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Enzootic and toxoplasmosis abortions
Mineral deficiencies
◦ Cobalt
◦ Copper
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Coccidiosis
Footrot and CODD
Rumen fluke
Diseases/Conditions at lambing
Lambing management
Treatment of hypothermic lambs
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Q & A session
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Enzootic
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Toxoplasma
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Occurs during late pregnancy
◦ Stillborns or weak lambs, die shortly after birth
Ewes becomes infected at lambing, aborts at next lambing
◦ Rarely abort more than once
Once infected the ewe become a carrier
◦ Sheds bacteria at subsequent lambings so constant
source of infection to other sheep
◦ Ewe lambs infected at birth, will abort at their first
lambing
Disease maintained in flock
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Isolate aborted ewes
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Treat remaining with long-acting oxytetracycline
injection
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Vaccination
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Ewes usually only require single dose for lifetime
protection
◦ From 5 months old
◦ In the 4 month period prior to mating
◦ At least 4 weeks prior to tupping
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Can cause abortion at any stage of pregnancy after
consuming infected feed or water
 Early pregnancy, infection of the womb & embryo death
 Mid-pregnancy (most common), they abort 45 days later
(late pregnancy).
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Mummification is an important sign in Toxoplasma
abortion
Infection in non-pregnant sheep results in
immunity
Lambing
Tupping
Not
pregnant
• No effect
Early
pregnancy
• Resorption
• Barren ewe
Mid
pregnancy
• Mummified
lambs
• Abortion
Late
pregnancy
• Abortion
• Stillbirth
• Weak
lambs
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Upmost care should be taken with feed to
prevent contamination
Vaccination
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In the 4 month period prior to mating
At least 4 weeks prior to tupping
2 year booster interval
Most ewes only receive a single injection
Vaccination has a10 days shelf life
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Symptoms: Empty and pot
bellied. If severely affected,
animals are pale and anaemic.
Cobalt is used for the
manufacture of vitamin B12, which
is used in the liver for energy
production.
Growing animals have a higher
requirement for this vitamin.
Treatment: Supplementation using
oral drench or injection.
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Symptoms: Swayback in young
lambs.
Affected lambs are bright but
uncoordinated with weakness of
the hind limbs, which results in
swaying or stumbling.
Treatment: Copper
supplementation by
Oral drenching with copper salts.
Free access minerals.
Copper injections or capsules
Symptoms:
 Animals become increasingly weak.
 Wandering aimlessly or head-pressing.
 Jaundice develops and breathing becomes shallow and rapid.
 Most animals die following a short period of recumbancy.
Prevention : Avoid feeding diets high in copper
Treatment response is poor in animals showing clinical signs.
 Use of Copper antagonists such as molybdenum or sulphur.
Symptoms:
 Acute onset diarrhoea, dullness, dehydration and weight
loss.
Cause:
 Sheep specific protozoan parasites. Following the
ingestion the parasite invades and multiplies in the cells
of the lining of the intestine. After a period of 2-3
weeks the oocysts are shed in the faeces further
contaminating the environment.
Treatment:
 Medicated creep feed.
 Diclazuril administered orally to lambs.
Symptoms:
 Swelling and moistening of the interdigital skin.
 Foul smelling discharge.
 Separation of the horn from the foot.
 In advanced cases animals are extremely lame, and may
carry the affected leg.
 When both forelimbs are affected, animals may walk on
their knees.
Treatment:
 Antibiotic spray on clean dry hoof combined with a long
acting antibiotic
 Do not foot trim
 Vaccination
 Persistently affected sheep
should be culled.
Symptoms:
 Starts as small ulcers at the coronary band and
moves down the claw, undermining the horn
 Hair loss above the coronary band
 Horn may become detached
Treatment:
 Do not trim
 Consult your vet as antibiotic treatments are not
always effective
 Culling
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Good biosecurity vital
Symptoms:
 Tear staining from the corner of the eyes.
 Cornea becomes cloudy.
 Discharge becomes thicker and pus-like.
 When both eyes are severely affected the sheep will
become temporarily blind.
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Cause: Bacteria – chlamydia psittaci
Close contact of sheep when trough feeding enables
rapid spread of infection.
Treatment:
 Is tedious and involves the
application of an ointment.
 Intramuscular injection of
long acting oxytetracycline.
Contagious tumour of the lungs, often not diagnosed
 Spread of disease is facilitated by close confinement
during winter housing period
 Clinical disease – apparent in two to four year old sheep
Signs
 Loss of body condition
 Panting
 Nasal discharge
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Diagnosis – no blood test, only detected at post mortem
Treatment – None available, slaughter infected sheep
 Good biosecurity important
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Rumen flukes occur worldwide and in recent
years, the prevalence of rumen flukes in
Ireland has increased.
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It is likely that small
numbers of this parasite
cause little or no
damage
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The significance of this parasite seems to be
directly related to the number of immature
rumen flukes present in the small intestine.
A small number of reports of this parasite
causing serious disease and production loss
on farms have been seen where heavy
burdens of larval flukes were taken in by
grazing cattle or sheep over a short period of
time.
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SYMPTOMS
- dullness
- dehydration
- rapid weight loss
- severe watery scour, which may contain traces of
blood
- low blood protein concentrations
- swelling under the jaw, known as bottle-jaw
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CONTROL
-Biosecurity
-Reduce exposure
-Treatment – most drugs that kill liver fluke do
not kill rumen fluke
DO NOT TREAT RUMEN FLUKE UNLESS CLINICAL
SIGNS ARE PRESENT
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Prolapse of the vagina / uterus
Mastitis
Calcium deficiency
Magnesium deficiency
Twin lamb disease
Listeriosis
Retained cleaning
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Causes and predisposing factors
Treatment
Prevention
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Cause: Bacterial infection - Staph aureus, E coli. and
Pasteurella.
