Sheep Ailments E-Book

Eddie Straiton

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Eddie Straiton is the world's outstanding communicator of veterinary procedures and animal care. He earned the title 'TV Vet' from the long series of television programmes in which he brilliantly demonstrated animal husbandry to a wide audience. Following on from his television experience, Eddie became a prolific author, and more than half a million copies of his books have been sold around the world. Now in its seventh edition, Sheep Ailments, Recognition and Treatment covers all the essential information that a flock owner, shepherd or student needs to know, featuring a concise, clear text based around a large number of specially-commissioned photographs.

Leseprobe

Sheep Ailments

Recognition and Treatment

Eddie Straiton

The original TV vet

The Crowood Press

First published in 1972 by Farming Press Limited as The TV Vet Book for SheepFarmers

Sixth edition 1992, retitled as Sheep Ailments

This edition published in 2001 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2015

This impression 2013

© Eddie Straiton 1972, 1992 and 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 063 8

Acknowledgement is made to Mr W. A. Watson for the photograph of bright blindness on page 149, and to Mr Ian Shaw, Veterinary Investigation Officer, Worcester for the photograph on page 140, on Border disease, Crown copyright.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Foreword

GENERAL COMMONSENSE ADVICE

METABOLIC DISEASES

1   Pregnancy Toxaemia (Twin Lamb Disease)

2   Hypomagnesaemia

3   Lambing Sickness

4   Cerebrocortical Necrosis

5   Swayback

6   Acidosis

7   Pine

8   Vitamin E or Selenium Deficiency

9   Phosphorus Deficiency

Double scalp • Rickets (Bent-Leg) • Open mouth

10   Vitamin A Deficiency

CLOSTRIDIAL DISEASES

11   Enterotoxaemia

12   Lamb Dysentery

13   Braxy

14   Black Disease

15   Clostridial Infection of Wounds

16   Tetanus

17   Botulism

DISEASES OF TICK AREAS

18   Louping Ill (Trembling)

19   Tick-Borne Fever

20   Tick Pyaemia (Enzootic Staphylococcal Infection)

ADDITIONAL DISEASES OF LAMBS

21   Scour in Lambs (Neonatal Diarrhoea)

E. coli infection • Watery mouth • Salmonellosis • Coccidiosis

22   Daft Lamb Disease (Cerebellar Atrophy)

23   Joint-Ill (Bacterial Polyarthritis)

24   Liver Abscesses (Hepatic Necrobacillosis – Fusiformis Necrophorus Infection)

25   Stiff Lamb Disease

26   Hypothermia

INTERNAL PARASITES

27   Roundworms (Gastro-intestinal Helminthiasis) (Nematodes)

28   Nematodirus Infection

29   Fluke, Fasciolasis, Liver Rot (Liver Fluke Diesease)

30   Tapeworms

FOOT CONDITIONS

31   Foot Rot

32   Additional Foot Conditions

Foot and mouth disease • Redfoot • Strawberry foot rot • Foot abscess • Scald (Interdigital dermatitis)

INFERTILITY AND ABORTION

33   Infertility

34   Abortion

Enzootic abortion • Vibrionic abortion • Salmonella abortion • Toxoplasmosis abortion • Q Fever abortion

35   Urolithiasis (Inability to pass urine)

OBSTETRICS

36   How Long Should Ewes be Kept?

37   Natural Lambing

38   A Guide to Good Lambing

39   Ringworm in Ewes

40   Caesarean Section

41   Prolapse of the Cervix

42   Prolapse of the Uterus

43   Dealing with Malpresentations

44   Common Malpresentations

Head back • Two lambs coming together • Single head presented with one or both legs back • Head and one leg outside the vulva • Head out and swollen • Posterior presentation • Breech presentation • Torsion of the uterus • Dog-sitting position

45   Foetal Abnormalities

Dropsical lamb • Imperforate anus • Entropion (turned-in eyelids)

46   Retained Afterbirth

47   Mastitis

48   Care of the New-Born Lamb

49   Persuading a Ewe to Adopt an Orphan Lamb

50   Docking and Castration

GENERAL SHEEP DISEASES

51   Actinobacillosis

52   Anthrax

53   Border Disease

54   Contagious Ophthalmia (Infectious Keratoconjunctivitis)

55   External Parasites

Lice – pediculosis • Psoroptic and sarcoptic mange • Chorioptic mange • Demodectic mange • Ticks • Blowfly myiasis (strike)

