Oh, no - I see now how that wasn’t clear from my post - I took the pellets to the vet’s and they sent them to the lab. So they have been thoroughly examined.
The swelling has been going on for a few weeks now, so I don’t think it’s from a sting. The filaree was awful while I was out of commission, so they had lots of them all over, but luckily the shearing took care of most of those and I have picked a ton out of them as soon as I was back on my...
One of my sheep ( a wether) has swelling under his chin that looks like bottle jaw. I took an entire load of pellets from him (freshly deposited as I watched) to check for worms and nada - no worms whatsoever ( they’ve never had worms) . The vet came and took blood - says she sees nothing...
Still around! This is crunch time of the year for us (all the mowing!) and I was knocked out of commission with an emergency surgery not quite 2 weeks ago. Still recovering. Was not around to mow or manage the critters and sheep got absolutely covered in those nasty storkbill pointy corkscrew...
I am virtually sure it was not something they ate, because they all got sick one after the other. First one, then 8 days later the other, then 3 days later the third. They started being kept in more from the first day the first one got sick. They were on two different batches of orchard grass...
We’re on a well - their barn water comes straight from the well, their pasture water goes through our holding tank (same one our house water goes through). It all looks clean. Horse drinks the same water and was fine the whole time.
Everyone is fine again. Last wether got better Monday. All of a sudden his ears felt nice and toasty again (these guys get regular extensive cuddles 😄) - checked his backside, all dry - hurray. So it’s a mystery, but so glad they all got through it ok. They lost a bit of weight, one more than...
Ugh, tricked myself and thought I was clever putting down fresh straw in their stall mid morning so I could easily identify fresh poop for samples to take to the vet midday. Well, nobody pooped at all for 1 1/2 hours! So I had to leave without (was running errands and had thought I could stop by...
We’re still in the thick of it. Ewe (first one sick) recovered overnight after day six. She is still totally fine, pooping nice pellets. First wether got the runs two days after ewe had recovered. His poops seem to be getting a bit more solid today. Second wether started getting the runs 2 1/2...
No, no feed change. Ewe started diarrhea on one bale, opened new bale (from a different delivery) after a couple of days, and eating from that she recovered after a few more days, then the next one got sick. All orchard grass hay. Everyone still eating from that second bale… I tell you, non of...
I don’t think it’s something they ate because it’s been one after the other and the one who started it and healed is still fine, doing and eating exactly what the other two are. And I have walked their pasture multiple times. Other than a few acorns from a live oak (brown, not green ones) that I...
It’s funny how a small breed somehow seems like they would be easier to handle, but they are much bouncier… Maybe we’ll get some Nubians one day… I would love to have Guernsey goats, but they are not easy to find and I am not sure if they are likely to stay put or not. My hubby loves his garden...
I’ll remember this for myself! Have you actually done this successfully with sheep though? I can’t quite tell from what you wrote.
I worry because they have a completely different digestive system from ours and it getting acidic is a problem - that’s why they get baking soda. I don’t want to...