[Jacob-list] death of a sheep

[SharHill at aol.com]

Hi all,

We had a bad weekend.  Our little wether yearling died this morning, and I 
was hoping that some of you more experienced shepherds could help shed some 
light on what happened, as I don't really understand why he died.  

About 2 weeks ago we put the wether, Theo, and our ram in a pasture that has 
been free of sheep since Christmas.  There was a little bit of new growth 
there, this being Georgia and we have had warm weather and rain for the last 
few weeks.  But there was not much more growing there than in the place where 
they had been, so I wasn't worried about there being a drastic change in 
diet.  When I fed them Thursday morning, I noticed that Theo was a mess from 
the runs and he wouldn't touch his food.  I rushed him to a large animal vet 
about an hour from here.  He found that Theo had a temp. of 105, and thought 
there might be a respiratory problem, but his lungs were clear.  The vet 
diagnosed gastroenteritis, and gave him kaopectate, a shot for the fever, and 
an antibiotic.  By Friday, Theo was feeling better and ate hay and seemed to 
be on the way to recovery.  He had another injection for the fever on Friday. 
 Saturday, he started going downhill again, not eating and not drinking 
either.  I started giving him pedialyte to get some fluids in him, but it 
didn't perk him up at all.  I checked him at 12 and 3:00 a.m. and gave him 
some fluids.  He was still standing when I left him at 8:00 this morning and 
when I went back to check him at 9:30, he was dead. 

Can anyone give me any ideas about what may have happened?  What could I have 
done differently to save him?  The ram who was in the same pasture with him 
is fine.  They ate the same things.  They had been in that pasture for most 
of the fall, so I wouldn't think there would have been something in there 
that could have poisoned him.  I put the ram in a big stall in the barn, as I 
am afraid to put him back in that field, and I don't want him in with our 
pregnant ewes. He is not happy in the barn.  Our newly fenced pasture is too 
lush to throw him in there all at once.  I am not sure what to do or think at 
this point, so I would appreciate very much any advice you guys could give 
me.  Theo was our first Jacob lamb and we are very upset about this.

Thank you.

Sharon