Triffid Bur Marigold

[norfolk n sheep]

Having some serious problems with poisoning in a flock on wetlands with triffid bur marigold. The floodplain was flooded until late June killing most of the grass and leaving the TBM. The TBM is very lush and in flower.
We have had a large amount of deaths. Pm's have been sent which have come back with definite poisoning, the heart and kidneys have been seriously affected. There is also a big problem with sheep going blind, I have just brought a trailer load back home.
The sheep were white drenched, (fluke dose) and mineral drenched with Cu Co Sel B12 + E before being put on the floodplains, as we have done with the culls every year! 10 days later I picked up 8 dead, and is now getting out of hand. The ewes have swelling around there chins which shows heart failure ( not fluke) There bellies have also gone very floppy/watery which shows kidney/liver failure.
I am currently waiting for further tests from the vets, but am sure it is something to do with the TBM, even though eveyone says it is not poisonous.
Any ideas? TIA

 

[spin cycle]

sorry to hear that....had a friend lost several lambs last year with similar flooding story....i lost some lambs to what i thought was redshank poisoning but on reflection i think it was haemonchus

is the swelling under the chin?....seeing as you've used a white drench it might not be the best for haemonchus....but i take the pms have not found any trace in the stomach

 

[spin cycle]

rumen fluke

 

[Purli R]

No help to you but we have a field we can only put lambs in for no more than say 2 days in summer.Sometimes find them poorly listless then scour out & die but usually find em dead-Bog aspodel poisoning (on boggy/moorland) ewes dont seem to be aproblem.

 

[Purli R]

Will spraying kill em? I know thats the most obvious question.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Vet said no worms or fluke on PM. No bog aspodel there,although there is some redshank! Have grazed redshank before with lambs on broccolli with no problems? I have another flock a few fields away where there is slightly less TBM and they seem ok. I am moving both flocks regularly atm so they do not consume to much TBM.
Added problem is I usually keep 1000 ewes there for 3 months, seems I may be short of grass..
The sheep are not scouring at all!
Spraying a problem as its in a SSSI

 

[spin cycle]

redshank might do it.....i mean grazing broccoli with redshank in would be ok because they'll graze the broccoli in preference....but in a situation of no grass and they consume lots of redshank that might cause problems....similarly TBM...although only minor toxic if thats all they had to eat (along with redshank)...it might be toxic

i'd be tempted dose a few with swollen jaws with ivermectin if only to rule out haemonchus cos that along with rumen fluke are a bitch to diagnose

sheep don't always scour with haemonchus

the scenario you describe re flooding is copybook conditions for rumen fluke which also match sheep symptoms

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Interesting. The sheep in question are all the culls from our 5 flocks put in 1 field. All the other flocks are good. So it must be something to do with the white wormer, mineral drench or weeds, or a mixture of them. If it was haemonchus the other flocks would be infected also. I am wondering if it is cobalt or selenium toxicity as the white wormer and minerals have them both in. Although I have white wormed and min drenched other years at the same time with no effect and also treat small lambs in May with both.
The Pm and toxicology results have come back with poisoning. But that might mean minerals or weeds! Waiting for Selenium results on liver atm

 

[Bury the Trash]

thers not that much selenium in the wormer anyway .....would have to be overdose, ir
... yes well unless they had good / high levels of Sel.previous to drenching .......instead of being a bit deficient.in which case they wouldve coped with it without being poisoned by it.

What else might be in that field ? might be worth taking a walk around for a closer look.

 

[Bury the Trash]

i see copper was in the min/vit as well?

 

[GrannyAching]

I'm having a lot of trouble with water dropwort this year. Spent the morning weeding a stream! Just hoping I've got the hoggs our in time. One's struggling but not getting worse and still on her feet.

I only mention this because it was pure chance that I worked out it was the problem having been told about it by an old horse woman in relation to horses in this part of the world.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Vets have ruled out copper. I think it is the Marigold as the grass is being taken over by it this year after a late flood. I will get some photos tomorrow.
The vets want fresh kidneys and livers tomorrow along with some TBM to test. They are pretty sure it is some kind of heavy metal.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

The mineral drench is the same as I have been using for the past 8 years, in ewes rams and lambs

 

[GrannyAching]

Vets have ruled out copper. I think it is the Marigold as the grass is being taken over by it this year after a late flood. I will get some photos tomorrow.
The vets want fresh kidneys and livers tomorrow along with some TBM to test. They are pretty sure it is some kind of heavy metal.

Could it be the marigold is particularly prolific because there is heavy metal contamination? Some water plants flourish in these conditions.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Hopefully we shall soon find out. Floodplain which has been grass for 6 years, before high input arable root crops. Doubt it would be pollution as the floodplain is 3500 acres, 2 feet of water would dilute any pollutants I would of thought

 

[digger64]

Hopefully we shall soon find out. Floodplain which has been grass for 6 years, before high input arable root crops. Doubt it would be pollution as the floodplain is 3500 acres, 2 feet of water would dilute any pollutants I would of thought

Is Salt water in the dykes possible ? half expected it here this year they call it 1976 disease

 

[norfolk n sheep]

No salt water, floodplain is 25 miles in land.

 

[norfolk n sheep]

Just been confirmed as lead poisoning!! Haven't a clue where from???

 

[Highland Mule]

An old car battery for an electric fence?

 

[norfolk n sheep]

No idea. The fields have got dykes with water in to keep the stock in., The fields were flooded 2 feet deep for 6 months, I wonder if there was lead in the floods!