[Melmarsh]

Great year until last week. All lambs fattened and in the freezer just my 5 ewes and a ewe lamb kept, lambs grew well no worm problems all year !!! Last week a ewe scoured, samples taken from 5. And FEC 500 pgm. Given biotrim for ? Stomach probs. Then ewe lamb scoured, decided to worm as she would have no resistance and never been worked. 2 scourers worked. You guest it ,next day another scour, biotrim for her, worked all of them, weighed first as some of my girls are large !! This morning another, now have 3 on biotrim 1 completed her dose and dry, others clompy after first dose. B....dy typical, been sponged !!! Ram due in tomorrow, don't sheep just love to keep you on your toes. Still none the wiser of cause of scour, all hep p' d.

[Melmarsh]

Don't you love it when your android decides to change words for you and calls it spell check !!! The ewes that were  ' worked ' were in fact wormed !!! Sorry should have read it before posting   

[Hellybee]

What's they're grazing like?

[Melmarsh]

Having had little grass all summer ,as we were very dry here, having had a little rain they have lots especially now the lambs are in the freezer !! They had been on the improved grass for several weeks and pooing clomps for all that time but no recent rain to make things worse and just to confuse, the ewe lamb is doing individual balls !?!? 

[Marches Farmer]

The grass growth here has romped away in recent weeks.  Many sheep scour a bit when put on lush grazing, like a fresh field for flushing.

[Melmarsh]

Thanks, this is not a bit !! as in ,you wouldn't want to stand behind them or come within tail wagging distance, if you know what
I mean !!!! Not sure you could call this flushing unless there's an unseen chain being pulled somewhere.
They do improve after 3xdoses of bimotrim, day 2 the droppings are formed but very soft and day 3 clompy. Difficult to say what's going on, get thinks a bacterial infection hence the injections.
Well ram's just gone in tupped 3 despite their rear end appearance....... Good job they're not that fussy these boys eh !!!

[Hellybee]

Would they eat some hay? That may slow them down a bit?  What colour is scour ?

[Melmarsh]

They have hay and lib in the bottom of my building, they use the area to lay up if weather poor or its too hot or pouring with rain. The scour is grass coloured , with the odd blob of mucous. I have to admit that in nearly 30years of sheep keeping this is the first time that I have had   this sort of problem with ewes other than the odd wormy scour. Just a bit baffled really, I don't like not knowing 

[Marches Farmer]

A neighbour of ours kept Texel crosses that would scour badly on fresh grass and used to drench them with arrowroot solution to, effectively, bung them up a bit. Don't know if it would be appropriate in your case.

[Hellybee]

Mmm mucous, not good, you could do an apple cider vinegar drench 1:1 water, may help them some, or put a little in drinking water.   

[fsmnutter]

Maybe worth asking your vet? Get a faecal sample tested for worms, coccidia and fluke?

[Remy]

I wormed all mine and turned the lambs onto fresh grass in September, many started scouring and subsequently I had to cope with the dreaded fly strike on several of them.  This year the grass has been growing exceptionally all year due to the weather conditions, it looks rich and green like spring grass so I'm assuming this is what has caused it with mine.  They have dried up now!

[Melmarsh]

Everything I have done so far has been done through the get,. I get  regular FEC's done and worm or not according to results. I don't keep antibiotics ' in case' as with so few it would be out of date before being used ' with luck'.
As I said on the earlier post FEC was a pooled sample from 5 of 6 animals result 500 per gram. Not a count that would normally result in worming  of adults, I did worm because the ewe lamb scoured  and she had not needed working since birth as counts were low all summer. Despite worming was getting a new scour each day. I have one that hasn't scoured as yet and the last one has now had 2 of 3 antibiotic injections.

[Anke]

As it last just a few days - maybe a viral infection? ( a bit like humans get a 24-hour bug?) I have got that in my goats on and off over the summer.... it usually clears up on it own without any treatment over a couple of days...

[Melmarsh]

Thanks for all the replies,
I think my worry was more that a week before it all started, in my infinite wisdom I had decided to sponge them to reduce the number of sleepless nights I have at lambing time. They appeared to loose a little condition, or probably just looked empty, with the scouring .Ram went in yesterday, sh...y bottoms didn't bother him, and he appears to have had a sleepless, fun, night !!!! Only time will tell if it has had a detrimental effect on lamb numbers !! ?? ?