamb which was looking right as rain 2 hours earlier. we had a PM done and the vet found pulpy kidney. As she was going downhill she looked jaundiced then aneamic.
 
We forgot to Hepvac P last year and lost a breeding ewe to liver disease and this ewe lamb to puply kidney  - horrible lesson learn't. Needless to say all HVP now.
 
Gutting when this happens.
 
 

[kaz]

You can give Heptovac P Plus to lambs at three weeks old now. Not a lot of help I know if it was pulpy kidney.
It could also be Cossidossis as that strikes at what are normally the healthiest  lambs. We now dose with Vecoxan as a matter of course.
I hope the others all do o.k.