Desperately need help after lambing, overesting disease, 1st delivery moms

[Tina's LucyGraycee]

I would not postpone auction, I would get them sold to people who can afford a vet and do what they need to, for the health of the ewes. Feed the lambs several times a day to get them some energy and strength.
Yes prop-glycol at feed store... Electrolyte water would even help, a little, but it is not going to get better in a day.

Well I can't believe what was happening when I was talking with you good people. Moma that was down from what I thought was overeating disease was up! Walking around. Slowly but walking. I back tracked every detail about what I did or didn't do feeding them. With way I feed them its almost impossible to overeat since there's so many. 37 to be exact including babies. So I went back to her eating something. Feed store let's me get free hay out from under their hay trailers at night. There has never been an issue with it being good hay till now. I found tiny plastic shredded pieces all through hay she was eating. Every now & then I'd find frayed nylon string about 2" long. Just few tiny strands but enough to cause a digestive prbm I would think.so I did as someone suggested fed them hay 1st then their corn & pellets. They've always been on corn & pellets off & on so that wasn't different in their diet. I simply panicked laying blame solely on myself for careless mistakes out of pure exhaustion. I feel sure I did not feed them incorrectly now that I've had time to think & calm down. I put out a little alfalfa & Bermuda hay her & babies came to eat. Babies are still milk hungry but nibbled on hay & drank lots lots of water. I was about to give them a couple of pumps in their mouths of nutrient drench when I noticed pile of poop. IT IS FULL OF WORMS!! I looked around found couple more that's possibly from another sheep. I kept looking & unfortunately found tiny ball poop that has worms too. I thought I got them wormed good but obviously not. These barbado ewes with babies now are for all practical purposes wild so it was a hit & miss treating them since I couldn't catch them to hand drench them. So can that be what's causing all these problems? What can I do for moma & baby after I figure out which ones have worms? I know couple of wks before lambing & immediately after lambing is when their most vulnerable. Again I didn't get them wormed as good as I thought. So now what? Oh Little Miss did eat a little alfalfa & Bermuda hay. Drank quite a bit of water then laid down under trees.

 

[Tina's LucyGraycee]

Do the auction. Two days you can’t do much. One week may start to help some but is no guarantee it will help and others could develop problems or the current ones with trouble could get worse.
Know that you’ve given them your best and that’s more than they had before you.
Auction time before you have to deal with more or worse.

Thanks I'm ready for them to be in someone else's care that actually knows what they need. I've done my level best with this being just dumped in my lap without warning. I've definitely had to scramble at times & still do. But I've managed & they have survived up till now. Momas were just so sick I really thought I wouldn't have any babies. These sheep deserve a better life if it's not to late for some of them.

 

[Baymule]

Those are tapeworms. They are stealing the nutrients from the ewes. Whoever buys them can worm them. You can’t even catch some of them. Auction in 2 days.

Don’t be hard on yourself, you have saved their lives. Now it’s time for them to go to someone who knows how to treat them.

 

[farmerjan]

Worms would explain most all the weakness/problems.... they can kill them if the worm load is very heavy... So, yes, it was not what you did or didn't do, except for them not all getting wormed, and if you can't catch them, then that is understandable. If they go to the auction, whoever buys them, should as matter of course worm them as a precaution when they take them home. We worm all calves and/or cows that we bring in as matter of course.. and in fact, had some cows looking thin and rough, and had fecal samples done and had some heavy worm loads in the cows..... these are our own cows..not recently purchased..... we wormed them and they are coming back around... So, it happens to everyone..
Plus, since they had been so badly neglected before you took them on, they probably just kept getting reinfected with worms by being on the same ground and there is nothing you can do to prevent that except to rotate them off to somewhere else for a long period of time.
Also, little bits of plastic can cause problems in their gut tract... we are diligent about not letting any of the plastic baling strings or net wrap around the big round bales being left in the hay as it can mess up the cows inside and actually cause an obstruction... In your case, it just wasn't helping them in their stomachs and small pieces are so easy for them to just pick up and eat along with the hay.

Best of luck with selling them, and them having a chance for a better life than the previous owners before you, gave them. I am sure you saved some of them from death by taking care of them as best you could.

 

[Ridgetop]

Believe your the lady with these, they got moved, returned to you, an "owner" helped with feed -- no one would take them away.....

If you are that lady, you need to get rid of these sheep. No one is paying you for feeding or taking care of them as I remember. As I recall you said you don't have a way to transport them to auction.

You said these are not your sheep so can you even sell them legally? If not yours and owner has stopped providing for feed, vet etc. call animal control and explain the entire situation. Ask them to take the sheep. They will take the sheep and provide for them while they go after the neglectful owners.

