- Location
- Cheshire
To round of a very mixed week I've just had a big mule ewe lie down, start frothing at the mouth, blow up like a balloon, muscle tremors and loss of coordination. Dose of bicarbonate and the big needle lessened the pressure on her gut but within 2 minutes she was bigger than ever. Dead in 5 mins.
This was 45 minutes after filling the molasses buckets up for the night.
Last year I lost 15 single ewes to a mystery problem with the exact same symptoms and always within an hour of the molasses being filled up. Spent a fortune on bloods, post mortems and testing. Came back no definitive answer.
Yesterday I noticed on the molasses ticket that it said contains 2.8% Urea. Then listed how I should be careful feeding urea to sheep.
After she died I googled urea poisoning in sheep and came up with a timing schedule and symptom list that matched what I've been experiencing exactly. Apparently 0.5l of vinegar down the stomach tube is the answer.
I've taken all molasses out of pens tonight and will be ringing my supplier on Monday to find out if there is a chance my batch got contaminated with extra urea.
I'll be swapping back too pure cane molasses from now on.
I'm curious if anyone else has experienced urea poisoning in sheep and how they dealt with it.
Sorry for the essay folks!!
Cheers
This was 45 minutes after filling the molasses buckets up for the night.
Last year I lost 15 single ewes to a mystery problem with the exact same symptoms and always within an hour of the molasses being filled up. Spent a fortune on bloods, post mortems and testing. Came back no definitive answer.
Yesterday I noticed on the molasses ticket that it said contains 2.8% Urea. Then listed how I should be careful feeding urea to sheep.
After she died I googled urea poisoning in sheep and came up with a timing schedule and symptom list that matched what I've been experiencing exactly. Apparently 0.5l of vinegar down the stomach tube is the answer.
I've taken all molasses out of pens tonight and will be ringing my supplier on Monday to find out if there is a chance my batch got contaminated with extra urea.
I'll be swapping back too pure cane molasses from now on.
I'm curious if anyone else has experienced urea poisoning in sheep and how they dealt with it.
Sorry for the essay folks!!
Cheers