General sheep thread

Ard_MC

Anyone here try the pro-cide dose? Is it any good?

Dickie10

i have a lot of CODD here this year, using Betamox, read a study last week that said 90-100%revovery with two injections of long acting Amoxcillian (Betamox LA) 3-4 days apart. any other suggestions?

charolais0153

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

If grass is wet in field on day you catch lamb its a waste of time putting spray on lambs hoof as it will wash off straight away once lamb runs away.
As a few more of the lambs might get lame,get a temperture etc over next few months you would be better served getting a bottle of Alamycin LA off your local Vet store for around 25 euro....inject lame lamb and the injection works for 4 to 5 days which is great.Saves catching them every day.

Also get alamycin spray and clean out lambs hoof and spray it if grass is dry as another poster mentioned.

Best of luck with the woolies.

Don't think antibiotics should be used that willy nilly

Bleating Lamb

charolais0153 wrote: »

Don't think antibiotics should be used that willy nilly

Don't quite get how I said that you should use antibiotics willy nilly?

Topical sprays contain an antibiotic element.....but are wasted if applied in wet weather....I suggested injecting the lame lamb as OP was wondering how to best look after a lame lamb.
In reality whether people like it or not antibiotic injections are needed to look out for caring properly for your animals welfare.

A lame lamb does not thrive and will only get worse over time if not looked after.

Dinzee Conlee

Dickie10 wrote: »

i have a lot of CODD here this year, using Betamox, read a study last week that said 90-100%revovery with two injections of long acting Amoxcillian (Betamox LA) 3-4 days apart. any other suggestions?

I have a good few cases of it here as well...
Be interesting to see if anyone has any suggestions...

I am not sure if any once-off injection works that well for any feet problems...

orm0nd

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Don't quite get how I said that you should use antibiotics willy nilly?

Topical sprays contain an antibiotic element.....but are wasted if applied in wet weather....I suggested injecting the lame lamb as OP was wondering how to best look after a lame lamb.
In reality whether people like it or not antibiotic injections are needed to look out for caring properly for your animals welfare.

A lame lamb does not thrive and will only get worse over time if not looked after.

we have never ever treated a lame sheep with antibiotics and think it's foolish advise , lost likely the lamb has a scald and a foot bath solution will cure

otherwise make up a paste of of bluestone & epsom salts and apply under a vet bandage , leave on for for 2-3 days ,

keep pumping antibiotics unnecessary and the day will come when they won't work in man or beast , that day may be nearer than you think.

wrangler

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Don't quite get how I said that you should use antibiotics willy nilly?

Topical sprays contain an antibiotic element.....but are wasted if applied in wet weather....I suggested injecting the lame lamb as OP was wondering how to best look after a lame lamb.
In reality whether people like it or not antibiotic injections are needed to look out for caring properly for your animals welfare.

A lame lamb does not thrive and will only get worse over time if not looked after.

We've had to footbath here every week since we've been trying to grass off long grass, using antibiotics wouldn't be good in that situation.
We shouldn't use them where a footbath works just as well
Farmers being allowed to prescribe and use antibiotics themselves is on borrowed time already.
I saw on facebook where a poster was looking for advice on lambs that got a clear dose but were still scouring and one advice was to dose again with a clear dose a fortnight after the first, Like wtf a clear dose takes a fortnight to be completely effective. If you did the FEC reduction test you'd be told to do the second test two weeks after dosing with ivermectins when it would have time to work

Bleating Lamb

If first part of your post Wrangler is saying you are trying to finish lambs off grass then naturally antibiotics are a no no.
Am not being smart Ormond but if I’m right you have good dry land....up here in lovely Leitrim even in Summer the sheep spend their time walking around in wet fields.....as a result its very hard to treat foot rot,scalds etc without giving the afflicted animal an injection if you want them to recover.
I actually would not be an advocate for using antibiotics but do use them when it makes sense to iykwim.

charolais0153

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

I actually would not be an advocate for using antibiotics but do use them when it makes sense to iykwim.

Your after telling a fella to give antibiotics to a lame lamb......... Antibiotics are not needed for scald and that's a fact

Jd310

I use alamaycin for sore feet here too and so do plenty around us.

razor8

Dickie10 wrote: »

i have a lot of CODD here this year, using Betamox, read a study last week that said 90-100%revovery with two injections of long acting Amoxcillian (Betamox LA) 3-4 days apart. any other suggestions?

