[Nelson International]

Hiya, I have started keeping sheep this summer - we have a small number of welsh mountain and WM-cross sheep on our smallholding.

Anyway, 2 weeks ago one of a pair of ram lambs had a puffy face - his eyes were almost shut and his ears were puffy and drooping. He was also lethargic. A friend who is a proper sheep farmer took a look and gave him a shot of antibiotics - he suggested that another follow on jab might be a good idea if it hadn't recovered in 3 days or so, but I was away for a few days and when I got back the lamb was no longer swollen and was back to its normal self.

Anyway, I've noticed this morning that the sheep's ears looked funny. Closer up, he is losing the wool from his ears and the underlying skin is a little raw/a bit bled as the wool came away. Otherwise he still seems to be on normal behaviour/he's not swollen at all. None of the other sheep (including his mother and brother) show any signs of similar ailments.

I'm not sure whether this is a relapse or a consequence of something now healed. So I'm not sure how to proceed - give him another jab, bring him inside (it seems like photosensitisation is one possibility), or just give him some cream to alleviate the soreness but otherwise wait and see? Any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

(I have a photo, but it's on my phone)

[Foobar]

Post the photo on here...

[Nelson International]

Here you go:

[shep53]

Yellowsis , probably lose the ear tips ,  AB  and  Combivit helps  and cream  .   Have 3 young ewes all in the same field with it in the last month .   

[SallyintNorth]

Sounds like Yellows.  Can be caused / exacerbated by bog ashphodel, but there are other plants can do the same, I think.  Giant hogweed can cause blisters in humans, I wonder whether it and or its less vicious cousins could cause it.

Can't hurt to give them a Himalayan salt lick and/or a good mineral drench.  They've got some shade?

[Nelson International]

Thanks all.

I've let them into a paddock with some shade and I've got some sudocrem I was recommended for them.

I've got a salt lick, but a couple of the flock are ram lambs and I've read licks can cause problems in rams so I'd taken it away. I'm hoping to hold onto one of the rams to breed with in a year.

[SallyintNorth]

This is speculation but I wonder whether the thing you've heard about rams and salt relates to urinary calculi. 

The bit that is not speculation is that if male lambs are eating a lot of concentrate they can get urinary calculi, which block the urinary tract and are very painful.  To avoid these, there should always be plentiful water, and the feed should be specifically suitable for tups, not a ewe feed. 

Views differ as to whether it is useful to put out salt for tups being fed hard; some think the salt encourages the tups to drink more, which helps to avoid the calculi, and I'm wondering whether some think that the salt itself can contribute to the formation of calculi.  Or maybe some of the feed licks, as opposed to salt or straight mineral licks, can be bad for males, if they don't have the formulation which reduces the incidence of calculi. 

Either way, if the tups aren't being fed hard and are getting a suitable feed or no supplementary feed, and have symptoms which suggest a lack of some minerals, then I personally would be giving them minerals in one form or another.  I am also of the schools of thought that a) all sheep need fresh water always available and b) Himalayan rock salt is magical and should be available to all livestock at all times. 

[Nelson International]

Yes that's the ticket. I do use a bit of dry food when I gather them in, but otherwise they're on grass and they have a drinker on a ball valve, although they don't seem that interested in it.

Up here the ram lambs don't tend to be castrated which I've just read makes them lower risk. Anyway, I'll double check the lick I have, and if necessary get them some alternative appropriate minerals. Thanks.

[Marches Farmer]

Sounds like Yellows.  Can be caused / exacerbated by bog ashphodel, but there are other plants can do the same, I think.  Giant hogweed can cause blisters in humans, I wonder whether it and or its less vicious cousins could cause it.

We had a couple of lambs with Yellowses last year - never did figure out what they ate.  The only photosensitizing plant we've ever seen here was St John's Wort some years ago but we pulled it all up two summers in a row and it's never returned. We put them in the shed and gave painkillers but they never really recovered or regained weight and we eventually got the knackerman in.

[Nelson International]

Bump for closure: my real farmer friend mentioned that a lot of farms nearby have to treat sheep for cobalt deficiency - i gave the sheep a mineral boost, plus regular sudocrem application, and the fur is growing back nicely. Fingers crossed I can go back to just worrying about flystrike and worms and fluke and scouring and...

[Sbom]

We have started treating for cobalt deficiency, the lambs get scabby ears and go abit stale... only seems to affect their ears though. Just re bolused after six weeks