Monday 10 October 2016

Pasturella In Lambs

It's not been a great week as far as the stock is concerned. A bit of a disaster in fact, as I've lost some fat lambs to pasturella. 
I am a lucky guy in most things in life but not when it comes to sheep. 
If there's another way for one of my flock to die that I haven't seen yet then I should know it's only a matter of time. 
I vaccinated my lambs earlier in the year against many of the things that can get them as they're growing, one of the things they were meant to be vaccinated again was pasturella but obviously it isn't 100% successful, as I can prove. 

Taken from google:
 "Pasteurella pneumonia is considered one of the most important infectious bacterial diseases of sheep. It is usually caused by Pasteurella haemolytica, a bacteria that is a normal inhabitant of the upper respiratory tract of the sheep."

The main trouble with it is how fast the animals go downhill, I was talking to another Shepard and he said that after a cool evening we had the other night he found 7 dead the next morning and a friend of his found 10 dead in one field. It can happen over night and as I check my animals twice a day it's hard for me to accept that a healthy animal can just die like that. 

I managed to save one with a course of antibiotics as I caught it early enough but a few more have not been so lucky, the worst is I had been planning on selling them as store lambs a few weeks ago but I'd been working on the extensions so much I hadn't got round to it. As they had plenty of grass and they all seemed healthy I wasn't in too much of a rush. 

But, like with all things, I try to keep a positive outlook, but the sheep do make it hard for me sometimes. 

On a slightly crazy note when I've been dealing with these lambs this stupid song has been going through my head, only with the lyrics changed ever so slightly. 

25 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear about your losses. That would be terribly discouraging.

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  2. Sorry to hear about your lambs..... you must be feeling quite ticked off about keeping sheep!

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  3. Oh no what a loss, I hope you dont lose any more

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    1. It's a bugger to have fattened them all summer and loose them to something like this.

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  4. Sorry to read about your lambs Kev. I know what it's like to lose cattle. You feel so powerless and numb inside. Have you contacted your vet to check them all out?

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    1. No, all the signs are there. Wish I figured it out sooner.

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  5. oh no Kev what a blow to you and your flock. How sad.

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    1. Certainly feels like a personal insult really.

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  6. It does make sense why mutton/lambs meat are so expensive to buy...as a shepherd you face big challenges Kev. I'm so sorry to hear about your recent dilemma...Take courage and I hope things will work for the better.

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    1. For the effort it should be worth a lot more!

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  7. I am sure that you have done all you can regarding the health of your sheep. However, a farmer I know comments that once sheep are born they are determined to find some way to die. It would seem that nothing alters. Love Andie xxx

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    1. We've had them die in every way over the years, from necks snapped in fencing to drowning in a bucket of water.

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  8. So sorry to hear the bad news about your lambs, Kev. I was going to quote something like Andie above said . . . Sheep are born looking for a way to die. Don't know why they are so hard (at times) to raise, but a lot of frustration has to be involved with a good, conscientious sheperd as you. Hindsight always brings doubts, but you took care of them as well as anyone could, I'm sure.

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    1. I do think maybe I should go for a smaller hardier breed that needs less care.

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  9. So sorry for your loss. It must be a minefield looking after large numbers of animals. Lets hope this is the last you experience.

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    1. The worst is i don't even have a large number really. And I'm pretty proactive, sorting problems as I see them.

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    1. Thank you so very much for giving permission. Aside from the All category and the slideshow on the Home page, you can see your header under Cooking, Daily Life, Gardening, Pets/Livestock and the United Kingdom.

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  11. Ugh. That's terrible. The only experience I've had with pasturella was with a pet house rabbit and it was a nasty terrible thing. I wouldn't wish that on anyone who kept animals.

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    1. This may be an unpopular question but the lambs that died are they salvageable at all? For the dogs? I don't know what the laws are regarding this.

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    2. I think as it was natural causes they have to be disposed of in the correct way. I can tell you a few stories though...

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  12. As a fellow shepherd, I feel your pain. I am convinced that all sheep have a death wish.

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