Watery mouth prevention

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I don't understand why @bovine is so anti farmers for??!!

All he seems intrested in is introducing more red tape for farmers @ the licence to farm he proposed in another thread about farm assurance and then on this thread he is saying farmers shouldn't use something basic like Spectam but instead lose a dozen lambs and then call out the vet to run expensive tests/ consultancy fees up just to tell the farmer he will need to use something like spectam..

All very well him and consultants saying clean out each pen/ lime it between bedding it up/ new sheep which is fine on paper but when your one person lambing several hundred sheep on your own ( due to the economics of the job ) and the weather is crap like now and your tired/ there aren't enough hours in the day etc the reality is quite different!

To be fair, I don't think @bovine is 'anti-farmer' at all, or trying to 'introduce more red tape'. I suggest you re-read his posts above.;)

Routine, prophylactic ab use is under pressure from governments, and the EU, and the principle is probably right. This will be imposed from above, not by our vets. For instance, did you know that in Holland, even Heptevac P has moved from general use (like here), to POM, and now to vet administered. FFS, how many animals suffer from that restriction of use/cost?:banghead: The same people are sitting on committees in Europe deciding what to restrict next.(n)

For the record, I give every lamb born inside a squirt of Spectam too, like many others. Those born outside don't see it unless they come indoors for any reason.
 

Badshot

Member
Location
Kent
To be fair, I don't think @bovine is 'anti-farmer' at all, or trying to 'introduce more red tape'. I suggest you re-read his posts above.;)

Routine, prophylactic ab use is under pressure from governments, and the EU, and the principle is probably right. This will be imposed from above, not by our vets. For instance, did you know that in Holland, even Heptevac P has moved from general use (like here), to POM, and now to vet administered. FFS, how many animals suffer from that restriction of use/cost?:banghead: The same people are sitting on committees in Europe deciding what to restrict next.(n)

For the record, I give every lamb born inside a squirt of Spectam too, like many others. Those born outside don't see it unless they come indoors for any reason.
My vet has been warning of restrictions on AB's for a while now, but he also pointed out that the likes of holland use huge amounts prophylactically in pigs so cutting use wasn't too hard.
 

z.man

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
central scotland
What is the antibiotic use like in a fish farm? Can,t actually claim to knowing myself but seem to have an impression that some salmon farms use their fair share.
Have to wonder if there is a similarity to fungicide resistance in cereal production, years ago most chemicals were used as an eradicant then we went through a protective spell and now we seem to be seeing more resistance and are heading towards needing new chemistry all the time, there is a possibility of this being replicated in the livestock industry and as anyone who has experienced resistant fluke will tell you it is nothing to look forward to.Says he who uses routine spectam at lambing :facepalm:
 

Longlowdog

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
When Mcdonald's start throwing their weight around change will happen. At least they use their buying power to influence providers without lobbying for change at legislative level, although the vocal vegans will probably manage to put more spin on this than Phill Tufnell.
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
What are you hoping to achieve with udder wipes? Cleaner teats?

I'd say if they are so contaminated you need to wipe them - you have a bigger hygiene problem. Dagging long wool and lots of clean, dry bedding give you clean dry sheep.

Spectam could help fight joint ill - depends on the route of infection. Some believe the navel can become infected directly, so believe bacteria get in when the lamb suckling. In reality I suspect both could be at play. I would like to do a trial, but I'd have to get a non dipping farm to start dipping - ethically dodgy the other way around.
 

reverand

Member
Location
East lancs hills
What are you hoping to achieve with udder wipes? Cleaner teats?

I'd say if they are so contaminated you need to wipe them - you have a bigger hygiene problem. Dagging long wool and lots of clean, dry bedding give you clean dry sheep.

Spectam could help fight joint ill - depends on the route of infection. Some believe the navel can become infected directly, so believe bacteria get in when the lamb suckling. In reality I suspect both could be at play. I would like to do a trial, but I'd have to get a non dipping farm to start dipping - ethically dodgy the other way around.
Wow wow.keep your hair on. My sheep arent dirty,just saying when you turn your ewe over to check bag ,maybe just give it a wipe! Only a thought. If it stops one getting watery mouth its worth it ,just another string to your bow.
 

Downton_shep

Member
Location
Leintwardine
I meant as in to wipe bacteria off the udder not that there laced in sh!t! Being a arable farm we have plenty of straw so we don't skimp on it.

Like I said it was only a thought that came in my head riding round the ewes one morning. We had a bitch of a year last year with watery mouth so need to try something. We never lost many lambs but it just bunged the pens up with them having to stay in a extra day.
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
Just been looking on this old thread about watery mouth. We seem to be getting it worse than ever and I think our hygiene is very good sheep littered every day in loads of clean straw so you have a job to walk. They were mucked out on the day we were due, the pens are cleaned and swept let dry and drysan put down. Sheep are in good condition fed tmr and giving loads of milk but still we are having it not massive yet but still annoying. Would love to know who is managing without spectam as we are struggling with it
 

Gulli

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
I'd say you probably have another underlying issue. Pin pointing it might be tricky though!
What's your lambing routine? Lambing in pens or in the shed and then penned up?
How tight are they in the shed?

I do everything wrong I think but watery mouth isn't a problem here. Mainly because ewes are in good condition and healthy, they don't get any concentrates or a great deal of management throughout the year
 
Just been looking on this old thread about watery mouth. We seem to be getting it worse than ever and I think our hygiene is very good sheep littered every day in loads of clean straw so you have a job to walk. They were mucked out on the day we were due, the pens are cleaned and swept let dry and drysan put down. Sheep are in good condition fed tmr and giving loads of milk but still we are having it not massive yet but still annoying. Would love to know who is managing without spectam as we are struggling with it
You don’t have to do anything wrong. One of my vets told me it depended what area you were in to a degree. With having sheep in different locations I could agree. Spectam doest work well for me compared to oxytetracyclene which was almost perfect. Colostrum quality is worth thinking about. Have your ewes built up enough fat on their bags? Is the colostrum watery? I know from experience what you feed your ewes pre lambing can have a big effect
 

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