The verdict was in today and it was indeed Barber Pole Worms that killed our ewe. We treated every ewe and lamb for this as the lambs turned 4 days old when I tagged and gave them their other shots etc. but apparently there is a time limit to the treatments effectiveness. Why we have never run into a problem before this is easy we have never had a rainy season that lasted this long before in the years we been keeping sheep. Apparently there is also a new strain of it hitting in the super rain soaked region that is resistant to traditional treatments. The vet at the university said our ewe was only one of a long list of carcasses he had identified as barber pole worm death recently.
What this meant was my son, mother and I were in the barn for hours this evening re-worming all 50 odd sheep. Technically we should also change their pasture until these wet conditions can fix itself but there simply is no other pasture to put them out on except where they are at until I get some more fencing finished. On the bright side the field they are in is large enough that they have plenty of room to move into new areas so that should cut down on the danger. It also means we are going to be buying hay over the next Winter though I imagine.
Ya know drought is definitely a terrible thing but this overly rain saturated mess we been dealing with this year sure causes more health problems overall. I can't even properly clean out the barn from the wet creeping into it and a big portion of the back is still a swamp. The perfect breeding grounds for these types of microscopic creepy crawly death dealers.
As I stated above this has never been an issue for us before because by this time the ground is usually so dry people are praying for rain around here. The heat and the dry conditions kill off the larva long before the treatments we give out wear off during normal years.
Chalk this up to another learning experience. Sad it had to cost the life of such a prime productive ewe though.
On the bright-side of things though as we were capturing and shoving worm medicine down each sheep throat I got to inspect all the hooves we been having so many problems with. Since we are running them out into the hay field now the flock is getting to travel about 30 yards or so on gravel I had put down a few years ago and it has done wonders for getting their feet back into good shape.
After this latest loss and now the pasturage/fencing issue I am pretty sure 2015 is going to be another red number year overall. Oh well growing pains are to be expected I guess.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!
I hope you have got it in time and suffer no more losses, if medication was no longer available is there a herbal alternative that could be used at all against worm problems, we are looking at getting our first little flock later this year for our smallholding :-)
ReplyDeleteDawn - Well I think in a grid down situation the best way to deal with this issue would be to move the flock to drier pasture and rotate them daily. While that is impossible under the circumstances we have now in a grid down situation it would be more of an option as vehicles going by at 80 MPH wouldn't be as much of a concern. I have used Pumpkins as a more natural wormer but they are not usually ready until the rainy season is over. Supposedly copper of some sort helps killt he worms but if that would be available or not is a question.
DeleteI looked them up to get more info. Wow, what a headache to deal with.
ReplyDeleteRuss - Ya the wet is something out of my control. My bet is that has a lot to do with why flocks were moved around so much in the old days.
DeleteI just looked them up too. Ugh. Among the suggestions of treating them (beyond wormer or antibiotics, which they are apparently gaining resistance too?) they suggest pasture rotation (as you have said, rain makes it difficult) or a non-susceptible species (my vote is chickens rather than pigs, but that's just me).
ReplyDeleteReading your struggles, Preppy, makes me realize who truly unready we are on the whole for any kind of significant event. All of these tiny parts moving together to hold an economic system that feeds and clothes and heals us, any of which can be thrown awry with terrible results.
TB - You got it. One of my main criticisms of most preppers is that they can horde food, ammo, etc but most never really follow the idea to the end. They keep goats or chickens or whatever and prep but never think about where the food for their food is going to come from or how a collapse will effect their operation in obscure ways that might make it impossible.
DeleteYou can't think of everything but it helps to experience as much as possible before you need to.
pp,
ReplyDeletego to the 'thoughts from frANKAND FERN' BLOG.
THEY ARE DEALING WITH THESE WORMS AND ARE GOING TO ADMINISTER 'COPPER BOLUSES'.
sorry about caps little finger has a life of its own.
Deborah - I read about that and mentioned it up above in one of the comments. I am looking for a place to get some of that Copper Boluse stuff now too.
DeleteSheep will always find new ways to die!
ReplyDeleteIn a collapse situation we'd have to have much lower stocking densities I'd imagine as we'd have to keep a pretty close eye on them due to two legged predators. With lower numbers of sheep per acre I'd imagine some problems would go away. That said I'm fairly under stocked and still having foot problems.
Kev - Well the problem with stocking issues would also dwindle in a collapse situation. Namely speeding motor vehicles. The biggest issue to running stock seems to be the fencing part of it. I could literally let my sheep roam free around the place and they would never get more than 100 yards away from the barn even if I had 100 or more head. There is more than enough forage. Last Winter I let them have free range into the hay field and they would not go passed that magical point that allowed them to run back to the safety of the barn when spooked. Trouble is if they got hat far in the other direction the cars would hit them so I have to build the fence.
DeletePP - I'm late to the party, but isn't too much coopper for sheep deadly?? I was told by the guy at the Ag Extension office that a lot of goat feed / supplements can't be used for sheep because of the extra copper. And if that's true for the feed, I would think it would be true for the copper bolus as it is a bunch of pure copper rods?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, also wondering if you based your diagnosis of Barber Pole worm death on symptoms (severe anemia) or was a necroposy done? We did one on the baby goat that died of bloat (opened her up, yep, froathy bloat), but was really interested if someone else had done opened up a goat / sheep so see if it's actually a worm infestation and what it really looked like. Gross? Probably, but I'd still do it to ours to take a look-see.