E-Coli Scour control

Dickie10

well lads im currently in mid lambing and having a scour outbreak looking for advice. i have 37 of 67 ewes lambed. scour has claimed 4 lambs so far with 2 others shook. i have begun cleaning and disnefecting pens after each ewe but im currently thinking of having lambs inside as little as possible had 6 ewes lambed last nite and once i saw they had full stomachs and mother had milk i turned them out this morning. usually i leave them in for 36 hours but im afraid to have them in at all now. giving plenty of colostrum at birth as i had been and now a pump of spectam to each new born. is there anything else i need to do? in fact im thinking if anymore lamb during the day i will give them colostrum from the mother and leave them outside altogether.

the sheep go outside from dawn to dusk in a field adjoining shed. how good would newborn ambs deal with outside once there getting pleny of milk. no charrolais all texel suffolk and HD. any help would be great, hopefully iv turned the corner

Green farmer

As long as this type of dry weather lasted I'd think they'd be better off out and in just at night for the first few nights as long as they bonded well with the mother. Field near shed sounds good to keep an eye on them .

razor8

Dickie10 wrote: »

well lads im currently in mid lambing and having a scour outbreak looking for advice. i have 37 of 67 ewes lambed. scour has claimed 4 lambs so far with 2 others shook. i have begun cleaning and disnefecting pens after each ewe but im currently thinking of having lambs inside as little as possible had 6 ewes lambed last nite and once i saw they had full stomachs and mother had milk i turned them out this morning. usually i leave them in for 36 hours but im afraid to have them in at all now. giving plenty of colostrum at birth as i had been and now a pump of spectam to each new born. is there anything else i need to do? in fact im thinking if anymore lamb during the day i will give them colostrum from the mother and leave them outside altogether.

the sheep go outside from dawn to dusk in a field adjoining shed. how good would newborn ambs deal with outside once there getting pleny of milk. no charrolais all texel suffolk and HD. any help would be great, hopefully iv turned the corner

Would it possibly be the quality of the colostrum that's the problem, what type of meal are you feeding? Is the colostrum thick yellow color or white?

greysides

If the ewes need dagging then I'd do what I could in that area to clean them up. I'd also clean the teats/udder before the lambs were let suck.

Dickie10

thanks, this problem with the ecoli on teats and wool seems to be a big threat, yesterday i had one that lambed outside andleft them outside last nite only to find one with bad scour and shook today, i presume they caught it from the teats and udder area as i didnt give them any spectam at birth because they were outside i thought it was grand. i have moved all remaining ewes into another shed that had minimal sheep its ben disenfected and limed and fresh straw. the shed next door im taking all gates out and cleaning out with a bucket of teleporter and power washing everything when i havent any dung/bedding left. il disenfect then lime and bed again hopefully that might do it. i think thee shot of spectam seems to be keeping it at bay along with severe hygene. any that got a pump of it are dry.

i cant begin to explain how gut wrenching this lambing is, i love this time of the year usually even with the odd loss, but this is a killer, i could cry at times. trying to do everything right and stil something gets you. i have learned more this week than any book in the world could tell me. the power washer and disenfectant will be a routine job from now on.

greysides

Treating the sick lambs... fluids, warmth, antibiotics.

cuff92

Dickie10 wrote: »

thanks, this problem with the ecoli on teats and wool seems to be a big threat, yesterday i had one that lambed outside andleft them outside last nite only to find one with bad scour and shook today, i presume they caught it from the teats and udder area as i didnt give them any spectam at birth because they were outside i thought it was grand. i have moved all remaining ewes into another shed that had minimal sheep its ben disenfected and limed and fresh straw. the shed next door im taking all gates out and cleaning out with a bucket of teleporter and power washing everything when i havent any dung/bedding left. il disenfect then lime and bed again hopefully that might do it. i think thee shot of spectam seems to be keeping it at bay along with severe hygene. any that got a pump of it are dry.

i cant begin to explain how gut wrenching this lambing is, i love this time of the year usually even with the odd loss, but this is a killer, i could cry at times. trying to do everything right and stil something gets you. i have learned more this week than any book in the world could tell me. the power washer and disenfectant will be a routine job from now on.

I would buy a bag of white rhino lime and cover the ground. Re stra w. Keep straw dry and as said clip dirty ewes. . make sure when you get this year over you clean out wash and disinfect the shed with Ut most hygie In mind. You don't want this problem arise again. If it was possible i would try clean shed out now in next day and wash and disinfect and dry it but I know this time of year it's hard to get that time.