Infection usually occurs after lambing.
Clinical mastitis - udder becomes swollen, warm,
sometimes painful to the touch.
Ewes become feverish, off their feed and become
depressed. They may refuse to allow their lambs to
suck.
Sub-clinical mastitis – ewes usually appear quite healthy
but milk supply is reduced and they develop lumps in
their udders. Ewes need to be watched carefully to
prevent the potential damage.
Control: Good management. Bedding should be clean
and dry and animals should not be
overcrowded.
Treatment: Antibiotics – consult with vet
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A metabolic disorder in last 4-6 weeks of
pregnancy
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Low levels of calcium in the blood, demand
greater than diet provides
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Signs
◦ Ewes are unsteady, lie down, gradually become
comatose, death
◦ Some sheep will have a discharge from their
nose, can be mistaken for pneumonia
The condition often co-exists with twin lamb
disease
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Prevention: Feed Calcium in late pregnancy (5-10g Ca /
day)
Minimise stress at point of lambing
Remove older thinner ewes/broken mouths which are
more susceptible
Treatment : An injection under
the skin of a calcium solution
is usually successful.
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‘Grass staggers’; ‘grass tetany’
Low blood magnesium – most common on fast
growing lush spring grass (low in magnesium) –
triggered by poor weather
Acute fits/staggers - rapid death
Prevention - Provide a daily intake of magnesium
Use Mg licks/meals in risk situations such when
moving on to lush swards/poor weather
Feeding concentrate post lambing at grass
(Limited period)
Treatment:
 Twin lamb drench (propylene glycol) and offer
good quality concentrate and forage.
 If ewe fails to respond, she requires
intravenous glucose (+/- calcium)
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Symptoms: Bacterial infection that is limited to one
side of the brain hence one-sided appearance of
nerve paralysis.
Initially, affected animals do not eat/come to the
feed trough, are depressed, disorientated and may
propel themselves into corners, into fences, or
under gates and feed troughs etc.
CAUSE: Poor quality silage that has a poor fermenation
Most cases occur 14-21 days after feeding the
contaminated silage.
TREATMENT: If recognised early, treatment with high
doses of antibiotics can be effective.
Ensuring that only good quality
silage is fed to sheep.
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Normally born head first with the front feet
tucked up under the chin
Dystocia can occur due to large and or/
malpresentation
Normally takes about
1.5 hours
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EDA 3
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Ewes that don’t pass cleaning -
◦ Cleaning should be past shortly after the lambs are
born.
◦ Lambs suckling encourages the process
◦ Stimulated by hormone oxytocin
◦ If cleaning not past treat with long acting antibiotic
◦ On no account forcibly remove the afterbirth
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Colostrum – ensure lambs get an adequate
intake
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Approximately one million neonatal lamb deaths are
attributed to hypothermia each year in Britain. Lambs
most commonly die from hypothermia during the first
72 hours of life.
Cause: High rate of heat loss from exposure.
Combination of heat loss and starvation.
Prevention:
Ensuring adequate nutrition of the pregnant ewe.
Avoiding birth stress/dystocia.
Ensuring that newborn lambs feed.
Provision of shelter.
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Depends on temperature of lambs and blood sugar
levels
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Bring indoors and towel dry lambs
If 39oC do not warm, hypothermia not the problem
If 37- 39oC moderate hypothermia, normally do not
require warming. Feed colostrum by stomach tube and
return to mother
If below 39oC severe hypothermia. Lamb will not suck
and temp will continue to drop unless warmed.
If less than 5 hrs old place in warming box until temp
reaches 37 then stomach tube with colostrum
If older than 5 hrs blood sugar levels likely to be low.
Never warm before feeding. Stomach tube with
colostrum if lamb can hold its head up if not give
injection of glucose solution
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A warming box is an
essential piece of kit. Lambs
temperature should be
checked every 20 minutes.
Never put a wet lamb under a
heat lamp. Water will boil on
the skin
Interaperitoneal glucose
injection. Needle is inserted
below and to the side of the
navel and directed towards
the tail head
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Symptoms: Wet mouth, depression, salivation.
Cause: Reduced or delayed colostrum intake,
which enables rapid multiplication in the intestinal
tract of E Coli.
Treatment: In advanced cases is often poor and
not justified.
Preventative treatment of oral
antibiotics to all lambs within 15
minutes of birth is effective.
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Symptoms: Common disorder, which is characterised
by turning in of one or both lower eyelids.
Seen in most breeds of sheep and is probably
inherited.
Painful and affected eyes appear half closed and
watery.
Unless treated the cornea becomes cloudy and
ulcerated, leading to permanent blindness.
Treatment: Minor cases respond to manual eversion of
the lower eyelid.
More severely affected eyes are
usually treated by injection of
about 1ml of penicillin under
the eyelid.
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Symptoms: Redness and slight swelling of the skin.
Blisters form, which develop into thick scabs
After about 3 weeks scabs are shed leaving a layer of
raw skin which heals quickly
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Cause: pox virus which can remain infective in the
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Orf is highly contagious
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environment for many months in dried scabs
Treatment: Oxytetracycline aerosol sprays can
be applied to control the
secondary infection.
Severely affected animals may
benefit from antibiotic injections.
Flock Health plans
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Should be produced in conjunction with your own
vet
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Documents routine procedures, treatments and
vaccinations
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Quality assurance scheme requirement
Prevention is better than cure
Questions
Any questions?