Lambs found dead looked spot on day before?

[Farmer_Joe]

As above I've had 2 prob 3 week old lambs which I've just found dead no signs of problems i.e big guts shitting out etc? both growing nicely and decent size until they stopped living...

1 of them i saw the day before and it was fine?

both had snotty noses,

thinking Pasteurella or clostridia but could possibly be pneumonia? just thinking hot days freezing nights for so long?

found 1 more looking dull and jabbed it with bettamox, looking better today?

vet been busy,(crap time to happen over bank holiday week end) ive spoken to them and if i get a fresh one planning on taking it down for post-mortem.

 

[JSmith]

Do you vaccinate with ovivac? I had lambs keeling over one year, about three weeks old, just drop dead like you turned a light off, ovivac’d the lot, stopped it over night

 

[Farmer_Joe]

no vaccinations,

did you jab your lambs? think you cant jab them untill older than 3 weeks which most are not quite yet.

considering doing sheep next year as i understand they give passive immunisation to the lambs for a few weeks.

whats difference between ovivac and heptovac does one not cover pasurealla?

edit looks like heptovac for sheep ovivac for lambs,

there generally to young for this sadly well two thirds might be but others wont be

 

[JSmith]

Think the vet told me anything over a week could be done because we had a problem!! Lamb them an move them within two weeks now to other ground an don’t have any problems last few years!

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Its the blood* weather. I had two with pneumonia this morning and one yesterday, luckily spotted in time and all have survived. These cold frosty nights and warmer days followed by cold rain showers is not kind to man nor beast.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

Its the blood* weather. I had two with pneumonia this morning and one yesterday, luckily spotted in time and all have survived. These cold frosty nights and warmer days followed by cold rain showers is not kind to man nor beast.

what symptoms do you see for them with pneumonia , what do you do for treatment? ie. which antibiotic etc

if i could do stuff over a week old it would be easy as i could do nearly all of them.

 

[Jameshenry]

Just put it down to sheep disease !

 

[JSmith]

what symptoms do you see for them with pneumonia , what do you do for treatment? ie. which antibiotic etc

if i could do stuff over a week old it would be easy as i could do nearly all of them.

You need to speak to your vet if anymore kick their clogs fo no apparent reason

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

what symptoms do you see for them with pneumonia , what do you do for treatment? ie. which antibiotic etc

if i could do stuff over a week old it would be easy as i could do nearly all of them.

They just start to go a bit slow, breathing fast and sometimes a bit wet around the mouth.
2ml Terramycin LA if less than 10kg.
I always move the sheep on the morning look and run the dogs so they get up and move.

 

[Boydvalley]

I always move the sheep on the morning look and run the dogs so they get up and move

+1, great advice. All to easy to just drive round thinking everything looks ok particularly in weather like this.

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

+1, great advice. All to easy to just drive round thinking everything looks ok particularly in weather like this.

I nearly always take my spaniel and a pair of binoculars when I'm checking ewes and lambs. The dog doesn't bother them but just being there makes healthy lambs run to their mothers and healthy ewes get up. The binoculars mean I don't need to walk/drive anyway near as far.

Regarding lambs dying. I had 80 ewes and lambs in a field last year and over a couple of weeks picked up 7 dead lambs. After the first 3 I sent 2 for PM. Came back 1 had a ruptured heart valve and 1 had an ulcerated throat which stopped it swallowing. Gave up after that. Whatever you do a certain percentage of lambs die!

 

[Farmer_Joe]

I nearly always take my spaniel and a pair of binoculars when I'm checking ewes and lambs. The dog doesn't bother them but just being there makes healthy lambs run to their mothers and healthy ewes get up. The binoculars mean I don't need to walk/drive anyway near as far.

Regarding lambs dying. I had 80 ewes and lambs in a field last year and over a couple of weeks picked up 7 dead lambs. After the first 3 I sent 2 for PM. Came back 1 had a ruptured heart valve and 1 had an ulcerated throat which stopped it swallowing. Gave up after that. Whatever you do a certain percentage of lambs die!

It’s hard you always get some dropping dead but you wanna try prevent it if you can, I suspect it’s pasturella if I understand correctly brought on by penumonia(seems there is a link but I could have miss understood what I read!!), which as frank says it due to strange weather.

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

I understand , I've beaten myself up for years over lambs dying. I now think if you do the basics right, nutrition, TE supplementation, basic vaccines and dosing , there's nothing else you do. A certain percentage die ☹

The vets say sheep don't just die for no reason, but some of the PM's we've had done over the years have been struggling to find a reason

 

[Hooby Farmer]

I understand , I've beaten myself up for years over lambs dying. I now think if you do the basics right, nutrition, TE supplementation, basic vaccines and dosing , there's nothing else you do. A certain percentage die ☹

The vets say sheep don't just die for no reason, but some of the PM's we've had done over the years have been struggling to find a reason

I've had PM come back with sudden death syndrome no other explanation. Had two cracking lambs die within 6 feet of each other. Fed them in the morning had a good look all round, came back at 4 for the evening feed.....dead. The only courtesy they gave was to die near the gate, no obvious cause of death.

 

[yellowbelly]

I suspect it’s pasturella

Cut the next one open and look at it's lungs..............

Good lung on the left, pasturella pneumonia on the right (right one sliced open so you can see inside).

 

[Mc115reed]

Last year I had a spate of 4 week old lambs dying... kept picking 2 up every morning for 4/5 days and thinking that’s just young lambs for you... before I realised sh!t there’s actually a problem here... took a fresh one the vets, cut it open and he showed me it’s kidneys were purple and mush... ovivacced everything that afternoon and no more lambs died for weeks

 

[Farmer_Joe]

en and look at it's lungs..............

Cheers for that,

dog has 'recycled' the last one if i get another i will defiantly do as you say and post up some pics

will get its kidneys out to and some pics, stuff like this is really helpful

 

[Highland Mule]

I've had PM come back with sudden death syndrome no other explanation. Had two cracking lambs die within 6 feet of each other. Fed them in the morning had a good look all round, came back at 4 for the evening feed.....dead. The only courtesy they gave was to die near the gate, no obvious cause of death.

I’ve had a PM come back where they detected tick borne fever by PCR testing of spleen (?) tissue. It was a bad year and I lost a big chunk of lambs with that one being the final straw. Now, we use spot on for day old lambs and nothing leaves the lambing field/ shed without being done.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Probably to do with cold weather, lv had 2 or 3 ewes fall off, just sheep at there best.

 

[yellowbelly]

will get its kidneys out to and some pics, stuff like this is really helpful

Not got any pics of pulpy kidney but these are good kidneys.......

sliced open.......

If you squeeze 'pulpy kidneys' in your hand they, as @Mc115reed says, just turn to mush.