Scour in lambs

[Suffolk farmer]

Hi,
Lambs given white wormer to prevent Nematodirus in May. Plenty of cobalt doses, Vecoxan dose for coccidiosis (this seemed like a great dose and dried up lambs in June) and also received a clear wormer in June. Majority of lambs are clean however there are still a few with watery scour running out of them. March born lambs. This seems to happen every year once mid July arrives. Faecal egg count says low worm burden. Coccidiosis dose worked great on lambs this year. I gave them two doses and it cleaned up any dirty lamb. Do I need to give them another one? Last one was given mid June. Main issue with coccidiosis doses is they are very expensive.

 

[neilo]

Tbh it’s just guesswork for anyone to answer with FEC and trace element testing.
From experience, both copper deficiency/lockup and iodine deficiency will present as scouring lambs. So too will a high worm or cocci burden, obviously.

It could be any of the above, or just lots of high protein, low DM grass?

 

[Suffolk farmer]

If lambs are moving to hillground off grazing pastures the scour dries up and no longer an issue. What would your thoughts on this be? Same with ewes. The odd ewe with scour goes to hill and is perfectly clean and healthy again.

 

[Montexy]

If lambs are moving to hillground off grazing pastures the scour dries up and no longer an issue. What would your thoughts on this be? Same with ewes. The odd ewe with scour goes to hill and is perfectly clean and healthy again.

Then it must be lush wet grass running through them, then on the hill with not so good grass they dry up.

 

[spin cycle]

could be haemonchus...perfect conditions and white wormer won't touch it....any of them got swelling under the jaw or very pale eyes?

ivermectin

 

[idgni]

Levafast diamond will clear them up for you, they have tails rattling like a child’s toy in a week

 

[Suffolk farmer]

Then it must be lush wet grass running through them, then on the hill with not so good grass they dry up.

Any solutions to that so? Need to keep lambs on good grass as they are suffolks and will be selling them over the next two months.

 

[andybk]

just get an FEC done its not expensive , its all guess work without , we did the funded one last year and highlighted a resistance issue at one place , only couple scouring but obvs would have been early breakdown in rest if not tested , also highlighted why lambs never did there , yet older sheep grew ok

 

[yoki]

We switched this year from diclazuril (Vecoxan, etc) to toltrazuril (Baycox, etc) as we tested the ewe lambs at housing in January and they were fine for everything except coccidia. They were grand, thriving well, no particular issues with dirty bums but we still dosed them at housing as the coccidia level in the FEC wasn't acceptable longer term.

Essentially the timing of the dose with toltrazuril seems less critical which is a big advantage in practical terms given that everything in a batch of lambs may not have been turned out on exactly the same day, or younger lambs may be out during the day but in at night, etc, making it nigh on impossible to hit them at exactly the right time with diclazuril.

We'll see how it works out as the year progresses.

 

[twizzel]

We switched this year from diclazuril (Vecoxan, etc) to toltrazuril (Baycox, etc) as we tested the ewe lambs at housing in January and they were fine for everything except coccidia. They were grand, thriving well, no particular issues with dirty bums but we still dosed them at housing as the coccidia level in the FEC wasn't acceptable longer term.

Essentially the timing of the dose with toltrazuril seems less critical which is a big advantage in practical terms given that everything in a batch of lambs may not have been turned out on exactly the same day, or younger lambs may be out during the day but in at night, etc, making it nigh on impossible to hit them at exactly the right time with diclazuril.

We'll see how it works out as the year progresses.

Tolracol is as you say a better product, but has a 42 day meat with hold. Vecoxan is 0 days. Had to drench mine this week and went with vecoxan simply because of withdrawal time.

 

[tepapa]

Any solutions to that so? Need to keep lambs on good grass as they are suffolks and will be selling them over the next two months.

The answer is right there.

I've heard it described as similar to irritable bowl which makes them scour for fun. Breed from the ones that don't scour.

 

[yoki]

Had to drench mine this week and went with vecoxan simply because of withdrawal time.

That seems very late, are you a late lamber?

You are correct about the withdrawal time but in practice it shouldn't really matter as they'll typically need treated against coccidia easily more than 42 days before they'd be going anywhere anyway.

I suppose very early born lambs late to grass could be a possible example as well but vast majority of the time it isn't a relevant factor.

 

[sheepdogtrail]

could be haemonchus...perfect conditions and white wormer won't touch it....any of them got swelling under the jaw or very pale eyes?

ivermectin

Except Haemonchus in sheep does not cause scours. BSW (Brown Stomach Worm) will.

A few other things will cause scours: Mineral imbalances that are caused by forage and/or soil ph. Usually, most (90%+) will show symptoms all at the same time.

Stress brought on by a sudden changes in weather, predators or management.

Buttercups are famous for causing scours in the spring for instance.

Moving the animals if they are all scouring will help sort the issue if the new ground and forage are different.

 

[yoki]

The answer is right there.

I've heard it described as similar to irritable bowl which makes them scour for fun. Breed from the ones that don't scour.

We've noticed a similar thing with Dorset.

But to be fair, we've only ever had one Dorset ram and it may have been more attributable to him.

Also had a disproportionately greater number of cases of entropion related to him as well. Not huge, but his lambs just seemed more predisposed to having it to some degree.

But again, may just have been him as opposed to a breed thing "per se".

 

[twizzel]

That seems very late, are you a late lamber?

You are correct about the withdrawal time but in practice it shouldn't really matter as they'll typically need treated against coccidia easily more than 42 days before they'd be going anywhere anyway.

I suppose very early born lambs late to grass could be a possible example as well but vast majority of the time it isn't a relevant factor.

No, March born, they had tolracol early on, then deccox buckets finally arrived and were ticking along nicely until the buckets ran out and deccox out of stock. I tried the herbal Brinnicombe buckets- waste of time.

Cocci egg count was 3500 a month ago and 20000 this week and growth halted so that was enough to dose them.

 

[yoki]

No, March born, they had tolracol early on, then deccox buckets finally arrived and were ticking along nicely until the buckets ran out and deccox out of stock. I tried the herbal Brinnicombe buckets- waste of time.

Cocci egg count was 3500 a month ago and 20000 this week and growth halted so that was enough to dose them.

That's a concern, we were led to believe that one dose of Baycox at around the right time would be enough.

Seems that at very least it'll be wise to still get cocci done in the FEC's.

Concerning, but good to know.

Thanks.

 

[andybk]

Not all cocci is of concern ,after all those treatments would speak to vet ,as they get immunity after exposure ,baycox or vecoxin only gives a breathing space to allow immunity to build ,if still scouring sounds more like a worm resistance issue or bad genetics

 

[Suffolk farmer]

Bought in 6 ewe lambs this summer. Kept one replacement of my own. Interestingly none of the bought in lambs got scour only the lamb l have on my farm from birth got scour. Moved them to hill and scour dried up. Back down a week and scouring again but not the ones l bought just the lamb l bred myself. A cheviot ewe lamb.