Recent content by AronstafFarm

This is fascinating. Makes all the pieces come together. This is after time spent in the one paddock that is brushy. https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publichealth/diseases/tick/paralysis.html Wow. And we removed dog ticks from both of them. There must be a paralytic strain around here. I'm...

First, the insulation for most "lead out wires" is totally insufficient for useful electric fence voltages. The wire overhead for power for the utility company is ~14,000 V. In order to prevent lots of voltage loss, look at the insulation used. Its several inches of air gap. My fence is...

We lime a couple tons to the acre when we establish. Magnesium levels are excellent everywhere but that one paddock, and they only are in a paddock 1-2 days. We rotate the sheep partly to move minerals around! I'll be honest, in the era of the internet this is probably the most cost-effective...

Welp, I tried doing the epsom salts (good suggestion!) this morning and I can't catch her, which is a pretty good sign. I'm not going to stress her. The good thing is that she is eating the mineral, so that has at least some of the electrolytes she needs. And she pooped when I was trying to get...

So... lots of research. This one seems much more likely to have "grass staggers". The paddock was really rich, but its a new area I haven't limed. Lots of fresh sorghum and stuff growing fast. The cerebellar symptoms- head bobbing, eyes ticking back- and forth- fits the bill. This is insane, a...

IT won't let me attach .mov files which is what my phone generates, but it let me attach the zipped... she is kind of bobbing her head. More globally weak than the last. The pasture was really rich so I am thinking staggers

OK amateur sleuths... The rotation went back through the same paddock and now a different 3yearold ewe is showing the same symptoms. Not the mom of the prior lamb (who is still totally fine now). There is a little brush back there from where the forest is being cleared, so a chance for injury...

Just wanted to update- she got what appears to be all strength back in a few days with only a tiny gait difference showing. I can only imagine this was a slipped disc. Whoever had decadron for the win gets a sticker!

Now she can run several steps but then she kind of wipes out. Still limited to the hind legs as near as I can tell. So she is improving. I'm planning on waiting to see if she declines tomorrow (dexamethasone should be waning) or continues to improve. I'm resisting the urge to keep adding...

UPDATE: Temp rectally was 98.6F. We gave 2mg dexamethasone subcutaneously yesterday. Within an hour after the steroid she was able to stand a little. That's too fast for dexamethasone alone I think. Gave another round of Dyne. We don't have access to Banamine, I'm of an age when you could just...

She looks fine, not miserable at all, just frustrated because she tries to move with the rest and keeps falling over. I think I will do the dex, that makes sense to me. Working hypothesis is injury or WMD to me, since she isn't old enough for meningeal worms. Might give another day for the...

I replied inline to make sure I touched on the suggestions. I guess one additional question: how long before the Selenium/VitE stuff would show a benefit? I'm thinking its days... Can/should I redose if it looks promising? Should I dose all the little ones to be safe if its working? They are in...

we have an otherwise totally normal 6 week old St Croix ewe lamb who, in the last few days, has been wobbly, and yesterday can not use her hind legs much at all. She was not at all a low performer of the year's crop. Front legs seem pretty unaffected. Generally she looks fine, she seems...