Dickie10

yeah have lime down cleanng out the shed in the morning its a big wide multi purpose straw bedded so with teleporter not a major job, going to power wash then spray dienfectant , let dry then lime and bed. i had a triplet and few doubles yesterday in shed in cleaned out pens. i gave them the pump of oral antiscour and touch wood all are dry as abone and outside triplit out tommorrow. any that didnt get the oral antibotic at birth are the ones giving me grief. i think the compact lambing fecked things up i had 45 since last monday eve in and out of shed lambing

ihatewinter

Go and get Spectam Scour Halt for lambs from the local chemist/Coop. It prevents E-Coli. I always use it as I lamb outside and want to be sure the ewe hasn't lambed in a dirty area.

cuff92

Dickie10 wrote: »

yeah have lime down cleanng out the shed in the morning its a big wide multi purpose straw bedded so with teleporter not a major job, going to power wash then spray dienfectant , let dry then lime and bed. i had a triplet and few doubles yesterday in shed in cleaned out pens. i gave them the pump of oral antiscour and touch wood all are dry as abone and outside triplit out tommorrow. any that didnt get the oral antibotic at birth are the ones giving me grief. i think the compact lambing fecked things up i had 45 since last monday eve in and out of shed lambing

Touch wooD it's never happened us but I wouldn't like to encounte It. I know if the problem persists you can Getty vaccination to give ewes but hopefully you won't have to encounter that :-)

orm0nd

ihatewinter wrote: »

Go and get Spectam Scour Halt for lambs from the local chemist/Coop. It prevents E-Coli. I always use it as I lamb outside and want to be sure the ewe hasn't lambed in a dirty area.

AFAIK Spectam SH is POM.

@ Dickie10 , some good advise here, razor mentioned a very valid point re pre lambing care/feeding of the ewe

pre lambing minerals in particular along with a good ration made from quality ingredients play a big role with helping the lamb to build natural immunity to a lot of diseases & infections

razor8

orm0nd wrote: »

AFAIK Spectam SH is POM.

@ Dickie10 , some good advise here, razor mentioned a very valid point re pre lambing care/feeding of the ewe

pre lambing minerals in particular along with a good ration made from quality ingredients play a big role with helping the lamb to build natural immunity to a lot of diseases & infections

Was at the sheep conference yesterday and it was driving home that good quality protein was key to a successful lambing and that soya bean meal was king

ihatewinter

Yeah very good advice. I might put soya in the ewes feeding this year as 25% more ewes are carrying twins than last year.


I got Scour Halt in the Chemist with no prescription last year. I went in, asked for it and got it without any problem.

rangler1

razor8 wrote: »

Was at the sheep conference yesterday and it was driving home that good quality protein was key to a successful lambing and that soya bean meal was king

I thought it was a very good conference, I'm always saying here how vital it is to feed ewes well in the last mth of pregnancy, good quality and quantity of colostrum is so important

orm0nd

I specify my own meal mix, sorry I did'nt start doing so years ago

rangler1

orm0nd wrote: »

I specify my own meal mix, sorry I did'nt start doing so years ago

You can be just unfortunate too, ecoli is a nightmare when it kicks off, spreads like hell, often think you bring it around on your boots and clothes.

greysides

rangler1 wrote: »

You can be just unfortunate too, ecoli is a nightmare when it kicks off, spreads like hell, often think you bring it around on your boots and clothes.

Assuming it's similar to cattle, and I don't see why it's not, then the source is the gut flora of the adults. So anything that gets contaminated with faeces, or spreads faeces ('your boots and clothes'), will spread it. Hence all the indoor hygiene, disinfection, dagging, cleaning of teats etc.

Ewes at grass may be a good prevention but 'ewes at mud' won't be.

razor8

rangler1 wrote: »

I thought it was a very good conference, I'm always saying here how vital it is to feed ewes well in the last mth of pregnancy, good quality and quantity of colostrum is so important

Drove up to conference expecting same old same old, but was very impressed, the photos of the Sheeps feet after no trimming was worth the visit in itself, us farmers are really our own worst enemies at times!

ganmo

Sounds like that conference was good, sorry I missed it.

Green farmer

I watched it online. If you go digging around YouTube you'll find it under " national sheep conference 2015 "

rangler1

razor8 wrote: »

Drove up to conference expecting same old same old, but was very impressed, the photos of the Sheeps feet after no trimming was worth the visit in itself, us farmers are really our own worst enemies at times!

Fiona Lovatt was at a vet conference here in Ireland about 5 yrs ago and our vet brought her to our discussion group.
I've pared very few sheeps feet since then and it works as she says.

Green farmer

rangler1 wrote: »

Fiona Lovatt was at a vet conference here in Ireland about 5 yrs ago and our vet brought her to our discussion group.
I've pared very few sheeps feet since then and it works as she says.

Listening to the new ways of thinking, stopped any ideas I had about buying a rollover crate.

ganmo

Green farmer wrote: »

I watched it online. If you go digging around YouTube you'll find it under " national sheep conference 2015 "

http://www.teagasc.ie/events/2015/SheepConf2015.asp

5 hours...not for tonight i think