[Jacob-list] Wobbly lambs and Se

[Sue Roenke]

Heather,
Did you have your flock tested for Tay Sachs?  We had ours done, and we have 3 - 2 ewes and a lamb who are carriers.  We had a ram lamb last year who would stumble and look like he was having seizures, so we decided to test.  He wasn't out of those ewes I don't think, so it may not have been, but he def had some problem.  Marie has given her lambs BoSe at lot cause we are in a deficient area, and it makes a difference for some lambs.
Sue 


> From: hettick.1 at osu.edu

> To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com

> Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:58:36 -0400

> Subject: [Jacob-list] Wobbly lambs and Se

> 

> Hi Shari,

> 

> I've had good luck with oral vitamins/minerals on wobbly lambs because, like

> you, I decided to treat it like a deficiency.  Last year I had one and tried

> everything on him and he turned out to be a fine meat wether, in fact he

> moved almost normally by the time he was a month old.

> 

> I don't have BoSe handy, but I have various pastes and other concoctions and

> have been giving a variety to try to hit anything that might be lacking.  I

> had some "lamb strength", a molasses/garlic based concoction I make up for

> my  Icelandics over the summer when I'm worming them and battling anemia and

> heat stress, another commercial molasses based mixture and I even injected B

> vitamins on a rotating basis.  This year I added selenium yeast to the

> mothers' minerals, but we still have a wobbler.  I have some of those gels

> too with selenium and E, but they are a little harder for the small lambs to

> swallow.

> 

> This year, my wobbly girl is coming along nicely.  At 5 days old, but still

> has a slight wobble - I skipped the B injections since I hate giving shots

> that may not be necessary, but have been giving her extra vitamins and

> minerals.   The twins got off to a hard start anyway as their mother didn't

> have a really strong let down at first or was just stressed after getting

> shorn soon after they were born, but I tubed them with colostrum through the

> first night and when the brother got good at nursing, he loosened mom up for

> his sister and I weaned them off the tube by the time they were 24 hours

> hold.  I massaged their mom and to help things get moving too. Miss wobbles

> and her brother play and jump around like normal lambs, but she still loses

> her balance when she tries to shake herself sometimes.  I have still not let

> them outside as I'm afraid she'll get stuck in the mud, but I feel like she

> will recover from this.  I think in the past, they have fallen behind their

> sibling just slightly and then just went downhill fast so I try to keep tabs

> on these lambs.  I don't consider this lamb breeding material anyway, but

> I'd like a nice healthy sized lamb to send to market or the freezer.

> 

> What I don't get is why just one lamb?  If it's White Muscle disease, or Se

> deficiency, shouldn't more of them have it, especially the siblings?  I've

> been raising Jacob sheep since 1997 and I think this is only the 4th or 5th

> one I've seen and one was a cross.  In this particular case, though, the

> same mother has repeated herself.  Periwinkle had the wobbler last year.

> I've actually increased the minerals I give over the years too.  

> 

> Heather

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> 

> From: Shari Staines <mikesharikids at yahoo.com>

> Subject: [Jacob-list] Fw: Jacob-list Digest, Vol 82, Issue 1

> To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com

> Message-ID: <592708.33823.qm at web114318.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> 

> Jennifer and Heather,

> 

> I had a lamb born like this just over three weeks ago.? He also did not walk

> for the first two weeks and I have treated him for selenium deficiency with

> amazing results.? I was wondering if either of you tried Bo-Se to treat your

> wobblers?? Rather than treat just once, I have been using an unorthodox

> treatment plan that I found out about (used in other species).? I have

> injected Bo-Se every three days which is very much off label.? On the day he

> gets the Bo-Se, there is remarkable improvement.? I have injected a total of

> 6 mls over the past few weeks.? He is now holding his head up and frolicking

> and able to nurse his mom without my assistance.? I will now use an oral

> selenium / E gel for maintenance and I'll inject again if I see regression.?

> 

> 

> I am not recommending this treatment, because it is very much off label and

> I obviously could have killed him.? However, he would have most certainly

> died had I not been this aggressive and I just figured that there was

> nothing to LOSE.? In essence, I was going to kill him trying to save

> him...or he would die on his own.

