[Jacob-list] Re: Lamb diarrhea

[Neal and Louise Grose]

Corid is usually put in the water for ten days, several days off, then ten more days of treatment.

Ionophores like Bovatech are growth promoters (They increase the utility of feed ingestion in ruminants) that have a side benefit of killing the coccidia oocytes (eggs) before they can infect the animals. They are not effective in treatment of active infections. I dislike feeding antibiotics as growth promoters.* for a variety of reasons, not the least is that it is bad PR with consumers. Ionophores are not "antibiotics", even though they do alter the rumen microflora. I have never gotten a straight answer exactly what they are. The results of coccidia infection in young stock can be a life-long decrease in health due to scarring of the digestive system. Where young animals are raised in confined with exposure to feces and risk high rates of infection, I have to think that it is better to be on the safe side.

The lamb in question may well have had a case of worms that had coccidia as a secondary infection. Worm eggs can be tricky to find in a stool sample, and it may be that the little joker got a mass of worm eggs were the other lambs did not due to a bout of curiosity. Remember, ALL sheep and calves have coccidia. The question is how much they have. As adults, these animals become resistant to infection. Your lamb may have been able to repress the coccidia infection once the worm problem was resolved. 

Neal Grose

* The whole idea is that feeding antibiotics to animals increases the possibility that we will have antibiotic resistant bacteria that will spell dooooom to the human race because there will be no more way to treat sick people. 
OK. So why is it that we can still use tetracycline and penicillin  in cows and not in people? I tell you, it is those darn humans and their hospitals that have caused antibiotic resistance....
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ACAMDA at aol.com 
  To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 8:52 AM
  Subject: [Jacob-list] Re: Lamb diarrhea


  Thanks to all of you who responded on my lamb diarrhea question.  He does have coccidia, and we are picking up Corid from the vet today.  She also mentioned something that we could put in the water since all the little lambs probably have it as well, but she didn't know specifics (I'm dealing with senior vet school students, so they don't always know the answer immediately).

  My question now is: Over the past several days he has been getting better (today he was jumping and running when I put them down in the lower pasture), so is this parasite self-limiting?  Assuming he didn't succumb to dehydration, would he have gotten well on his own?  The only thing we did was de-worm with ivermectin.  

  Kathey

  "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animals." Proverbs 12:10a


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