[Jacob-list] Grass Tetany or Magnesium Deficiency

[Leigh Nelson]

Yesterday apparently healthy 3 year old ewe died from unknown causes.  I
was hoping to get some feedback from the group about similar situations
and any opinions on things to do differently in the future.  I am new to
farming and started with sheep about 2 years ago.  Two weeks prior to
lambing all ewes are given an annual vaccination (Glanvac-6), E-sel, &
dewormed (Safe-guard).  I also deworm again in the fall twice, spaced out
14-days.  Hay is fed twice a day outside on the ground.  Grain (with
trace selenium) is fed in the morning only, this year we did not flush
but just gave a little bit to help keep there weight up for lambing. 
Salt licks are readily available.  Water is given through an automatic
waterer, so fresh clean water is always available.  In the winter the
sheep are kept close to the barn in a small sacrifice area, they can
chose to go inside or outside as they like. The ewe in question lambed
last year in July, thus teaching me that Jacobs can breed in March.  I
was trying to not breed her with the ram at the time because they both
had the same sire.  She had one lamb with no assistance and was a great
mother.  The lamb was weaned early to mid October.  This year she was
exposed to my new ram mid November, giving her time to recover from the
last lamb.  All was going well until last Tuesday when we happened to
notice that she was in the far side of the sacrifice area outside.  I was
concerned that she might be aborting so we went to check her out. 
Everything thing seemed fine so we just chalked it up to sheep being
sheep.  Now, I have to mention this girl was always a bit flighty and
didn't miggle well with the flock since the day we got her, basically her
normal was abnormal.  On Friday morning I noticed that she wasn't eating
grain, so I isolated her from the rest of the flock and then had to leave
to go to work.  At night I did a complete inspection of her and found a
bump under her chin, thinking this was bottle jaw, I immediately dewormed
with 3 cc Safe-guard given orally.  At this time I also noticed that she
was stiff in the back end and was leaning against the wall for support. 
Although her symptoms didn't indicate a selenium defficiency I gave her a
shot of E-sel because I thought it couldn't hurt.  In addition her
breathing was a bit laboured, making a loud noise every time she
exhaled.  I stayed out in the barn with her for about 3 hours that night
and didn't see any change.  Saturday morning she was sleeping comfortably
but still stiff and having trouble breathing.  Finally I phoned the vet,
he told me that stiffness indicates mineral difficiency.  He suggested
that we get some Epsom salts from the grocery store and dissolve it in
water.  This would give her some magnesium.  By the time we started to
give her this she was on her side and convulsing.  We didn't see any
improvement and she died soon after. My question to the group is did her
symptoms indicate a magnesium difficiency?  Were we just too late giving
her the epsom salts?  Should anything have been done differently?  I
purchased some mineral supplements last year but just haven't gotten
around to figuring out the dosage and was planning on mixing it with the
grain.  Is this how most people do it or do some people just give the
sheep unlimited access? Any input would be greatly appreciated.  Leigh

-- 
Want an e-mail address like mine?
Get a free e-mail account today at www.mail.com!

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20080121/fdf0612a/attachment.htm>