One of my ewes had an infection that is now improving but she can't stand up after being off her feet for nearly a week. Should I elevate her on a hay bale with her legs hanging down and massage the muscles and tendons a couple of times a day? If I do this, how long should I give her to improve? A week or longer? I am running out of options for her.

Her lambs are enclosed with her as they also have scabby mouth but they did not get a secondary infection. They are 60 days old and the diet of sheep nuts and silage is not doing their stomachs any good. Should I allow them out to graze with the others and risk infecting the flock? Their scabby mouth is clearing up well and they don't normally play with the other lambs. Lola.

I know nothing about sheep, but if she were a cow or horse, I would think it quite important to get her up if you can. Good luck with your patients!

I elevated her on a couple of tyres this morning and tried stretching her legs out. I kept her that way for 45 minutes until she became really uncomfortable in order to force her to try moving herself. I am trying to make a sling out of carpet and I will use an engine hoist or the tractor bucket to lift her so that her feet just touch the ground. I will give her a week and if there is no improvement she will have to go.

Her lambs need to get to fresh grass but I will keep them with her until tomorrow so that their scabby mouth does not spread. I can still keep them with her at night but let them forage during the day.

We lost our oldest ewe a week ago. She was pushed down by the ram and she couldn't get up again. I carried her to the shelter and left her there for the night and in the morning she was on her feet. She stood at the gate staring at the house until I let her out. She tottered down the hill to her favourite spot and lay down in the sun. She was sitting upright and her head gradually fell forward until her chin was on the ground like she was dozing. When she was still like that an hour later I went to check her but she was dead.

I hope by next month to have only happy and healthy sheep left. This has been the worst year I have had on this little farm. I will keep you posted as to what happens with her and he lambs. Lola.

This is the sling and hoist I am going to try tomorrow. She is either too tired or too weak to care today so I will see if she is still around tomorrow and have a go then. She looks very comfortable at the moment and I don't want to stress her.





This is the lamb with the worst case of scabby mouth. The other lamb is a lot better than him.

I'm so sorry you're having the problems with your sheep. I've never had them. We have only had horses and chickens. I hope they get better and you don't lose them. I was hoping we had some other sheep people here to offer advice. Good luck!

Well, this morning she was very weak and not very alert. I sat her up but she wasn't interested in food or water. I opened the gate to let her lambs out and one of her friends came in to visit her. She was suddenly wanting to eat and drink and became very alert when she saw her friend but she still couldn't move her legs or sit up without assistance. I rang a neighbour and he said that because she had been down for nearly a week that it would be a miracle if she came good. He will come up today to put her down for us.

This is my last post about Buttercup. She was born on this farm and will die on this farm. She only became really friendly in the last week of her life but at least she finally got to enjoy a scratch behind the ear without being suspicious and jumpy. Vale Buttercup.

Lola.

Sorry to hear of your sheep problems. I had a sheep person tell me once "If you have a sick sheep, you have a dead sheep". He said that once they become "ill" they just seem to lose their will to live. We have had cows like that too. Sometimes I had to tell them "live or die, it's your decision, but will you get on with whatever you choose??"

I'm so sorry, Lola.

well knowing nothing about sheep, but at the risk of sounding rude, and I don't mean this that way at all, did you have a vet look at her? You said she had an infection that was going away, but how do you know it was going away or that she didn't develop something more while she was sick? I had a dog that got sick and the vet treated him for a sinus infection, and he got better, but it was just a smokescreen caused by the meds. Once he was done w the meds he became sick again and the vet did tests and discovered his real problem was fluid around his enlarged heart so sometimes, an infection can mask something else or vice versa. In my experience an animal with babies usually has a 'will' to live, so I think it unusual for her to let herself go without trying since she had little ones. You don't say how old she is, not sure how old sheep get to be, but maybe it was her time if that was the case. So sorry this happened to your sheep

Hi Frillylily, I did get the vet out and he gave me the penicillin and syringes for her. He also gave me a drench to start her rumen as she was only eating pellets and nuts for a couple of days. The lambs were only her second lot and they were 53 days old when she went down so they were just old enough to be weaned. Their scabby mouth is much better but some of the other lambs have it too now so I am keeping a close eye on them all.

I know that my last post stated that Buttercup would be put down that day but when my neighbour came up to do it he thought she was too young to not give her a second chance so she is still alive. We carry her out of the shelter each morning and put her in her sling while we clean the shelter. She hangs there for an hour or so and we put her food and water in a place that she can just reach so that she has to move her legs to get to it. Her lambs stay with her most of the time but I carry them down to the others near the silage bale so they know they have food if they need it. They go back to mum at night.

The neighbour brought his working dogs up today to cajole her into moving a bit more. She didn't move her back legs at all but he thinks we should keep going with the therapy for at least a few more days. She seems happy and always looks forward to any food we bring but we are running out of fresh grass to cut and bring her.





I will persevere until the neighbour thinks there is no hope. The hoist is not mobile so I can't keep her in it and move her around to fresh grass. I will let you know how she goes. Lola.

Lola

I'm sure you've read all about Scabby Mouth, but this data sheet gives some useful info.
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/li...
It seems weird you have it now, when it's normally a summer disease and often in relation to dry conditions, feed etc. Did the ewe get it via foot root or excessive wet ground conditions?
This maybe why she is lame? I would carry on with getting her mobile and walking. Sheep will also eat fruit like apples etc, which may give her a sugar boost to get going.

Hi S124AB, and thanks for the link. We have very soggy ground at the moment. It is like walking on a wet sponge. Our grass is normally growing at this time but we have gone back into winter with frosts and snow that have stopped the growth in the paddocks. The scabby mouth is spreading among the lambs because they are face first into the silage. The vet checked their feet and there is no rot but he wants me to change from the old formaldehyde mix that I use to a modern chemical the next time I get the race out for them.

She is lame mainly because she didn't want to get up when she was feeling unwell and the muscles and tendons weaken very quickly in sheep. She also didn't want to feed her lambs, I assume because even animals know when they can pass an illness to their young.

I have been buying her apples and salad mix from the market and every vegetable from my garden has gone to her. I took her lambs away from her when the dogs were here but next time I will leave them with her so she has an added incentive to get up. I have her legs in a position that was advised by the vet to maximise the extension of the tendons and which also gives her maximum chance of getting up by herself. Lola.

Good luck to you and Buttercup!

It sounds like you're doing everything right for your animals. I'm glad she got a second chance. It would be wonderful if she'd start to use her legs again and could recover. Good luck.

If you try to passively exercise/flex her hind legs will she offer resistance or does she let them go limp?

There is no resistance in the back but a bit in the front. She fell out of the sling once and scrambled with all four legs but couldn't right herself. The back legs are tricky because if she sits on them the wrong way for too long she can break her hips just from the pressure. If she tries to get up and ends up in a bad position she can hurt herself but she won't call out.Today is our first rainy day in a while so I will leave her in the shelter rather than hang her up. Lola.

This morning she was very weak and couldn't sit up properly. In the early afternoon she could no longer lift her head. I fed and medicated her at 4:30pm. At 5:30pm, only 15 minutes ago, she died. Lola.

I'm so sorry! Rest in peace, sweet Buttercup.

I'm sorry, Lola. You really did a wonderful job trying to save her.