And here I thought I would have a "quiet" weekend butchering chickens! My hubby just came in from the barn and said that an 8 month ewe lamb, who was previously treated for pneumonia a month ago, has a little bit of crust on her eyes and is losing her wool. He actually grabbed her wool and it came off in his hand when the lamb walked off. Any ideas of what is going on? Thanks, we need the help as we just had another ewe lamb die, possibly due to worms because she had a bottle jaw appearance but that was hard to the touch so we think it might have been due to after effects of the white muscle disease she had when she was a baby lamb back in February. I thought I would add that in case that would have something to do with the first lamb losing wool. Have I thoroughly confused everyone now?

-- JoAnn in SD (jonehls@excite.com), October 20, 2001

Answers

Hello JoAnn, Seems your lamb has worms. If the coat of a sheep is ratty or the wool comes out, the sheep has worms. Also, to prevent white muscle disease is quite easy and really shouldn't happen. Do you have a Blue Seal dealer by you? (Feed). You should put your ewes on this feed and lambs while they are pregnant. Your soil must be low in selenium and they need added Vitamin E. I would give a shot of B complex vitamin (by a feed store) and a little good grain and weedy hay mix. Also turn her out on clean good pasture. We have winter knocking on our door too but we still have pasture. Get a wormer for her, like diatomaceous earth and put some in front of her. Also, a sheep and goat salt lick is ideal. Always have salt in front of them. This "sweet lick" is ideal for the molasses they LOVE!! Always fresh water!!! Good Luck!

-- Jackie in Northern New York (homefarm@webtv.net), October 20, 2001.

A lamb that had a fever will usually lose its wool or part of it. A heavy worm load will also cause this. Sounds like you need to take better care of your sheep. Get them started on a good salt/min mix for sheep and follow a strict worming program, this will solve most of your health problems hampy

-- hampy (smhamp@yahoo.com), October 20, 2001.

As above. Any sheep which has been stressed as far as health goes (and that could include plain mental stress like having been worried by dogs) will stop or almost stop growing wool for a time, but the length of wool will still keep growing. That creates a thin weak spot in the staple, and if it's pronounced enough then the fleece can start shedding. In any case, it devalues the fleece for spinning.

As far as sheep goes a preventive health system is by far the best policy. If you just keep reacting to health problems as you see them, you will be losing sheep all the time who are too sick to save by the time you notice; you will be losing money all the time with sheep who have been sick but not so sick that you noticed; and you will also be losing money with expensive crisis measures when you could have used much cheaper preventive measures. It's not fair on the sheep either to deprive them of health care as good as you could have been giving them. Also, preventive measures in your own time are easier for you than reacting to crises. Not saying you won't still get the occasional crisis, but it will cut down on the possibilities a lot.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 20, 2001.

Now that I have been accused of not taking care of my sheep, allow me more say - the ewe that DIED and had a bottle jaw appearance was given to us a lamb back in February. She had white muscle disease and we gave her BoSe and she came out of it. Now we were breeding her, as market prices here are way way low, so we thought we would breed her instead of taking a loss at the sale barn, and voila - she developed this bottle jaw look. Her muscles were all stiff including her front legs, just like when she was a little lamb. All of our flock were given Valbazen for deworming prior to breeding season. So, unless the Valbazen didn't take, I don't think it was the worms, and why would worms cause stiff muscles???? Our other sheep DO NOT have nor have we ever had white muscle disease. Lack of Selenium isn't a problem in our flock nor in our area unless you get your hay and/or feed from an area that is. WE don't. As I first stated, this ewe was GIVEN to us as a lamb. I don't feel that it is that we are not taking good care of our sheep. That was a lame comment coming from someone who doesn't know us or our situation or our good results with our flock production. NOW, onto the ewe lamb losing her wool. She was also wormed prior to breeding. This would have been in September. She developed pneumonia and was treated with LA 200. AND if you knew what the climate is like here in the fall months, 80 degrees one day and 30 degrees the next, you could understand why it is easy for sheep to develop pneumonia. We are not the only flock owners around this area to have this problem. She recovered from the pneumonia and was doing just fine until we found her this a.m. and the wool was coming out. So, as I understand, this could be a worm problem so I will give her a shot of Ivomec. Thanks for your help.

-- JoAnn in SD (jonehls@excite.com), October 20, 2001.

Oh, and I will add, we do follow a strict vaccination and deworming program. We have clean facilities and clean pasture. Our lambing is a good percentage, almost 200%. Now, I do believe we are taking care of our sheep. Good bye.

-- JoAnn in SD (jonehls@excite.com), October 20, 2001.

Jo Ann, I understand how you feel. I have felt at times in the past that people thought I wasn't taking care of my ewes. 2 years ago I was using Valbazen every month. Now in this area it is a practice to worm every month. I used to raise sheep in Ill., and wormed about 3 or 4 times a year but OKie land every month. Now, what I didn't know was that Valbazen is like water to my ewes. I had two get bottle jaw, so went to vet who put them on panacur and like Valbazen (being in the same family) didn't work. I them went to Ivomectin and they had an immunity to that. We finally had to put them on Tramisol for one entire year and take samples and samples to the vet. I am having some luck with Dectomax which is also a ivomectin product but Pipestone Vet Clinic (a big one on sheep and goats) say it is just a little different. I have also lost two years to deer worms which I now chase deer away (use to think they were cute). As far as losing wool it is true if they had a worm problem (even in the past) their wool will separate at the belly. I had a ewe once that had retained her placenta. Had her on high antibiotics and she is great now but within a month she lost the wool the way you are describing. You could pull it out. She is fine and pregnant at the moment. So. Everyone who thinks they have wormed please have a fecal done 10 days after worming to see how free your ewes are of worms. Most people have good luck with Valbazen, its just my ewes.

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), October 20, 2001.

JoAnn, You will be relieved to hear that I am not a sheep expert and 200% lambs sounds like your flock is in good shape. I am wondering about 2 possibilities on your ewe lamb. #1 she may have a problem utilizing the selenium in her body. She may need a supplement where the rest of the sheep do not. #2 Could it be a tetnus problem? Since she has had problems in the past, she may just be more susceptible. I have been told by Vicki the goat and sheep guru that sheep have a much slower metabolism. Let me know what you find out. I am trying to learn as much as possible about raising sheep. I had no idea their wool came out when they were sick!

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), October 20, 2001.

Sheep will lose their wool after having a fever. If your sheep had a fever after getting pnemonia then that might be why she lost her wool.

-- Jeannette (circlet@frontiernet.net), February 25, 2002.