 

[Tina's LucyGraycee]

Ridgetop I appreciate your response & advice. I did reply but never hit send button but iffor some reason I did send it I apologize for doing it again. Everything with me & around are in such a chaotic mess somedays I don't know which way is up.

If you are that lady, you need to get rid of these sheep. No one is paying you for feeding or taking care of them as I remember. As I recall you said you don't have a way to transport them to auction.

You said these are not your sheep so can you even sell them legally? If not yours and owner has stopped providing for feed, vet etc. call animal control and explain the entire situation. Ask them to take the sheep. They will take the sheep and provide for them while they go after the neglectful owners.

 

[farmerjan]

Did you send the sheep to the sale like you said they were going to go????

 

[Tina's LucyGraycee]

Ridgetop I appreciate your response & advice. I did reply but never hit send button but iffor some reason I did send it I apologize for doing it again. Everything with me & around are in such a chaotic mess somedays I don't know which way is up.

I am in fact that lady. U are correct no pay here. Animal control & other agencies won't get involved. Why I don't know. Going after owner that abandoned them...that is quite a bit more to do than sounds since owner is here on green card. Also something that might have swaded them to make decision not to help.

Is it illegal for me to sell them?
No
Sheriff's office said if they were abandoned on my property & I have been caring for them & should need arise is there any witnesses. 50 or 60 witnesses just off top of my head.

if someone were to pop up to claim them they would have to pay for restitution for expenses im out.

As far as getting them to auction, I don't have away to get them there but did attain transport.

All proceeds of sheep is gona be givn to school kids that came to my house to help me from day 1. It won't be much in comparison to help they provided me but nevertheless a small token of my appreciation toward what they chose as a future trade. 4H in general in my opinion is a great teacher for that future.

So hopefully I answered all your questions & concerns. I certainly don't want to waste anyone's time by asking for help or sound like I'm trying to mislead anyone for self gain. I assure u nothing remotely close to that thought has or will take place. I'm simply a person the Good Lord placed these poor sheep in the path of so I intend on seeing it through to the end no matter how it may end. I literally have a backyard herd complete with iris', Crete mrtyles, roses, St Augustine grass, hummingbirds, red headed woodpeckers that for most part have been in a holding pattern or simply been pushed over to make room for animals in dire need.

 

[Tina's LucyGraycee]

Did you send the sheep to the sale like you said they were going to go????

No ma'am sadly I didn't. I even though I agreed with y'all to go ahead to auction sadly I didn't have them ready to transport ( separated, marked babies & momas, loading area readied, etc. So transport made decision to go this following wkend which is totally understandable. Time is money. Not every transport company would accommodate my situation with these misfits living in a rural residential environment. As if last Wed. I started on what has to be done in order for transport to take them in between whatever good or bad pops up each day.
Everyone was correct in their statements as to what could or would happen if I postponed auction. I lost moma with twins. 2) more 1st time moma's with singles are barely holding their own. Alot of babies are beginning to shows all sorts of health related issues. I had already seen alot of uncommon actions from babies over this last wk. All explainable. Correctable hopefully with right people, place, equipment & experience. Which I couldn't begin to say since I don't know much about destination of certain sheep based on condition, how much of demand for certain kind & is it worth investment of time & medical treatment to get them back to truly being healthy or accepting losses. All that is quick decisions without much thought for people in the profession of buying, selling, marketing sheep. I left for 4 hrs today. When I left everything & everyone were fine. When I got back all momas with babies were down babies too. Total of 18 at same time. Can't tell you how sick to my stomach I got. But for their sake shook it off & worked on some kind of a resolution. Yet here it is almost midnight & my efforts aren't helping a great deal. So gona be aother long night for 6th day in a row. I was just about to post an update when I got home that sheep were doing better & holding their own at the moment but found 18 down. Needless to say hence this late post. So until another time I'm headed back out to check on all of them hoping something positive has taken place like before with worms. Oh... I did manage to worm everyone this time. Wasnt totally sure if I could with them as sick as they were but felt like it was already bad so I was willing to take that chance. Which now that I think about it maybe I shouldn't have wormed them sick or should've gave them something after worming them besides what I gave them. Well I might have just answered my own question or figured out what might have caused this to happen to them today. Well what's done is done. Can't go back so I'll press on forward so to speak wh8ch is where I'm headed now. Update soon as I can. Thanks for asking about us.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sad for you. Yes, worming with heavy load of worms CAN cause problems as the dead/dying worms release a toxin. Sometimes we have to say that the worm load IS killing them, so will deworm help or not and hope it will -- that they handle the toxins and live. No doubt these animals have intestinal damage from years of this and will most likely never truly overcome and bloom, although they might live and improve.

I'm certain this breaks your heart and know you just want to help them. As you see, it's a hard path you are traveling.