Deficiency, or hypomagnesemia, is most common 4 to 6 weeks after lambing when deficient animals show very characteristic symptoms including uncoordinated walking, trembling or recumbence. Sheep have very small reserves of magnesium to buffer changes in absorption of magnesium.
Producers reported clinical signs including staggering, convulsions, head tilt, circling, recumbency, paddling of the limbs and death in 0.5 to 10 per cent of the flock. Some also reported abortions in clinical normal sheep.
Clinical magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesaemia or grass tetany) can result in ewe deaths, typically when ewes are grazing grass-dominant pastures or cereal crops in winter and early spring. Symptoms include staggering, incoordination and sudden death.
animals that are lame, drooling or salivating excessively. animals that have ulcers, erosions or blisters around the feet, muzzle, udder or teats, or in the mouth. unusual nervous signs. profuse bloody diarrhoea.
Clinical Signs and Diagnosis
Sheep and goats show ataxia especially in young animals, loss of pigment in dark coloured fleece or coats, steely wool (loss of crimp, hard feel to fleece), diarrhoea, anaemia and abnormal bone formation.
Diseases affecting the nervous system can lead to a number of different clinical syndromes – blindness, depression, nervousness, scratching, circling and difficulty walking or standing are just some of the symptoms which may be seen.
Poor appetite, reduced growth and low milk yield occur. Severe deficiency can cause seizures and death!
What are the effects of vitamin B12 deficiency? Vitamin B12 deficiency in sheep can cause a number of clinical signs including loss of appetite, decreased growth rates, weight loss, watery ocular discharge and anaemia. These signs can occur despite an abundance of available pasture.
Treatment. Treatment must be prompt to be effective. It is best to inject a combined calcium and magnesium solution (350ml for cattle, 100ml for sheep) under the skin in the area behind the shoulder and over the ribs.
Staggers is a metabolic disorder caused by low levels of blood magnesium. Magnesium is an essential element for sheep for skeletal and muscle functions as well as enzyme and nervous system functionality. Sheep cannot store magnesium, meaning they need a continuous supply of the element.
Leptospirosis is an infectious disease transmitted from animals to humans (a zoonosis), and from animal to animal, through cuts or cracks in the skin or through the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose or mouth. It is present in almost all warm-blooded mammals, including farm, domestic and feral animals.
Symptoms of Listeriosis include depression, loss of appetite, fever, lack of coordination, salivation, facial paralysis, and circling.
The disease is caused by a toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. This toxin binds where the nerves would usually signal to the animal's muscles to contract.
The most common clinical signs are failure to thrive and weight loss. As worm burdens increase, more severe signs, such as anemia, hypoproteinemia, submandibular edema (bottle jaw), weakness, and collapse, may develop. Unlike other gastrointestinal nematodes, H. contortus does not usually cause diarrhea.
Ewes should only be wormed once a year at lambing time; this will reduce the number of eggs on the pasture so that there are less for lambs to pick up. Lambs have little resistance to worms in their first grazing season but this develops with time.
Acute form involves severe anaemia, lethargy, weakness, increased respiratory and heart rate, dark mushy faeces, loss of wool, pale to white conjunctiva, ascites, and sub-mandibular and cervical oedema. Quite recently fatal outbreaks of haemonchosis in lambs have been reported (Paul et al.
Abnormal behaviors are considered the main indicator of stress and distress. Sheep may express abnormal behaviors such as mouthing bars, chewing slats or chains, biting and chewing pen fixtures, and repetitive butting, although they do not display these behaviors as frequently as other farm species (12) .
Vibrio is an abortion causing infection with various species of Campylobacter. This disease spreads when sheep eat something that is contaminated with the bacteria which can be found in membranes, uterine fluids, and aborted fetuses. What are the symptoms?
Signs of grain overload:
diarrhoea. dehydration and thirst. bloating (of the left side of the abdomen) staggery or tender gait and 'sawhorse' stance.