# Udder/Teat problem



## ONThorsegirl (Apr 2, 2005)

After finding one ewe was having awfully thin lambs we fliped her over and she has hard spots on her teats, a couple have scabs, so ok my first thought was that we brought some sort of ORF disease from the salebarn (previous post about ORF, I haven't been to his farm). But there are absolutly no marks on the lambs lips or mouths, we checked them. 

A few of the ewes have these spots on their teats. What could it be? Anything I can do to help heal it? 

If this is ORF, will it completely go away? or is culling going to be huge this year?

Melissa


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## SilverVista (Jan 12, 2005)

Are the sores you're describing on the ewes located randomly, or do they tend to be on the sides of the teats toward the inside or the rear? If that's the case, I would suspect that it's caused by the sharp teeth of vigorously nursing lambs.

Even if it were to turn out to be orf, I don't know why you would cull. It's a virus and once it has run it's course, the afflicted animals are immune.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Agree it sounds like sharp lamb teeth and an ORF sheep is an imune sheep and better kept if otherwise right. Float the front lamb teeth with an emory board or plumbers emery cloth (well you get the idea) just don't get too enthusiastic.


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## ONThorsegirl (Apr 2, 2005)

So this isn't as big on an issue as what I thought? 

The sore are on the sides of the teats, the ewes udder its self is fine. The ewes are eatting and acting normally, no one seems to be in pain, except one ewe who wouldn't let her lamb suck and now we are bottle feeding. 

I have heard one thing that you can do, vaseline and iodine? So I let this works its course and hopefully everyone will be alright. 

I haven't heard of a vaccine for ORF around here, is this a vet only vaccine? Or more of something just in the US?

Thanks Guys, 
Melissa


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

There are several varieties of ORF, and I'm not sure there is a vacine. I've heard of colectign the scabs etc. and deliberatly infecting the rest of the lambs in less critical areas than the mouth (where it can affect the udder with nursing) like on their bellies or behind their front legs. People can get ORF too so be careful if you encounter it. I really should sat when you encounter it, if you farm sheep long enough you'll likely get it on the farm.


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## SilverVista (Jan 12, 2005)

Well, let's revisit the idea of whether it's a big issue. 

With teat damage from either soremouth OR sharp lamb's teeth, the "big issue" would be that the ewe won't let the lamb nurse because it hurts. If it's soremouth, it can become a bigger issue because the lamb's mouth coming in contact with the sore can infect the lamb, and then the lamb won't nurse because it hurts. Also, with either situation, if the ewe is a heavy producer and being fed for such production, she is in danger of coming down with mastitis. 

So no, you would never want to cull an animal from the flock simply because it had a bout of this virus. BUT if you have ewes refusing to nurse, then you have bottle lambs. If you have lambs that won't suck because of pain, then you have tube lambs. If you have ewes with mastitis, then you have a busy doctoring pen in the barn. Keep in mind that not all cases break out on the teat and cause the ewe to stop nursing. And not all cases cause lesions inside the lambs' mouths and interfere with sucking. But it's an expensive nuisance to have to watch closely so that you don't have weak, hungry lambs and feverish, ruined ewes, and then treat them all. Once you're past the outbreak stage, though, the sufferers are immune and as long as they don't have secondary problems, would have no reason to be culled.

Think of soremouth as being the sheep version of a bad cold sore. It's caused by a similar virus. You can use things like zinc oxide or salicilic acid to help keep the sores from getting worse, but like cold sores, they're going to go away when the virus is good and ready to go. Better to avoid it.

That said, let's hope that your ewe really is just suffering from the lamb's sharp teeth. File lower front teeth a bit like Ross recommended, and use a healing ointment like bag balm on the ewe to keep the tissue softened while it heals.


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## SilverVista (Jan 12, 2005)

http://www.colorado-serum.com/Vet's%20Corner/Vol.1%20Number5.htm

This is an excellent page describing just about everything you need to know about contagious ecthyma. We pick up our vaccine from the vet -- yes, it's a controlled substance since it's a live virus serum and very contagious to humans too.


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