trampledbygeese
Loving the herd life
Sorry for the title, it's hard to know how to label this. Could you help me brain storm what's up with my rams? Both are still drinking, eating grass and chewing cud, so it's not as urgent as it could be...however...
I have two Icelandic ram yearlings living together. They have just over 1/8th acre pasture right now, which has some grass in it, but it's still short from winter. We supplement with local hay year 'round. As well they have constant access to commercial cobalt block lick and commercial powdered mineral/salt lick. They are obsessively protective of their cobalt lick, and use it several times a day... the powdered minerals not so much.
Yesterday the dominant ram didn't eat any hay, allowing the lesser ram free access to it. This is very unusual! Today neither will touch the hay. The hay is from the same bale they have been eating from all week, so no change in bale or batch of hay. Don't think anything is wrong with the hay as the ewe flock is still munching away at it as per normal.
Today the boys look skinny, their bellies are sunken and there is a bit of a narrow hollow either side of the spine... not sure how to describe it, but usually the bellies are higher and tighter when their digestion is normal.
The lesser ram has a bit of a stiff gate/walk in the back left leg, though his twin died from hernia so I imagine this could be the problem there. This ram also is laying down a lot more. I get him up, he wonders around, chews some grass or cud, then within 5 min, lays down again.
Both rams have more clumpy poop than normal, the greater ram just hard clumpy, the lesser ram mushy clumpy.
They are still nibbling at pasture, chewing cud, drinking water, licking their lick. However, they are also licking my fingers (when I let them into my personal space, they are rams afterall) and metal gates... especially the zinc coated metal. Usually they lick my fingers if their cobalt block is nearly finished (edit: it's about half done).
Infact, the ewe flock (who is on the same minerals and hay) has also taken to licking my fingers the last few days.
More background - the ewes have had their worming meds this spring, Safeguard. The boys haven't had their worming meds yet as I was waiting on someone else to get the meds in... They usually have Ivermec or however you spell it, but I'm beginning to worry it has lost it's effectiveness, so I'll be switching to Safeguard for my rams this year too. Locally we have a selenium deficiency in the soil. I've ordered Kelp meal from the feed store and hopefully it will be in today.
I'm guessing mineral deficiency or worms.
Other possibilities to me would be the quick changes in temperature we have this time of year: 25C and dry yesterday, 15C and damp today... but their breathing seems normal.
I did a walk of the ram pasture, no toxic or poisonous plants I can see, except for these little silver mushrooms which the lesser ram was eating that must have come up in the last day or two. I stomped down the mushrooms as I don't know what they are.
Maybe the neighbour feed them something? We aren't on good terms and they seem to think that they know what they can and cannot feed our animals - we've had serious health problems with them and our animals before, including my poor rescue llama losing all his teeth from being fed horse treats. They clipped their high chemical lawn yesterday, but I didn't see them put anything over the fence. I was watching carefully. The neighbours are bullies so I can't accuse them without solid evidence.
Anyway, can you help me narrow it down? What else should I pick up from the feed store to help them?
At what point should I make a vet appointment? Budget is a very tight right now, so anything I can do myself is best... but then again, the greater ram is my breeding ram, so I need him healthy!
I have two Icelandic ram yearlings living together. They have just over 1/8th acre pasture right now, which has some grass in it, but it's still short from winter. We supplement with local hay year 'round. As well they have constant access to commercial cobalt block lick and commercial powdered mineral/salt lick. They are obsessively protective of their cobalt lick, and use it several times a day... the powdered minerals not so much.
Yesterday the dominant ram didn't eat any hay, allowing the lesser ram free access to it. This is very unusual! Today neither will touch the hay. The hay is from the same bale they have been eating from all week, so no change in bale or batch of hay. Don't think anything is wrong with the hay as the ewe flock is still munching away at it as per normal.
Today the boys look skinny, their bellies are sunken and there is a bit of a narrow hollow either side of the spine... not sure how to describe it, but usually the bellies are higher and tighter when their digestion is normal.
The lesser ram has a bit of a stiff gate/walk in the back left leg, though his twin died from hernia so I imagine this could be the problem there. This ram also is laying down a lot more. I get him up, he wonders around, chews some grass or cud, then within 5 min, lays down again.
Both rams have more clumpy poop than normal, the greater ram just hard clumpy, the lesser ram mushy clumpy.
They are still nibbling at pasture, chewing cud, drinking water, licking their lick. However, they are also licking my fingers (when I let them into my personal space, they are rams afterall) and metal gates... especially the zinc coated metal. Usually they lick my fingers if their cobalt block is nearly finished (edit: it's about half done).
Infact, the ewe flock (who is on the same minerals and hay) has also taken to licking my fingers the last few days.
More background - the ewes have had their worming meds this spring, Safeguard. The boys haven't had their worming meds yet as I was waiting on someone else to get the meds in... They usually have Ivermec or however you spell it, but I'm beginning to worry it has lost it's effectiveness, so I'll be switching to Safeguard for my rams this year too. Locally we have a selenium deficiency in the soil. I've ordered Kelp meal from the feed store and hopefully it will be in today.
I'm guessing mineral deficiency or worms.
Other possibilities to me would be the quick changes in temperature we have this time of year: 25C and dry yesterday, 15C and damp today... but their breathing seems normal.
I did a walk of the ram pasture, no toxic or poisonous plants I can see, except for these little silver mushrooms which the lesser ram was eating that must have come up in the last day or two. I stomped down the mushrooms as I don't know what they are.
Maybe the neighbour feed them something? We aren't on good terms and they seem to think that they know what they can and cannot feed our animals - we've had serious health problems with them and our animals before, including my poor rescue llama losing all his teeth from being fed horse treats. They clipped their high chemical lawn yesterday, but I didn't see them put anything over the fence. I was watching carefully. The neighbours are bullies so I can't accuse them without solid evidence.
Anyway, can you help me narrow it down? What else should I pick up from the feed store to help them?
At what point should I make a vet appointment? Budget is a very tight right now, so anything I can do myself is best... but then again, the greater ram is my breeding ram, so I need him healthy!