Dirty ewes

Username John

Hello all,

Another nice day down these parts...

I was out looking at me few ewes and lambs last night. Whilst I felt the lambs were doing good enough, a lot of the ewes are dirty.
This is a bit disappointing, as they were injected with Cydectin before they were left out after lambing (so about 3 weeks ago or so)

Now - I know that some of this could be due to Spring grass. But where they are now is old pasture.
The field got some 0-16-0 a few weeks ago, as soil tests indicated I was low in P, but it didn't get any N.

So I am left thinking "are they too dirty for spring grass alone?" and "Is it possible I screwed up the injecting somehow?"
(the injection was supposed to be under the skin, so if I want a bit too deep, or something like that, would it reduce the effectiveness?)

I am not sure what I can / will do? I imagine will leave them for a while now, as its been only 3 weeks since they were done. But I guess I had expected a better result from using Cydectin.

Any thoughts?
(Or should I stop looking at em too much in the nice evenings, and make better use of time)

Cran

Username John wrote: »

Hello all,

(Or should I stop looking at em too much in the nice evenings, and make better use of time)

Think this is your answer tbh I would doubt very much its a worm burden, ewes here get one worm drench a year before the ram and then only on an individual as needed basis outside that. My understanding is most ewes are not prone to worm burden or atleast can live with them without any negative effect.
I understand the dosing of ewes at turn out to reduce impact on lambs, but in this instance would think its due to being out on grass after the winter.

Username John

Cran wrote: »

Think this is your answer tbh I would doubt very much its a worm burden, ewes here get one worm drench a year before the ram and then only on an individual as needed basis outside that. My understanding is most ewes are not prone to worm burden or atleast can live with them without any negative effect.
I understand the dosing of ewes at turn out to reduce impact on lambs, but in this instance would think its due to being out on grass after the winter.

Hi Cran,

I kinda suspected as much

I suppose the saying about Suffolks and "black face, black arse" had to come from somewhere

Green farmer

John, have a read of the other thread here from the last few days about department advice on nematodirus. Rancher gave some good advice on the subject.

Conmaicne Mara

Read somewhere before dirty sheep can be a copper related issue too. Must get mine tested as there's always a few dirty this time of year and I reckon they shouldn't be. Believe I am farming in a high Molybdenum area though so would be different from a lot/most.

Cran

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Read somewhere before dirty sheep can be a copper related issue too. Must get mine tested as there's always a few dirty this time of year and I reckon they shouldn't be. Believe I am farming in a high Molybdenum area though so would be different from a lot/most.

Yep bang on never thought of that. Have a real copper issue here, swayback can be real problem if not managed properly. I moved to bolus this year and I think they're cleaner than ever have been.

Green farmer

Now that lambing is easing down, I'm catching up on cleaning up some hoggets that I've to send to the factory / mart. I dosed them today with albex but their very dirty around the end. This should dry them up but they'll still be dirty. Would this effect the value of them much at the mart ,after the withdrawal period is up ?

razor8

Cran wrote: »

Yep bang on never thought of that. Have a real copper issue here, swayback can be real problem if not managed properly. I moved to bolus this year and I think they're cleaner than ever have been.

Think I have a lamb with swayback, never had it before, just googling and seems not a lot I can do. Is there anything I should give him apart from penicillin?

Conmaicne Mara

razor8 wrote: »

Think I have a lamb with swayback, never had it before, just googling and seems not a lot I can do. Is there anything I should give him apart from penicillin?

Not good news if it's swayback:

http://www.nadis.org.uk/bulletins/trace-element-deficiencies-in-sheep.aspx

However if the lamb is dragging itself along by it's forelegs with the back legs not working it may be an abscess on the spine cause by ticks (at least that's what I think a couple of Dads lambs had a couple of years ago, can get injections from vet for that if I remember right.).

Worth a phone call to your vet at least.

Conmaicne Mara

Cran wrote: »

Yep bang on never thought of that. Have a real copper issue here, swayback can be real problem if not managed properly. I moved to bolus this year and I think they're cleaner than ever have been.

Question for you Cran, this may be a bit clumsy

How did you arrive at the conclusion you had a copper issue, what I mean is what tests did you have done, or PM's etc?

razor8

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Not good news if it's swayback:

http://www.nadis.org.uk/bulletins/trace-element-deficiencies-in-sheep.aspx

However if the lamb is dragging itself along by it's forelegs with the back legs not working it may be an abscess on the spine cause by ticks (at least that's what I think a couple of Dads lambs had a couple of years ago, can get injections from vet for that if I remember right.).

Worth a phone call to your vet at least.

Thanks con, think it could be, didn't look to be any lumps but his legs were dragging when he was running and looked wobbly when standing around, couldn't catch him so have to bring dog in morning to get closer look,
As usual my vet wouldn't answer his phone so will try him again tomorrow

foxylock

Picked one up a couple of days ago the exact same thing no ticks put him in for a few days standing after a day and moving about slowly now his back seems hooped i reckon he got a clatter from a ewe

razor8

Slight Abscess on spine on closer inspection today, glad it wasn't swayback

Username John

Cran wrote: »

Yep bang on never thought of that. Have a real copper issue here, swayback can be real problem if not managed properly. I moved to bolus this year and I think they're cleaner than ever have been.

Gave my ewes a cobalt bolus, and gave em a copper bolus as well at the same time. 2 - 3 weeks now...

Its hard to nnow if its just getting later in the year now, but I think it made a difference, they seem to be cleaner and staying clean now.

I'll give the copper bolus again tho. Never gave em before, and if it cleared em up a bit would be well worth it.

Thanks for advise Con and Cran.

Conmaicne Mara

Username John wrote: »

Gave my ewes a cobalt bolus, and gave em a copper bolus as well at the same time. 2 - 3 weeks now...

Its hard to nnow if its just getting later in the year now, but I think it made a difference, they seem to be cleaner and staying clean now.

I'll give the copper bolus again tho. Never gave em before, and if it cleared em up a bit would be well worth it.

Thanks for advise Con and Cran.

Be careful with the copper, it can poison them if they get more than they need.

Username John

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Be careful with the copper, it can poison them if they get more than they need.

Yeah - I got half strength bolus, as i was a small bit afriad of giving em too much. I think they were 2mg, with the normal bolus being 4mg.

Cran

Username John wrote: »

Yeah - I got half strength bolus, as i was a small bit afriad of giving em too much. I think they were 2mg, with the normal bolus being 4mg.

Unless they're breed that are suspect to copper I'd give them the 4mg. I give all ewes here the 4mg including pedigree Chars, but do have a copper issue.

Sorry just noticed John missed your question how did I know. Had a bad dose of sway back here few years ago, got some of the ewes tested and came back as copper deficient. Been using good copper mineral dose since and moved to the boluses this year for ease of management. Father said he had a problem with years ago as well, but the land it was on was in tillage mainly for a good while and very few ewes lambed on it.
Haven't had one case of sway back since started the copper regime, its an awful disease when you get it as its a death sentance really for the lambs.

ganmo

We use injectable copper in late pregnancy to prevent swayback and drench with copper and cobalt(that we make from copper sulphate and cobalt sulphate).
Copper blouses I think are a bit riskier than drenching because copper is stored until it reaches toxic levels. Meaning one dose of 'toxic' copper mightn't have toxic effects but a prolonged period of slightly toxic levels could have worse effects.