We have a ewe lamb that was born with white muscle disease. We received her free from a neighbor. We gave her BoSe (E and Selenium) shots and she came out of it. She has grown well and has no muscle problems anymore. So, since lamb prices are so terrible at the market, we really won't get a whole lot of money for her and we thought maybe we would keep her and have her bred with the others in the next couple of weeks. Will white muscle disease carry through to her lambs or should we just sell her?

-- JoAnn in SD (jonehls@excite.com), September 09, 2001

Answers

I'm stretching to try to remember college course material, but if I recall correctly white muscle disease is just a vitamin E/selenium deficiency. It is not truly a disease and therefore is not contagious to any other animal. However, if you are still feeding this ewe a diet deficient in vitamin E/selenium, you may have difficulties breeding her and getting her to carry to term. Also, if she is deficient in vitamin E/selenium, her lambs may have white muscle disease since she is the provider of their nutrition. In areas of the country where selenium is deficient in the soil and therefore the plants, animals that mostly graze can be deficient in selenium. Ask your vet if your area of the country is like that and if so you can either feed a mineral mix with selenium added, or give BoSe shots at the recommended intervals to both pregnant ewe and then to the lambs after birth.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), September 09, 2001.

We give our goats Bo-Se shots twice yearly, once prior to breeding and once after kidding. Bo-Se can cause abortions so I would caution giving it unless right prior to kidding of a known due date. If you are in an area that needs supplemented you may be able to find a feed that will do it. I would ask your vet regarding the need for selenium in your area.

-- Skip in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), September 09, 2001.

Sheryl is correct. Even in areas that are selenium/E difficient can have smaller multiples carry classic symptoms while their litter mates are fine. Simply not enough nutrition for all the lambs in the litter to be healthy. With this diagnosed in your area with this lamb, unless your nutrition is very different from your neighbors, than I would continue with the Bo-se shots. Increasing selenium is only half the battle, with E not being passed from ewe to lamb enutero. Injections of lambs at birth may also need to be implemented. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 09, 2001.

My area is not deficient, but hay that you feed during winter will be lower even in not deficient areas. I had problems with extreme heat stress this summer and it caused a few to have a Vit.E defiency which acted like WMD. I every so often give my sheep Vit. E., also because it not a real defienct area I have on hand this passte I buy from MidStates Wool that is higher than the minerals of Selenium with a high dose of Vit. E. in it you give the ewes 5cc. I do this before breeding time, which is now. White now I am also putting some of Moormans Sheep & goat minerals right into the corn misture to make sure there getting the minerals. During the summer one should monitor to make sure your sheep get the minerals. Believe me I am learning everything the hard way. I am almost ready to give up with the problems I have encountered, everything from WMD, parasite immunity, some strange deer worm that cause spinal disease (both put down).

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), September 10, 2001.

Another thought Debbie, is how many of us know where our grains are grown. If you are feeding mostly corn, which we do alot of during the winter (also coinciding during the time out does are heavily bred) and it is grown in a defficient area, than the bulk of your ration would be defficient. Our hay is local grown, but if we were to ship in alfalfa, once again it would be shipped from a defficient area. This is all what makes livestock breeding all the more interesting :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 10, 2001.

Thanks for the good input. We are not in a selenium deficient area. Our hay and corn are grown locally. This lamb however was given to us by a neighbor. I don't know where he gets his feed from. We do not feed minerals, only salt. Since she has shown no signs of the muscle problems for the past 5 months (since the last shot) I am assuming that she does not have a deficiency and should then be able to breed and carry to term with healthy lambs. Or, should I give her a BoSe shot before she breeds just in case?

-- JoAnn in SD (jonehls@excite.com), September 10, 2001.

I would go to pipestone.com talk to the vets at the clinic that are in Minnesota, close enough to your area to give you better advice. Lambs and ewes show signs of white muscle, at birth, and at kidding, showing no signs for the last 5 months is not abnormal. Trying to treat white muscle usually leaves you with weakend kids and dams with poor production, I would want to use prevention. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 11, 2001.

I would never go without a SHEEP or GOAT Mineral, it has the added Selenium and Vit. E. I also now, because of getting a vit. E deficieny last Summer (Heat Stress brings on all kinds of borderline stuff) Add some Vit. E. to their diet. Buy over the counter Adult Vit. (the liquid get tabs) and drench the sheep. I also immediately give newborns Vit. E. I am not going to mess around with Bose because I am not in a defiecient area and they eating my hay, but the corn comes from where? so I feel that a good mineral is essential.

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), September 11, 2001.