Farm Animal Newsletter Spring '10
Farm Animal Newsletter Spring '10
Lambing
Watery-mouth - The wet and cold weather means that we are seeing more than normal amounts of watery mouth this year as lambs are being born into unhygienic conditions in muddy fields. Use Spectam Scourhalt as soon as possible after birth to prevent lambs getting watery mouth; an alternative is to inject each new born lamb with 0.5ml of short-acting penicillin under the skin (this can also help reduce joint-ill in lambs).
Joint-ill – any lame lambs with enlarged joints need to be treated with penicillin daily for at least a week. Giving them shorter courses, or long acting preparations, will only mean the joint-ill will return.
Hypothermic lambs - Don’t forget that hypothermic lambs over 5 hours old need to be given glucose into their abdominal cavity before you warm them up. You should inject 1 inch belowthe navel, and 1 inch to the side – check with a vet if you are unsure; make sure you use a short needle; give 10-20ml of 20% glucose.
Mastitis in ewes – any serious case of mastitis will seriously benefit from an injection of an
anti-inflammatory (Finadyne or Metacam); together with antibiotics this will speed up
recovery and stop the ewe becoming sick from the mastitis.
Aborting ewes - Isolate all aborted ewes to minimise spread – blood sample the ewe to find out why she aborted; speak to the vets about ‘Flock-check’ where the lab fees are free.
Orf – if you have a problem with orf on your farm you should consider vaccinating against it, as there is no other cure, and orf can have serious impacts on both lambs and ewes (causes mastitis). Scabivax can be used in lambs as soon as they are dry.
Resistant fluke on the rise
Recent research from the VLA in Carmarthen suggests that in a group of 20 farms tested, 8 had fluke that are resistant to triclabendazole. We know of one case locally, and are urging all our clients to check their fluke treatments are working, by taking pooled faeces samples 21d after treatment.
Clostridial vaccination
Several new strains of clostridia are becoming more common, and they are not included in most vaccines. We are now recommending Covexin 10, or Bravoxin 10 for all sheep and cattle, as it is a more complete vaccine.
Huskvac
Time to start thinking about ordering your lungworm vaccination for this year. You need 2 doses a month apart, and immunity doesn’t develop until 2 weeks after, so you need to make sure you start vaccinating at least 6 weeks before you want to turn-out.
Members of FAWL are eligible under a Farming Connect scheme to have 80% funding for health plan reviews. Contact the surgery for more information.
Resistant worms in sheep, an increasing problem
New data has been published recently suggesting that 80% of Welsh farms have worms resistant to white drenches; and there is a worrying increase in worms resistant to ALL KNOWN WORMERS. There are now farms in Wales that can no longer keep sheep as no wormers are working for them. You can test on your own farm for wormer resistance by doing a ‘faecal egg count reduction test’. This involves taking faeces samples from a group of sheep, then dosing them, and resampling a few weeks later to see if the wormer has worked correctly. We recommend all sheep farmers should be doing this once a year. Speak to one of the vets for more information as to how to do the test.