56   Poisoning

57   Kale Poisoning

58   Other Plant Poisons

Bracken poisoning (bright blindness) • Rhododendron poisoning

59   Copper Poisoning

60   Lead Poisoning

61   Sturdy or Gid (Coenurosis)

62   Johne’s Disease

63   Lightning Stroke

64   Listeriosis

65   Mycotic Dermatitis (Lumpy Wool Disease, Wool Rot)

66   Orf and Similar Conditions

Entropion (turned-in eyelids) • Periorbital eczema (Staphylococcal dermatitis) • Alopecia (wool slip)

67   Photosensitization

Facial eczema, yellowses, head grit • Allergic dermatitis • Headfly disease • Nasal fly disease

68   Pneumonia

Bacterial (enzootic pneumonia, pasteurellosis) • Parasitic pneumonia (husk) • Mechanical pneumonia

69   Chronic Pneumonias

Maedi-visna • Jaagsiekte (Pulmonary adenomatosis) • Pneumonia of housed sheep

70   Scrapie

71   Uncommon Sheep Conditions

Tuberculosis • Ringworm • Ked infestation • Pizzle rot (posthisis) • Accidents • Sheep-worrying • Damage from rams fighting • Broken legs in lambs

HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT

72   Protecting the Indoor Ewe and Lamb

73   Hill Sheep Farming

In Scotland • Preventative medicine plan

74   Recent Advances and their Practical Commercial Potential

Commercial embryo transfer • Artificial insemination • Controlled breeding (Ram testing, sponges, induction) • Pregnancy diagnosis using scanners • Specialized feeding • Condition scoring

75   How to Keep a Clean Flock

Index

To the memory of the lateAlex Wilson, MRCVS,Veterinary Investigation Officer in charge ofthe superb veterinary laboratory at theWest of Scotland Agricultural College, Auchincruive,with sincere appreciation for his spontaneousand generous help.

Preface

One bottle of lambing oils, one bottle of fever drink, a piece of rolled-up fencing wire, pliers and a hammer. This was my equipment to fight disease and losses in a Scottish hillside flock during the early spring of 1938 – this and the limited experience of two previous lambing seasons. The shepherd was an alcoholic, and I had to cope almost entirely on my own. The wire, pliers and hammer were my ‘stitching tackle’.

Looking back with present-day knowledge, it seems miraculous that my losses were not catastrophic: in fact they were comparatively slight. The only possible explanation must have been the natural resistance of a completely self-contained flock, plus the permanent pasture land.

Today things are quite different. The modern flockmaster, with his local knowledge, can embark on a lambing season with a veritable armoury of preventative drugs, so comprehensive that it should be a disgrace to lose a single ewe or lamb.

It is my hope that this work will serve as a simple, easily understood reference book not only for such flockmasters, but also for generations of agricultural and veterinary students and for veterinary surgeons in practice.

I acknowledge with sincere thanks the work and publications of the veterinary scientists, without reference to which it would not have been possible to present such a comprehensive disease picture. And once again, I express my appreciation and thanks to my photographer, Tony Boydon, and all the farmers who co-operated in providing so many of the illustrations.

EDDIE STRAITONStone, Staffordshire

Acknowledgements

My thanks also go to: Dr G. C. Coles, M.A., PhD, CIBiol., FIBiol. who very kindly edited the section on parasites; David Henderson of the Moredun Foundation for his co-operation in providing colour illustrations; the Central Veterinary Laboratory for the illustrations of a dropsical lamb and lamb dysentery; the Moredun Foundation — the ewe’s eye is filmed over from contagious ophthalmia; the Scottish Agricultural College – strawberry foot rot; the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies – redfoot – also through the courtesy of Dr Phil Scott – the slides of uterine and vaginal prolapse; the Veterinary Investigation Centre, Shrewsbury – through the courtesy of Dr C. J. Lewis – the slide of orf affecting a ewe’s nostrils; and the British Veterinary Association for permission to use their copyright of the orf illustration.