Lincospection powder mixed with water in a spray can & betamox is what I read on farming forum before

Dickie10

where can i get that poweder?

wrangler

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

If first part of your post Wrangler is saying you are trying to finish lambs off grass then naturally antibiotics are a no no.
Am not being smart Ormond but if I’m right you have good dry land....up here in lovely Leitrim even in Summer the sheep spend their time walking around in wet fields.....as a result its very hard to treat foot rot,scalds etc without giving the afflicted animal an injection if you want them to recover.
I actually would not be an advocate for using antibiotics but do use them when it makes sense to iykwim.

Despite having 80 ewes on 10 acres, the grass forged ahead in August resulting in 8 + ins grass all over so we're trying to graze it off resulting in a lot of lameness.
We're strip grazing it off now, The ewes are in three batches so it means moving three fences every day to graze it properly, we're fortunate that we're retired and not busy or it'd do your head in. It must be a common problem as Darren Carty even wrote an article about grass utilisation last week in the IFJ.
Anyway it has aggravated foot problems and footbathing once a week has cleared the lameness. We seldom inject ewes and never inject lambs for lameness.

richie123

orm0nd wrote: »

we have never ever treated a lame sheep with antibiotics and think it's foolish advise , lost likely the lamb has a scald and a foot bath solution will cure

otherwise make up a paste of of bluestone & epsom salts and apply under a vet bandage , leave on for for 2-3 days ,

keep pumping antibiotics unnecessary and the day will come when they won't work in man or beast , that day may be nearer than you think.

Has that worked on lambs with feet rotten with footrot ?I mean very bad now

k mac

An update on my problem I had 2 lambs lame and treated them with the alamycin spray and they were fine again after 3 days. I was kind of surprised as they were out in wet fields with good grass..I thought the spray would be wiped off the feet as quick as I let them go

Dinzee Conlee

richie123 wrote: »

Has that worked on lambs with feet rotten with footrot ?I mean very bad now

Used to footbath with formalin, gave it up - found it too hard on their feet.

Back to catching and treating with bluestone. I know it’s not feasible with large numbers - but I think it’s as good as anything...

Have a bit of CODD in some lambs I bought in, and treating them the same. I think the CODD has to run its course a bit more - the feet on some of them some of them are shook looking.
But it took the mad lameness off them. It’ll take a while for the foot to heal properly though I’d say..

The only thing is it’s not a prevention, it’s only a treatment. You treat 5 today, they’re better after a while but you could 5 more next week... I think that’s really where foot-bathing pays off...

wrangler

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Used to footbath with formalin, gave it up - found it too hard on their feet.

Back to catching and treating with bluestone. I know it’s not feasible with large numbers - but I think it’s as good as anything...

Have a bit of CODD in some lambs I bought in, and treating them the same. I think the CODD has to run its course a bit more - the feet on some of them some of them are shook looking.
But it took the mad lameness off them. It’ll take a while for the foot to heal properly though I’d say..

The only thing is it’s not a prevention, it’s only a treatment. You treat 5 today, they’re better after a while but you could 5 more next week... I think that’s really where foot-bathing pays off...

Formalin is alright to use now and again when you wouldn't have a drystanding after the footbath but as you say the hooves would crack off if you used it any more than once or twice a year, and it's dangerous stuff as well.
We have on occasion footbathed every second day to halt a chronic out break.
We now footbath every time they're in the yard even if they don't look lame

orm0nd

richie123 wrote: »

Has that worked on lambs with feet rotten with footrot ?I mean very bad now

if the poultice doesnt cure they would be on the next taxi to kildare

last serious foot rot we had was in ewes we bought off a clearance sale , was talking to a neighbour of the vendor after & he mentioned that he (vendor) was a great sheep man ... used to cure lameness by injecting pen step into hoof

yeah I said he must have used a fair few bottles b4 the sale and it wasn't LA either

Green farmer

orm0nd wrote: »

if the poultice doesnt cure they would be on the next taxi to kildare

Thats the only answer for it imo. I haven't had any lameness issues here for years . Never footbath or treat anything. I just culled instead. Also bred replacements from hill breeds that had low instances of foot rot. End product no lameness.

farawaygrass

wrangler wrote: »

Formalin is alright to use now and again when you wouldn't have a drystanding after the footbath but as you say the hooves would crack off if you used it any more than once or twice a year, and it's dangerous stuff as well.
We have on occasion footbathed every second day to halt a chronic out break.
We now footbath every time they're in the yard even if they don't look lame

Do you make a fresh mix every time? Or I’d your foot Bath sheltered from rain?

wrangler

farawaygrass wrote: »

Do you make a fresh mix every time? Or I’d your foot Bath sheltered from rain?

