[Jacob-list] scratchy head

[Kathryn Shirley]

I also have a non horned shetland ewe who gets really gross around the
eyes.  This year, within two days the constant leaking from her eye had
dehaired all of one cheek clear down to her mouth.  After treating it
with ISP and garlic with a generous dab of Swat, the area cleared up and
in less than a week, hair was growing back.  Flies seemed to be
attracted to her eyes and aggravated them to the point where her eyes
were constantly tearing.  This seems to occur during the first "flush"
of fly season around here.  When looking at the calendar, it also
corresponded to muggy days that started off with a lot of fog and a lot
of dew on the grass.  Very conducive to fly problems around here.

I would certainly not cull a good animal for this as I have not noticed
that it carries in lines here.  Of course, I am currently living in the
"bug belt".

Kate Shirley
Humbug Farm

dave & katrina wrote:

> I would love to hear more of what other breeders are experiencing on
> this topic.  Here is mine:  We had 4 sheep come here which had this
> condition (only during the hot months). They ranged in intensity from
> a small area in front of the horns to one ewe who almost went blind
> from it.  Before that point, I had never heard of it, so started to do
> a little checking around.  I called Penn State York extension, and
> they suggested it was a condition both rare breeds of horned sheep and
> goats have a tendency toward due to the inbreeding in the
> populations.  From what they had heard, they thought it was dominant
> and difficult to breed out at least in the goat populations.  They
> suggested keeping close records of which animals I noticed it in to
> help me predict which lines might be the most susceptable.  Due to
> lack of funding, they knew of no research having been done on the
> topic.  I thought they were helpful and practical.  Love those
> extension services! Anyway, when I looked at the lines of the sheep
> here and also checked with other breeders, it turned out that of the 4
> sheep, 3 were closely related to a ram which also had it.  The 4th was
> not related to the ram but was a mother to one of the 3.   It was not
> dominant since animals that had it seemed to produce more offspring
> which never developed it than ones which did.  Good news.  To me like
> everything with this breed, the cause seems a bit complicated.  To me
> it seems to be genetically linked, but have other factors that
> influence it.  who knows?  We ended up getting rid of 2 of the 4 sheep
> on our place and once I found that the offspring do not usually get
> it, decided to keep the other two (with lines I really value)... I am
> keeping/watching their lambs to see if I notice anything...nothing
> yet. (BTW-not suggesting people should get rid of them, just was best
> in this situation...it can look really gross!)  I did love that nice
> write-up, Kate Shirley!  Very helpful.  I am going to send it to
> someone who was asking me what to do who is not on the list.
> Thanks.Katrina Lefever,Chicory
> Lanehttp://wwwfac.wmdc.edu/HTMLpages/Graduate/TI/pages/lefever/chicory.htm
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: 2512 at nethawk.com
>      To: jacob-list
>      Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 8:38 AM
>      Subject: [Jacob-list] scratchy head
>       We have a yearling girl who is digging at her horns with
>      her hind legs.  She has blood and nasties all over her horn
>      area, she is scratching it raw.  Any ideas what could cause
>      this?  I am thinking some sort of parasite.  We wormed her
>      with Dectomax injectable last nite, and in March she got
>      triamosol.   We washed her head off with peroxide because it
>      is getting infected.  I am worried about flies now.  Does
>      any one have any advice?  I feel so bad for her and her sore
>      head. I do have the scrapies vet coming out today, hopefully
>      he will have an idea, but I thought maybe another Jacob
>      breeder might of saw this before.Thanks!Bonnie Bonnie and
>      Herb Sutten ~** Sheepy Thyme Farm**~Edmore, Michigan~**~
>      Llamas, California Variegated Mutant Sheep &  Natural
>      Colored Romeldales
>      Jacob & Shetland Sheep, French Angora Rabbits,  ABCA Border
>      Collieshttp://www.agdomain.com/web/sheepythyme/ ** email:
>      sheepythyme at nethawk.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20010718/9a050875/attachment.htm