SheepGirl's 2013 Lambing Thread - Update - July 2013

[SheepGirl]

Went out to feed this morning and the ram lamb's tail had fallen off

 

[SheepGirl]

Today is Ali's birthday She turns four. Billy would've turned four today, too, but I have no idea if he is still alive or not lol. And 9 days ago was Paulie's 3 yr birthday, and again, I have no idea if he's still alive or not haha. Both were probably turned into sausage. :/ But I made dinosaur egg oatmeal for Ali. That's seriously one of her favorite things lol. She gobbled it down. I also took a bunch of photos of the lambs this morning so I'm working on uploading them now...

 

[SheepGirl]

Lots of pictures today!

Ciqala, the three lambs, and then Katy Perry & Lady Gaga in the background.

The babies playing with each other

She thinks she's cool

Rosie is 26 days old. Look at how tall she is!

Lady Gaga looks funny with her in full fleece so I figured I would share a picture of her goofiness with you guys

Rosie

Bella

Edward

Anybody have any idea what this is? It started on the ram lamb and now the other two lambs have it. I just noticed it within the past week. I'm 99% it is NOT soremouth because 1) we've never had it and I've quarantined all the sheep that come home from fair or new sheep; 2) it is not red or painful to the lambs; 3) Susan Schoenian posted a photo of it on (I guess) one of her lambs, and she said it wasn't soremouth. So do you think it's some sort of fungus? The ewes don't have it.

Rosie looking adorable

She's such a wide sheep! I love wide sheep like this. Her mom is really narrow so I'm glad she's wide lol

And an update on Katy Perry's ear...
A day or two after her little incident

And this morning

 

[purplequeenvt]

It looks like sore mouth to me. It could have come in any number of ways. Sore mouth used to run through our lambs every year, but now we just get a handful each season. We have 3 or 4 with it right now.

 

[SheepGirl]

It looks like sore mouth to me. It could have come in any number of ways. Sore mouth used to run through our lambs every year, but now we just get a handful each season. We have 3 or 4 with it right now.

If it is soremouth, I don't know where it would've come from.

We've never had soremouth in our lambs nor anything that looks like it, so this is completely new.

The last time my sheep left my property was back in mid September, when they went to the fair. And those were my lambs, who were about four months old. They were put in the sheep barn when the tent they were in flooded, and they did have nose-to-nose contact with market lambs. But they were in quarantine for a week and even still they never developed soremouth (which they probably would have if they were exposed to it).

So the next culprit would be Hank, but he was in quarantine for 30 days and his breeder (a vet BTW) never mentioned anything about soremouth nor did I see any soremouth on the lambs he had when I went to go pick him up. So it might be Hank's fault, but still, when I put him with the ewes, you would think Katy Perry & Lady Gaga would've gotten it then, still being young (4-5 months old).

And my friend has a show flock of Suffolks & Shrops and they have soremouth in their flock, BUT I haven't been to her farm since last summer and she's never been to my place.

Those are the only things I could think of. I really hope it isn't soremouth! I may have the vet come out to look at it and see what she thinks. It's really bothering me. :/ If it were another disease, it probably wouldn't matter to me much, but this is a zoonotic disease and that means I can't kiss my lamb's lips because I might get it too silly reason, but it's true lol

 

[purplequeenvt]

It could be something else, but it looks suspiciously like sore mouth to me. Honestly, for the most part, sore mouth isn't a big issue. Keep an eye on your ewes though. They can get the sores on their udders and then they might not let the babies nurse. From what I've read, Hank could be a carrier....kind of like Typhoid Mary.

 

[Bridgemoof]

Oh gosh, I hope it isn't sore mouth either. My Tunis bottle lamb has something suspicious on her mouth too, but not as bad as yours. And I HAVE been kissing my lambs. I hope I don't get whatever it is. So whatever it is, can it be treated with something?

The pics of the lambs are just TOO adorable SheepGirl. They look like the perfect little Easter lambs! :bun Rosie is such a chunkster.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Cute pics!! You know what's missing? Natural colored sheep in your flock!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I am pretty positive it is sore mouth!!! I am sorry your sheep had to get that nasty thing! Mine have just picked it up as well, about a year ago! The initial infection is the worse and most of the time the sheep will be clean after that, with small break outs on one or two every once in a while!
I quarentine super well too, but some sheep are carriers and never have symptoms in their entire lives, but pass it on to all the others! Which was my new ram I bought last year! If you have deer on your place, they are horrible at spreading sore mouth!!!
Just be sure to wear golves if you have to handle any of the sores or drench one that has sores!!
Good luck!!!
It isn't as bad as it first feels when you find out your babies actually have the nasty thing!!!

 

[Bridgemoof]

There's only one thing to do Sheepgirl. CULL them. Just kidding.