Yesterday, Leia was off her food, so I've been keeping an eye on her - this morning it was clear she'd contracted blue tongue...very swollen face, trembling (fever) and blue lips/nose. Although all the sheep were vaccinated on the 2nd September, it doesn't begin to offer much protection until the third injection (3 weeks after the first two) and even then full protection takes some weeks to accrue. So just bad luck I guess. I separated her from the other sheep and after a trip to the vet she's on antibiotics and anti inflammatories. She seems a little brighter this evening.
The disease is only spread by mosquitos spreading infected blood, so although the other sheep can't catch it from Leia, the likelihood of a mosquito biting her then biting one of the others is much higher if they're all together.
The general advice is to keep the sick animal inside, but as I only have one barn that means leaving all the healthy sheep outside with the mosquitos. In the end I've brought the pig arc back into use and put the Leia in there allowing the other sheep to continue to use the barn. It's very sad to see an animal so visibly ill and distressed, plus separating her from the rest of the flock puts her under additional stresses. Just hope the others remain healthy.
mercredi 10 septembre 2008
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2 commentaires :
Sounds bad. What is this "blue tongue" sickness called in french?
I'm not a sheep expert but I have never heard about that. Is it new in the area?
In french it's fièvre catarrhale ovine. Affects sheep, goats, cows, deer, lamas etc..particularly high mortality rates amongst sheep.
In europe it used to be just in Greece, Southern Italy etc but in past few years has spread throughout Europe...last week first cases in Sweden.
http://groups.google.com/group/farmtalking/browse_thread/thread/b5a36aba42d0560c#
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