Zinc sulphate is very resilient, it's still effective even when the bath is dirty, It could be nearly slurry and it'll work. Formalin is dead very quick though.
OH has worked out a way of testing the strength with a hydrometer. We used to have a footbath outdoors and you'd often want to use it and wonder what strength it was. So she figured out this.
I find zinc very good , we don't even pare sheeps feet now, if a ewe has a bad foot and you cure her, the nail will break off.
Only gave away the rollover crate the other day, but it hadn't been used for years

farawaygrass

I only starting using zinc this year, always bluestone before that. Our footbath at the prevailing side of a shed so gets diluted massively along with straw being blown in etc.
A little lean too roof over a foot bath would be ideal

wrangler

farawaygrass wrote: »

I only starting using zinc this year, always bluestone before that. Our footbath at the prevailing side of a shed so gets diluted massively along with straw being blown in etc.
A little lean too roof over a foot bath would be ideal

Or a hinged lid that opened against the side

richie123

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Used to footbath with formalin, gave it up - found it too hard on their feet.

Back to catching and treating with bluestone. I know it’s not feasible with large numbers - but I think it’s as good as anything...

Have a bit of CODD in some lambs I bought in, and treating them the same. I think the CODD has to run its course a bit more - the feet on some of them some of them are shook looking.
But it took the mad lameness off them. It’ll take a while for the foot to heal properly though I’d say..

The only thing is it’s not a prevention, it’s only a treatment. You treat 5 today, they’re better after a while but you could 5 more next week... I think that’s really where foot-bathing pays off...

Ya maybe so.i never footbath.i find it bloody messy/costly and has to be done very often to be effective.
I treat codd with draxin.1 mml.
I found penicillin la just diddnt work on codd.
I wouldn't say I overuse antibiotics.
It's not like we blanket treat.
At the end of the day if an animals hoof is rotten you need antibiotics.
Footbath or no footbath.
If that practice leads to problems further down the line then so be it well have to cross that bridge if/when it arrives.

wrangler

richie123 wrote: »

Ya maybe so.i never footbath.i find it bloody messy/costly and has to be done very often to be effective.
I treat codd with draxin.1 mml.
I found penicillin la just diddnt work on codd.
I wouldn't say I overuse antibiotics.
It's not like we blanket treat.
At the end of the day if an animals hoof is rotten you need antibiotics.
Footbath or no footbath.
If that practice leads to problems further down the line then so be it well have to cross that bridge if/when it arrives.

That day is here already
Tbf a rotten hoof is one that wasn't treated as a scald and she was a long time lame to get that far.

MIKEKC

wrangler wrote: »

Or a hinged lid that opened against the side

We remove bluestone from footbath after each use . Store it in plastic drums. Only takes a few minutes

richie123

wrangler wrote: »

That day is here already
Tbf a rotten hoof is one that wasn't treated as a scald and she was a long time lame to get that far.

It's here in industries that blanket treat.
It's rife in other jurisdictions where usuage is 5 times what it is here.
But for farming in this country on farms where usage is nowhere near high it works and resistance is not a problem.and only used in bad or severe cases.
Just an important distinction to make.

wrangler

richie123 wrote: »

It's here in industries that blanket treat.
It's rife in other jurisdictions where usuage is 5 times what it is here.
But for farming in this country on farms where usage is nowhere near high it works and resistance is not a problem.and only used in bad or severe cases.
Just an important distinction to make.

I probably spend too much on vaccines but I believe prevention is better than trying to cure,
Footbathing is no hassle when your dosing as well, they can stand in the bath while you're dosing the next batch.

richie123

wrangler wrote: »

I probably spend too much on vaccines but I believe prevention is better than trying to cure,
Footbathing is no hassle when your dosing as well, they can stand in the bath while you're dosing the next batch.

True ..I tried footvax and no It diddnt work for me.maybe I did something wrong I don't know
Maybe there's a more effective vaccine out there now.

DJ98

What would be the best way to fix a handling race to concrete, at the minute the way it is once the sheep enter it they turn it over, completely dismantle it almost. Need someway of fixing it down permanently.