I have about 500 lambs a year. There are always a few that don't do well and this year is no exception. I have a hospital field with about 7 grown lambs in it, and they are all skinny in the extreme, sad, limp, some are constantly sh**tty. They have been given everything I can think of, vitamin drench, cydectin drench (repeated and a good dose), panacure white wormer, trodax injection (fluke), vitamin B1 injection, vecoxan a few times, and antitbiotics just for luck. They are on good grass and are fed the very best feed I can buy, just a little a day. The result of all this is zero, nothing has made any difference other than they are still alive, but dull and thin. I've looked through my records and found that every lamb is by one tup, which recently died. At the age of 6 he just went thin and I put him down, again after giving him everything I could think of. I used about 6 tups last year, so that's one hell of a coincidence. I have asked the vet just quickly and they couldn't come up with an answer. I may do some blood test to try and find out what's going on. But before I do I'm just asking have you got any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Hi Kol, don't know how far you are from your local vet lab ?  I would take one there if it's reasonably local, have them put it down and do a post-mortem on it. It'll cost a bit, but well worth it IMHO.

That's what my vet suggested WNW. He said they may do it for free because it could be interesting, but everyone's worried about funding so they may not! Anyhow, I'll go and see them and see what they say. These lambs will all end up being shot anyhow the way they are going. Thanks.

If you don't vaccinate  could it be Pasteurella  ?

 

They are all on Heptavac P+, even fat lambs!

I notice you haven't mentioned cobalt. We are on red sandstone which is known for being deficient in cobalt and if we don't drench them with it we get all the symptoms you've described. Dont rely on mineral drenches to supply enough. Buy some cobalt powder from your local farm supplies and mix a good handful in a couple of pints of water until it disolves and drench them with about 20ml every time you handle them. You can't overdose with cobalt.

i would jab them with a'n ivermectin/doramectin type injection.

You are not alone we all end up with a handful of poor do-ers. I sometimes wonder if their guts are damaged by nematodirus in the spring and never recover, or maybe something spoils the liver. Whatever the cause you are not alone.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll give them a go.

Just a wild card guess are they near oak trees?

Kol, IMHO you gave the clue in your first post- they are all by one ram.  We have had a few lambs over the past couple of years which have definitely inherited some genetic fault.  They are all either from one ram or occasionally have sire and dam with that ram in their pedigrees.  The clue with them is that they all have some form of tendon problem - the vet says that it is a problem with the attachment of the tendon to the bone.  This problem may be severe or almost unnoticeable apart from a wobbly gait.

Apart from that they have a distinctive odd look to the shape of the face and an odd bleat.  They are also very poor doers and often squitty and I have ended up putting them all down as they will never get any condition on them.  Needless to say we haven't used that ram this year so we're hoping no more odd lambs next year.

We only have a few oak trees in hedges. Where they have been most of the time there are no trees at all, and no ragwort etc. All good clean, fairly new leys. I think Jacobus, that the genetic link is the key. As ALL seven lambs are by the one tup line, and that line is the least used on the farm, statistically would be unlikely that this is not the source of the problem. Maybe they have some sort of problem internally, or is there a genetic disease they could have inherited. Thanks