Ram Lamb Chewing Wool/Scratching

[Southern by choice]

5 month old ram lamb is scratching a lot and chewing on himself... pulling out wool. Noy really "pulling wool" out... more from the chewing. He is still in quarantine with 6/7 month old ewe lamb. She is not doing this. I don't really see signs of anything but the wool is so thick how would I even check for mites?
It is just him...not her.
I was reading it could be a fiber thing...

"It is also important to feed a quality alfalfa with a minimum 1 1/2 to 2
inches of fiber length. Feeding alfalfa pellets or ground hay does not
have the effective NDF needed for rumen health.
You may also notice wool chewing or wool pulling in lambs. The
leading cause of this activity in sheep is inadequate fiber length,
resulting in insufficient effective NDF. It is important here to note that
feeding a roughage source with 1 1/2 to 2 inches of fiber length usually
prevents wool biting, chewing or pulling. However, once a lamb
begins to pull wool, it usually will not stop. It quickly becomes a habit,
and you will need to keep the lambs covered or separated to stop this
activity."

I am feeding free choice hay and small amount of feed daily. Should I put him on alfalfa? I still think it could be some kind of mite. What could I use on him for mites?

 

[Bridgemoof]

I have two sheep, one is an adult Cormo ewe and one is a Finn ewe that are pulling their wool and are all shaggy looking with the wool hanging out all over. So I was wondering if it was something in their diet. If anybody has any advice, we would sure appreciate it!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

The only times I have ever had this problem with any of my sheep has been when they have had lice or keds! It seemed when a large bunch had the pests, only a few would chew and scratch, the rest it didn't seem to bother so bad.
I haven't heard of the diet causing this, so, I guess I learn somethin' new every day!!!!
If it becomes a habit for them, I would try shearing nice and short!

 

[Bridgemoof]

Do lice survive freezing temperatures? How would you even treat a sheep with lice?

 

[SheepGirl]

I was thinking some sort of external parasite...lice or keds. Part the wool and see if you see anything crawling. To treat it you need to use an insecticide, like any brand of Permethrin labeled for keds or lice or mites.

Don't really think it's caused by the diet because if there wasn't enough roughage in his diet or whatever, he'd be chewing on the ewe's wool also, not just his. So I think he's trying to relieve an itch on himself.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I use Ivermectin. I seems to work pretty good, provided you are pretty close on the weights! If you under drench one or two, it won't kill all the bugs and your whole flock will be re-infested! I have a neighbor who uses some sort of pour on to get rid of lice, mites, and keds, but I have never used it and don't remember the name of it.
Lice survive all temperatures cause they hide under the wool against the skin!

 

[Bridgemoof]

I just thought of something, and that is my sheep have some burrs on them that it looked like they were trying to pull off. Southern, does lil seh have any burrs? Maybe he is pulling at them?

My sheep were all just wormed with Ivermectin less than a month ago. I will have to go check under their wool to see if I see any signs of any kind of infestation.

 

[Southern by choice]

No burrs, he is still in a dry lot. Maybe I'll try to do a skin scrape to check for mites. I really don't like using any meds without knowing for sure there is something there.

I am going to put in some different hay today so I want to see if there is a possibility we might have a NDF issue.

 

[purplequeenvt]

It is most likely lice. Use a pour-on lice treatment. You will have to repeat the treatment in 2 (I think) weeks.

 

[RemudaOne]

I used a pour on in the summer to help with relief from the flies but it was for lice and kids as well. It's called Ultra Boss, I'm sure I got it at TSC. It's permethrin. But mine are hair sheep, I'm sure you would have to make sure it makes contact with the skin much like the spot treatment flea and tick stuff for dogs. It did say "season long protection against lice". It didn't last that long for the flies though.

Lol, that should have been lice and kEds in the first sentence .