> 

> Jennifer, in watching your video...this is the same movement that my lamb

> had and he carried his head down like yours.? Now, he carries his head up

> and has nearly stopped crossing over the back legs.? Seemed that the back

> legs took longer to strengthen and catch up to the front.

> 

> I also read that phosphoric acid and vitamin E are used together to treat

> WMD in cattle.? So, I purchased Emitrol (over the counter nausea medicine)

> and gave 3 mls twice per day and 400 iu vitamin E once per day (human pills

> broken.)

> 

> Miraculously, he is thriving.? But, I still worry that at some point, he may

> drop over and die because I may have somehow overdosed him.

> 

> Shari Staines

> www.neverwinterfarm.com

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> --- On Tue, 3/1/11, jacob-list-request at jacobsheep.com

> <jacob-list-request at jacobsheep.com> wrote:

> 

> From: jacob-list-request at jacobsheep.com <jacob-list-request at jacobsheep.com>

> Subject: Jacob-list Digest, Vol 82, Issue 1

> To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com

> Date: Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 12:15 PM

> 

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> Today's Topics:

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> ???1. Wobbly lamb (Heather Hettick)

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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

> 

> Message: 1

> Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:48:43 -0500

> From: "Heather Hettick" <hettick.1 at osu.edu>

> Subject: [Jacob-list] Wobbly lamb

> To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>

> Message-ID: <001401cbd780$81d95200$858bf600$@1 at osu.edu>

> Content-Type: text/plain;??? charset="us-ascii"

> 

> Jennifer Tucker wrote:? 

> 

> He did not stand on all 4 feet for 2 weeks.? We were ready to put him down

> when he stood up and began walking.. He had a wobble to his gait? see the

> following videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWaXNV8s5Ks? and

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2624D625Vdk

> 

> Jennifer,

> 

> I watched your videos and this is definitely like something I have seen in

> some of my lambs.? We lost most of the lambs who were like that. We've had 3

> who behaved like this and maybe another if I check my records.? The first

> was only slightly wobbly at first but got worse over time and he had a funny

> look.? He ended up getting left out in a cold rain over night and went

> downhill after that.? We finally had him put down as he wasn't walking or

> nursing on his own and I got tired of tubing him and cleaning him up without

> seeing any improvement.? The second was a Jacob/Icelandic cross and she was

> really uncoordinated at birth, but very determined to nurse and stay with

> her mother and hung on for quite a while.? When she walked, her rear would

> sway back and forth like she had very little control over it and she kept

> her front end lower.? When she ran, she would often flop over.? She finally

> started having trouble keeping up with her mother and twin and went downhill

> largely because of not getting enough food.? I think she caught something

> that finished her off.? She was spending a lot of time laying down and

> wasn't staying clean and dry very well and I think that contributed to her

> getting sick.

> 

> I had one last year that wasn't too bad to start with, but definitely had

> the wobble and off look.? Because the main problem seemed to be them losing

> strength and size in comparison to their healthy twin, I focused on keeping

> this one well fed, healthy and clean right away.? I went with the premise

> that it was some sort of deficiency like white muscle disease or something

> and gave him almost daily doses of vitamins/minerals and whatever I had

> handy and it seemed to help as he improved a lot, but maybe it was just

> because his case was mild in the first place.? I bottle fed him or tubed him

> if he seemed to need it, but not every day.? I had sent him and his mother

> and sister along with a couple other ewes with twins to graze at another

> farm with more and better quality grass when he was a bit over a month old

> and at about 2 or 3 months old, I sold him cheap to a friend who knew he was

> "defective" and he was fed out as a meat lamb with access to a lush pasture

> and fed commercial sheep food, but he was already way better looking and

> more coordinated by that time.? When I went to shear him before he went to

> the butcher in October, I could not see any evidence of him looking off or

> uncoordinated, although he was slightly smaller than his companion. 

>  

> The cases I had were all out of different ewes and sired by unrelated rams

> so I didn't necessarily see a genetic pattern, although there were two lambs

> last year sired by my ram at another farm who also acted this way.? I used

> this ram again this year and so far he has 3 lambs on the ground who all

> look great.? 

> 

> I think it's possibly genetic, but I don't have the resources to check all

> that out, so if it happens again, I would again give the lamb some special

> nutrition treats and supplement with bottles if necessary to keep up their

> strength, etc and hope they grow out of it.

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

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