[Joshuafarrell]

Hello everyone - hoping for some advise

Background: been keeping sheep for about 8 years, various breeds and have encountered all sorts of issues and illnesses as with all flocks! Today we've had a death that has baffled me some what and I'm hoping someone may be able to help ?

Ewe: 9 year old pure bred Wiltshire horn, just lambed 4 weeks ago (lambs doing great) on heptivac system and all wormed with a complete four stage fluke control, calcium and selenium supplement and feet done. Great body condition, if anything maybe a bit too fat! Full mouth but not broken. On rough grass and some marshy land at the moment - all flocks looking great and lambs growing well

Symptoms - slightly quiet and separate for the last couple of weeks but still eating and feeding lamb. She has always kept herself to herself so this isint out of character although we have noticed her laying down rather a lot and a bit lack luster to move ... but with a couple of bellows ...shes been straight up for lunch

Saw her yesterday eating in field, today she was dead where they sleep at night under a tree, laying on side, head in air, white foam out of mouth, blood from eyes and ears but no damage to eyes from crows. Very bloated and gassy:stomach was solid with gas.

No injury and at this stage I can see no reason for death. She's an older ewe and this was going to be her last lamb anyway. She's my favourite, so whilst upsetting I'd really like some help in working out the issue.

Thanks again!

Josh from Scarletts Farm (22 years old) based in essex

[atlanta]

Difficult to say.  Could have been pneumonia.  But If it had been one of ours, and we noticed she was not quite right a few weeks ago, I.e. Subdued, not wanting to move, we would have immediately given it an A/B jab, just as a precaution.  Sheep hide feeling unwell, and it is the subtle signs that the shepherd notices that gives you pause for thought.   Unfortunately, waiting to see what might develop, can result in death. 

[harmony]

Bit of a rock and hard place to be. Jumping straight in with antibiotics isn't necessarily best practice either.

[Anke]

You will always have the unexpected sheep just found dead after not really any symptoms... her age, broken mouth etc may all have been against her, and with it being quite hot at the moment her heart may have simply given out... unless any other ewes are showing symptoms of not being quite right, and in this heat all my sheep just look fed up and not very keen to move about, you may have to put it down to experience. But at nine years old she did have a good innings (as they say...).

Hope the lambs are going to be ok... if you have been feeding concentrate/creep I would make sure they do get extra rations, as it will be unlikely that they accept the bottle at this stage.

[YorkshireLass]

The bloating and gas I think I would attribute to the hot weather speeding up decomposition (bit gruesome sorry)
Have they been sheared yet?

[Old Shep]

Pasturella I would say.  They can blow up with that.

[atlanta]

"Jumping straight in with antibiotics isn't best practice either"

Never said jump straight in. However, if you know your sheep and you know what is normal behaviour and what is not, and there are no obvious symptoms that point you in another direction, and you are worried that there is something wrong, then an antibiotic is what we use.  And to be honest, it works particularly well with sheep and lambs to quickly make them better.  In the early days, we waited much too long to do anything, and sheep go downhill very quickly, as I am sure everyone knows.

[bj_cardiff]

As she only lambed 4 weeks ago I'd assume it was a post lambing infection. I've only lost half a dozen sheep over the years but pretty much all of them did 2-4 weeks after they lambed.

[sheeponthebrain]

sudden death,  Have you tried lifting the dead ewe up by the back legs to see if fluid comes out her nose? there's a possibility it could be opa

[landroverroy]

What's opa?

[fsmnutter]

Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma, Jaagsiekte.
Cancer of the lungs that is caught by a virus.
There are a number of reasons for sudden deaths, several mentioned above. The only way to be sure would be a post mortem.
If no other sheep look to be affected, it may not be worthwhile.

[harmony]

"Jumping straight in with antibiotics isn't best practice either"

Never said jump straight in. However, if you know your sheep and you know what is normal behaviour and what is not, and there are no obvious symptoms that point you in another direction, and you are worried that there is something wrong, then an antibiotic is what we use.  And to be honest, it works particularly well with sheep and lambs to quickly make them better.  In the early days, we waited much too long to do anything, and sheep go downhill very quickly, as I am sure everyone knows.

No you said you would give antibiotics immediately if your sheep was subdued or not moving as a precaution.  The trick is in how long you observe and when you need a vets advice. Precautionary antibiotics before you know what is wrong or even if something is wrong that needs treatment and not just a change in management surely leads to overuse of antibiotics.

[shep53]

sudden death,  Have you tried lifting the dead ewe up by the back legs to see if fluid comes out her nose? there's a possibility it could be opa

    Nothing in the post ( very fit maybe  a bit too fat  / 9yrs old / sudden death )  suggests  OPA , it is a chronic wasting  disease over a prolonged period with slow death if left alive

[Marches Farmer]

I was told that the longer you spend observing sheep that are well the quicker you'll pick up on a sheep that's not.  Leaning on the gate looking at your flock might not seem active to a casual observer but it's the way you spot  flystrike and disease at a very early stage when both can be treated successfully.  The antibiotics mantra of "As little as possible, as much as necessary" errs on the side of caution.  In this case, with an otherwise healthy sheep showing atypical behaviour I, too, would have administered a long-acting a/b and probably confined the ewe and offspring to a shed for a few days for closer observation.

[twizzel]

Would anybody have taken her temperature before administering antibiotics? before we jab anything we take its temperature which has really reduced the amount of antibiotic use here but it's surprising how many people still don't use or even own a thermometer for livestock.