lame ewe lambs

Tomjim

I bought 10 ewe lambs in August for breeding. I let the ram out a week ago. Problem is that 4 of the lambs are very lame.

If I inject these lams for foot rot will the lambs be killed.

Is injecting sheep for footrot a success

Crashglass

Injection is more suited to prevention rather than treatment. Since you have small numbers maybe hoof pairing and a footbath of bluestone are your best course of action. Vaccination is costly but is necessary if problem persists. Also problem might not be footrot so be sure to check hooves

razor8

I wouldn't trim (goes against all research and advise ATM) or vaccinate at this stage. Just inject and use a Antibotic spray as well and they will usually recover pretty quick, trick to curing problem is to treat as soon as you see a problem IME which stops spreading

Injecting will have no affect on the unborn lambs as long as you don't over stress the sheep trying to catch them

Tomjim

Is it possible that they will be ok . I was going to cull the lame ones

razor8

Definitely, wouldn't cull without trying injecting first, if they repeatly reoffend over a 6 month period then let them off, would be a bit drastic to sell without trying something first IMO

Willfarman

If it is foot rot and not just scald it is pointless spraying with antibiotic without trimming.. Just remember trim as much as nessecary and as little as possible.

ganmo

Crashglass wrote: »

Injection is more suited to prevention rather than treatment. Since you have small numbers maybe hoof pairing and a footbath of bluestone are your best course of action. Vaccination is costly but is necessary if problem persists. Also problem might not be footrot so be sure to check hooves

Current advice is footbath to prevent
Inject lame sheep with an antibiotic
And cull those that are persistently lame

razor8

Willfarman wrote: »

If it is foot rot and not just scald it is pointless spraying with antibiotic without trimming.. Just remember trim as much as nessecary and as little as possible.

Not been smart but trimming actually slows down and hinders the healing process

Do a google search on Fiona Lovett lame sheep. she has plenty of very good research done backed up with evidence

Willfarman

Well my experience would contradict that. But each to their own. I never believed in routine foot trimming as was the " expert" approved practice.

rangler1

razor8 wrote: »

Not been smart but trimming actually slows down and hinders the healing process

Do a google search on Fiona Lovett lame sheep. she has plenty of very good research done backed up with evidence

I haven't trimmed any sheep since I heard Fiona lovetts presentation three or four years ago and it seems to work.....the motto is that you treat for function not form so if they're not lame leave them alone, alamycin always works here without paring.
Up to then I used to routinely turn over every sheep once a year, shearer even remarked this year on the lack of paring