[Jacob-list] Help!

[Kathryn Shirley]

I have seen this problem on some of my lambs.  I see blood around the base of
the horn, sometimes some of the wool is missing.  Will spread to around the
eyes with some tearing etc.  Generally no infection.  Found out that either
the biting flies are attracted to an injury around the base of the horn
(could have butted heads and the other sheep's horn could have cut the skin
around the base; sometimes they injure themselves when scratching around the
horns--mine use sections of fence, hay bale feeders, etc) or the flies simply
start biting there as it is hard to swish them away.  In either case, the fly
bites can cause an inflammation that will get worse with time.  I have had
some ewes that teared so badly that they lost some of their wool on the sides
of their faces.  They had swollen, painful eyes.

The treatment: Clean the affected area(s) with clean water.  Dab excess water
away with a clean cloth.  Put ISP (available from Jeffers), or Noah's Kingdom
First Aid Ointment on the wound.  If you don't have either of these,
carefully sprinkle garlic on the injury (sounds weird, but garlic is slightly
anti-bacterial and also helps keep the flies away).  Providone ointment
(available at most pharmacies) spread thinly will also help heal the wound.
Finally, dab Swat (fly repellent for livestock/horses) around the affected
area.  Do not let it get into the eyes.  In my case, I dab it down the center
of the nose, around the base of the horns, perhaps on the cheek or above the
eye (well above).

When treated like this, mine have recovered completely in less than a week.

Prevention:  take note of which sheep seem to be prone to this (I have two).
At the first signs of irritation dab on some Swat to keep the flies away.

I also add garlic to the mineral salt:  10 cups mineral salt
                                                        1 cup kelp meal
                                                        1 cup garlic

Kate Shirley
Humbug Farm

stonecroft235 at juno.com wrote:

> I've got a medical question for the list.  I have a four-horned ram lamb
> destined for the freezer whose horns are not fused at the base but are
> growing tightly against each other and basically parallel to each other,
> and the one lower horn is actually starting to curve around the upper
> horn.  The first evidence of a problem was bleeding and oozing from the
> base of his horns above his eyes, which I treated by spraying regularly
> with blue coat, carefully avoiding his eyes (this guy is really tame and
> permits just about anything as long as I scratch him at the same time).
>  Rich and I were out of town over the weekend and our substitute
> shepherdess was our daughter - she did a fine job of feeding but I had
> not asked her to do anything medically for this lamb -  and when we
> returned I noticed this lamb's eyes were really a mess - the upper and
> lower lids were swollen, lumpy looking, and the skin even had a reptilian
> sort of look to it.  His eyes were tearing somewhat, but no pus and his
> eyeball was fine.  I referred to all my books and didn't find any answers
> -- so called the vet.  The vet arrived, carefully checked the lamb, and
> appeared to be thinking ---- I'm not known for patience, so broke the
> silence and asked what he thought it was.  He replied he really wasn't
> sure (this vet is the most sheep savvy vet in our area & is originally
> from Ireland and worked on sheep farms) but thought PERHAPS it was an
> auto-immune problem - and I had the distinct impression that the
> auto-immune diagnosis was reserved for clinical mysteries!!!!  He
> suggested using 1% cortisone cream & applying it to both the horn bases
> and the eyelids and to immediately administer Ivomec to prevent
> screwworms, all of which I have done/am doing.  The lamb is healthy in
> every way, grazing normally, eating normally, butting everyone out of his
> way at feeding time, not losing weight, etc.  His eyes seem to be tearing
> less, but really still look pretty weird, and the bases of his horns
> still are open wounds with some bleeding and oozing (bleeding/oozing is
> not enough to run down into his eyes) but no signs of infection.  ANY
> IDEAS??
>
> Thanks--
>
> Sue Martin
> Stonecroft
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