# Sheep ate Mistletoe... Help!



## Leslie (Jun 20, 2002)

Vet has not called back. Can anyone tell me if there is anything I should do? Ram ate what would be about a dinner plate full. It had berries on it. Ram is about 150lbs. Ewes ate less. They are bred.


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

How did the sheep make out Leslie? I'm sure you did what I did and pulled up a whole lot of not very helpful webpages.


----------



## Leslie (Jun 20, 2002)

Hi Ross!
The vet never did call back. I tried to extrapilate from what little info I could dig up. I fed them boc choi and mustard to speed up their digestion because I wasn't sure about oiling sheep. I know folks do this with goats and horses. They seem like they are doing fine now. My only lingering concern is that I believe my 2 ewes to be bred and Mistletoe is used to induce abortions. But so far so good. Thanks for asking.
Leslie


----------



## FairviewFarm (Sep 16, 2003)

Hi Leslie,

I'm sorry I didn't see this post earlier. I checked four sources for the toxicity of mistletoe to sheep. It is not mentioned in Poisonous Plants of the Midwest (Univeristy of Illinois, 1972) nor in the Sheep Production Handbook (2002 ed, vol. 7). Laura Lawson in her book, Managing Your Ewe, doesn't address poisonous plants at all. Paula Simmons and Carol Ekarius, state in their book Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep, that some plants poisonous to cattle and horses don't affect sheep at all. So unless you have the one-in-a-million ram or ewes they should be okay.

Karen


----------

