# ewe with diarrhea



## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

I have a 3 y/o ewe Katahdin that had twins Dec. 9. They've been turned out about 10 hours daily for about the last two weeks. At night I bring them in and give them maybe 2 cups of horse feed spread amongst the 4 of them.
( I have another adult ewe). They are getting lots of green grass from turnout.
I am new to sheep and was reading about body conditioning a few days ago so I went out to assess my sheep. All but this ewe-Sugar- feel like there in pretty good shape. On her I can plainly feel her ribs. I do still see those lambs nursing off her so maybe that is contributing to it.
I noticied on Saturday that she had a poopy looking butt. Yesterday big pile of loose, dark poo in the stall.
I go by famacha on deworming and her eyelids are dark pink. She's in good spirits and eating but I'm concerned about the stools and thinness. Could she have coccidiosis? Also, should I put those lambs somewhere else? They're almost 6 months old now and I figured she would wean them on her own but maybe I should seperate them?


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## LibertyWool (Oct 23, 2008)

If it is just loose, I would not worry about it. Just keep an eye on her. When you turn sheep out onto pasture a lot of times it will loosen up. Or she could have eaten something that didn't set well with her system. I've only had coccidiosis in lambs and with that you will have runny dark scours (sometimes bloody). You have to see the scours wet on the lamb/ewe for color, as they will turn dark as they dry. What I normally do for green scours is LA200 and and deworm. The LA200 will fix it normally if it is bacterial and the dewormer will taker care of otherwise. If it is dark/bloody, I use Sulmet (still works in my flock, albion is another one people use) and B-Complex for 3 days. I had a case of Polio the first time I used sulmet, so now I always use B-Complex or Thiamine with Sulmet just to be safe.

I would check the feed that you are feeding them for copper content. You said it is horse feed. Sheep can not have added coper in their feed. It will build up to toxic levels and you will end up with dead sheep. My rule of thumb is 1 lb of grain per lamb nursing. I have 20 lambs, so I'm feeding 20 lbs of grain a day split into two feedings. Whenever you change feed, do it slowly so they can adjust. I will wean my lambs between 60-90 days.

Also, famacha is only going to tell you if she is anemic (ie barber pole worm). It will not tell you if she has other worms like tape etc. Normally tape worms are not a serious health issue in sheep, but if she is not getting enough to eat it could be contributing. You could always have a fecal sample taken.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

Thanks for the help. I think I will just take a fecal sample in tomorrow. The gal at the vet that does them wasn't there today. I just worry about her being so thin. Should I take her babies from her-they are not much shorter than she is now!
I did wonder about the pasture but since she is the only one with the loose poop thought it might be something else. Guess I will know for sure tomorrow.
I will check the horse feed-forgot about that copper thing.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> Should I take her babies from her-they are not much shorter than she is now!



She's probably already about dried up, but it couldnt hurt to seperate them for a few weeks.

And as Liberty said, switch to SHEEP feed, and SHEEP minerals


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