The sheep need to be sheared. They have biting bugs called keds. These bugs are best treated with a product that goes on the wool but the wool needs to be shorn first. So, the shearer has cancelled twice and the sheep have gone untreated. They need to move to a new clean pen, but the bugs will go with them if they are not treated and contaminate the other pen, which will no longer be clean. Sending them to pasture will be the same problem. The bugs will go to pasture with them and reinfection will occur, even if they are treated.
Treatment must be done twice to be effective because the pupae hatch and are not affected by the pesticide applied. So a second application approximately 3 weeks after the first has to done. But, again, the wool has to be gone. The other possible way to control the bugs is to give each sheep an injection. That has to be done twice as well, and it is still best to use the topical control along with the injection. The injection is broad spectrum and does kill worms but it also can promote worm resistance. Oy.
One of the lambs got diarrhea. In lambs this can be deadly. There is a bacteria present in the soil and in dirty pens it can be prolific. The ewes should be shorn prior to birthing to remove the manure from the teat area so the babies do not inadvertently suck manure, which contains that bacteria in large quantities, especially old manure that has sat on the ewe for some time. But the shearer cancelled twice, so the ewes were not shorn.
I have not vaccinated the ewes for this disease because previously it has not been a problem. There is no cure and the result is death. So, a lamb can die overnight because of the bacteria multiplying rapidly in its system due to having a dirty pen or a dirty ewe. But the shearer cancelled and the sheep have bugs and ….
Well, you can see why I am frustrated. If the lambs start to die, I will have no choice but to attempt to give needles to every ewe to kill the bugs, not once but twice and also flip them upside down and use scissors to remove any shitty wool, but it might be too late for all of that because the sheep were supposed to have been shorn over a month ago and when the shearer cancelled and rescheduled and canceled again, the problems just escalated.
Do I cry now?
Treatment must be done twice to be effective because the pupae hatch and are not affected by the pesticide applied. So a second application approximately 3 weeks after the first has to done. But, again, the wool has to be gone. The other possible way to control the bugs is to give each sheep an injection. That has to be done twice as well, and it is still best to use the topical control along with the injection. The injection is broad spectrum and does kill worms but it also can promote worm resistance. Oy.
One of the lambs got diarrhea. In lambs this can be deadly. There is a bacteria present in the soil and in dirty pens it can be prolific. The ewes should be shorn prior to birthing to remove the manure from the teat area so the babies do not inadvertently suck manure, which contains that bacteria in large quantities, especially old manure that has sat on the ewe for some time. But the shearer cancelled twice, so the ewes were not shorn.
I have not vaccinated the ewes for this disease because previously it has not been a problem. There is no cure and the result is death. So, a lamb can die overnight because of the bacteria multiplying rapidly in its system due to having a dirty pen or a dirty ewe. But the shearer cancelled and the sheep have bugs and ….
Well, you can see why I am frustrated. If the lambs start to die, I will have no choice but to attempt to give needles to every ewe to kill the bugs, not once but twice and also flip them upside down and use scissors to remove any shitty wool, but it might be too late for all of that because the sheep were supposed to have been shorn over a month ago and when the shearer cancelled and rescheduled and canceled again, the problems just escalated.
Do I cry now?
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