Foreword

By Dr J. A. WATT, MRCVS, PhD, BSc, Head of Veterinary Department and Director of Veterinary Research Edinburgh and East of Scotland School of Agriculture

As one who has long been involved in diagnosing disease and advising farmers and shepherds on health and flock management, it gives me considerable pleasure to write a Foreword to this welcome addition to the subject of health in the sheep flock. The approach is one which has been followed by the author in his previous work, that is, the liberal use of photographs to illustrate recognizable conditions and operations, accompanied by a clear, condensed text which demonstrates the author’s wide practical experience.

The format of illustration and readable text should appeal in particular to stock-owners and students, while avoiding the pitfall of producing ‘do it yourself experts. The importance of the sheep in agriculture tends to be underestimated, nevertheless in some areas in Britain it is of major and increasing importance in the livestock industry.

There can be few species in which so much attention has been directed towards the conception of flock protection and health, as opposed to conditions in the individual animal, and this wealth of epidemiological information has of itself generated the problem of dissemination and application of this knowledge. It has long been recognized that this education field, i.e. the application of results of research on the farm, is a difficult one, and for this reason material presented as a readable and practical reference work performs a valuable function.

This book, then, fills an important gap in the series so ably presented by the author, and its unique form of presentation will result in the dissemination of information in many quarters where the stereotyped text-book has little appeal.

J. A. WATTSouth Queensferry, West Lothian

General Commonsense Advice

1

A veterinary investigation officer friend of mine, Mr Ian Shaw, gave me some of the soundest advice on sheep I’ve ever had. He said, ‘When sheep are not thriving, wherever they are and whatever the conditions, before looking for disease, obscure or otherwise, always examine the teeth’ (photo 1).

Over many years in practice this advice has saved me much heart searching and embarrassment. I would advise all flock-masters to keep it in mind.

Examination of the molar teeth, particularly in adult sheep, is not easy but it can be done by using a proper sheep gag and a powerful torch.

Again and again I have solved the problems of an unthrifty ewe by removing a loose or deformed molar. Such ewes do not always salivate or drool. They merely become progressively thinner. Obviously such dental problems are more likely to occur in older sheep, and can lead not only to malnutrition but also to death from pregnancy toxaemia.

2

The first sign may be the odd thin ewe in a flock of approximately the same age. Closer examination may or may not show salivation, but often the cheeks are swollen with wads of partially chewed food (photo 2) and the breath smells foul. The incisor or front teeth may or may not be irregular but usually the main trouble is in the cheek or molar teeth.

Treatment is very much a job for the veterinary surgeon. He will assess the success rate and economics of treatment.

Cud-dropping (quidding) can occur where the teeth are normal.

In pedigree adult sheep the fault is sometimes thought to be hereditary but it is more likely to be caused by acidosis due to over-feeding. Quidding may also be associated with an infected wound of the tongue.

In lambs such a wound or infection should always be suspected; in fact a recent report suggests that the infection may occasionally be more or less identical to the ‘wooden tongue’ condition seen in cattle. The resultant cud-dropping can usually be cured by a course of antibiotics.

Explanation of sheep terms frequently used

A ‘hogg’ is a sheep that is no longer a lamb but has not yet been shorn; usually it becomes a ‘hogg’ around one year old.

After the first shearing the ‘hogg’ becomes a ‘shearling’.

A ‘gimmer’ is a young female sheep. It can be a ‘gimmer hogg’ or a ‘gimmer shearling’.

A ‘teg’ is the same as a hogg – a sheep between weaning and first shearing.

A ‘wedder’ or ‘wether’ is a castrated ram.

A ‘teaser’ is a vasectomized ram.

A ‘hirsel’ is an area of land which will support a flock of sheep – usually around 500 ewes – that can be looked after by one shepherd.

Metabolic Diseases

Perhaps the term ‘disorders’ is more appropriate since there are no germs involved in metabolic diseases.

They are produced by disturbances in the animal’s metabolism, i.e. the conversion of food into the appropriate substances which are needed to keep the normal body functions going. The main organ concerned in metabolism is the liver which could be described as the ‘factory of the body’. There the simple products of intestinal digestion are elaborated and built up before being transported to the various parts of the anatomy to provide heat and energy, and to build up and replace muscle, brain, etc. In order to perform this function the liver must be constantly supplied not only with the basic products of digestion – fatty and amino acids – but also with minerals, trace elements and vitamins.