Ewe Weak In Back End

[dstonestreet]

We have a ewe that is somewhat weak in her back end. We thought it was her feet, so we made sure they were trimmed and ok. She walks fine at times, then other times she walks like her back end is weak, its hard to explain. She is around 5 years old and did have trouble lambing this past January, not sure if that created an issue or not. She had seemed fine until we turned her in with the ram early in the month. Any ideas?

[EmsoffLambs]

A couple different possibilities come to mind. First, if you are not supplementing selenium, you may consider a shot of BoSe. A quick call to your vet or extension agent may be a good idea first though, to confirm that you are in selenium deficient area.

The other possibility is meningeal worm. I have never dealt with this myself but it will cause weakness in the back end. Ivomec should kill the worm and the sheep should recover if too much damage to has not already occurred.

[dstonestreet]

Selenium did come to mind. We have a selenium block in with the sheep, but that doesn't mean she gotten enough in her. We've switched to Vitaferm Minerals and it has addition selenium added, but we just recently. What is a good way to get supplemental selenium into sheep.

We did deworm with Ivomec Sheep Drench around May or June. I don't have my paper in front of me to list exactly when.

Thank you for the suggestions, I appreciate them. I think we are going to try them and see if they work.

[ARLambs]

Thiamine deficiency, if you are feeding a coccidiostat

[EmsoffLambs]

Forgot that one. If this were my ewe, I would hit her again with Ivomec, give a couple doses of Thiamine or B Complex and a single dose of BoSe.

[dstonestreet]

Just wondering since we live in a selenium deficient area, could Bose be given to our ewes annually like a CD/T shot? That way we would try to avoid problems like this on down the road.