Scours in Young Sheep and Goats

Scours is not a disease, rather it is a symptom of another problem. Scours is basically another name for diarrhea in livestock animals. Scours can be caused by many things, but because it dehydrates an animal, it in itself can be deadly and should be addressed immediately, especially in young lambs, and goat kids.

Scours is noticed often because the rump of an animal with be dirty with diarrhea. The lamb, or kid, may stand hunched up, look thin, hang its head, be lethargic and not interested in eating. An odor may be noticed if they are penned, and ideally their stool should be checked for signs of blood, if present a vet should be called to determine if the problem is bacterial, or the result of parasites, both of which will need to be treated.

In a pinch a sheep, or goat, keeper can treat scours with Pepto Bismol, or better still, Kaopectate (which does not hamper food absorbtion). Neither should be given for more than two days, and if the problem continues, or the source of the problem is unknown, a veterinarian should be called.

A healthy lamb!

We currently have two lambs with scours - brought on by the cold weather (-39C) chilling some of the lambs, as this can be a cause of scours in both lambs, and goat kids. 

In the summer an additional risk - Fly Strike - can be brought about because of the dirty bums attracting flies to lay their eggs, as such care should be taken to prevent flies on such animals.

More information on Scours in Lambs and Goat Kids

More information on Scours

Sheep Mutilation in Australia, Mulesing

Mulesing is the act of slicing off a dinner plate amount of skin from the rump of a Merino sheep lamb.  Mulesing is often done when the lambs are weaned, and only to those lambs that are going to be kept for breeding, not those going for slaughter.  The lambs are lifted into a holding cradle which holds their legs and puts their rump into the air.  The skin is pinched together and without any pain killers, or antiseptics (both of which cost money) the skin is sliced off.  The lambs are released to heal, which may take four months - some will suffer from stress, infection, or tetanus.

photo source

This practice is almost exclusive to Australia (with a bit done in New Zealand) and in the Merino sheep breed, as they tend to have more skin around their rump which, when woolly, can become covered in feces, and attracts flies.  The flies can be a real problem, laying eggs on the rump of the sheep, which hatch out to maggots that will eat the sheep alive, killing it, this being known as Fly Strike.

Mulesing is the cruel, and cheap, way Australian farmers deal with the problem of fly strike.  Crutching is a better alternative but needs to be done yearly.  Crutching involves shaving the wool only from that area, prior to shearing the animal later in the year.  Tail Docking also helps reduce problems with fly strike.

To Read More, and find out where to complain, please visit:

What are Mulesing and Crutching

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