Sheep People? I need help

[thunder123]

I raise St Croix hair sheep and last year I purchased a Katahdin from a friend who had her in a small paddock and was raised on feed. I took her because I have pasture and she had scours when I got her. I thought maybe pasture would help. She still makes poop like a big cow. I have wormed and wormed and still scours. My St. Croix I have never wormed! We even think my big Ram did not go there because of her nasty butt! My ewes are due to lamb in March and I don't see any bagging in her at all! I need to clear this up! I use Valbazen wormer is not making a dent in her!Like I said I never worm My St.Croix they have been very healthy, I have no clue why this breed would be so difficult!


Thanks for any advice

Belinda

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hve you checked over at BYH? theres' a coupla good sheep threads over there. was she scouring before you got her? Did you switch feeds gradually? I would definitely stop withthe worming, obviously it's not doing any good. I 've never had an issue with my sheep, so sorry, I'm no help. good luck.

 

[cassie]

Is she thin? I would check for cocci and for Johnes. If she has Johnes you want to get her out of there ASAP. Johnes is spread in the manure.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would have a fecal done. You may be using the wrong dewormer. Make sure they test for coccidia as well as the usual worms. I would also have her tested for Johnes.

With all the dewormer used, have you given her Probios as well? I would probably give her some Probios on a daily basis for about a week. It will at least keep her gut bacteria healthy.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

You need to give her Probiotics. When you worm sheep it kills everything, including the bacteria in their stomach. Now you need to give her a dose of Probiotics. It puts the good bacteria back in her stomach. Also lay off the feed and give her lots of hay. I will take a few days and maybe more than one dose to get through all four stomachs. Good Luck

 

[bheila]

Quote:
If you do check for Johnes through a blood test and it comes back positive...do a fecal too. Yes, it take 8-24 weeks for the culture to grow but it's worth knowing if the animals shedding it in their manure. If she is positive I would cull her. You don't want your other animals to contract it.

 

[cmjust0]

Have you used anything besides Valbazen? Valbazen is albendazole, which is in the benzamidazole family.. There's widespread resistance against benzamidazole dewormers, and it really only gets worse if you use the same dewormer over and over and over again.

If you haven't, try switching to a different wormer. See if you can wrangle up something with levamisole hydrochloride like Levasole or Prohibit powder. It's hard to find these days, but it's so old and has been out of rotation among livestock producers for so long that it's basically "new" again -- most worms around today have no resistance to levamisole-based dewormers.

If you can't find any Levasole (...and you likely can't...), I'd strongly consider trying a 'clear' (macrocytic lactone) wormer like Ivomec, Dectomax, or Cydectin..

Full disclosure! -- this is all based on my experiences in raising goats, btw... To my recollection, I've never so much as laid a hand on a sheep in my life.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I thought maybe pasture would help

Pasture is the worst thing for scours.
Put her on nothing but hay for a while and give Pepto Bismol until her stools become solid

She probably also needs to be wormed with a NEW wormer ,as do your other sheep , just as a precaution.​

 

[barred-rocks-rock]

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/

Try this site. Someone there would gladly help you.