Itchy sheep

Okay, I've kept you all on tenter hooks all week, sheep with wool on their horns, dancing hoggs....... The title ought to give the game away - ITCHY SHEEP - quite simple!

The above ewe set the alarm bells ringing. I had gone for a quick gander around the elderly sheep keepers field. The weather had been atrocious and I doubted whether or not she would have been and looked her sheep for a day or two, so off I took myself for a wander. I needed to check the walls hadn't blown down, there were empty feed tubs to collect from the corners they had been blown into and of course the health of the sheep was also high on the list, a quick check to ensure they hadn't taken too much hurt during the previous squally days.

I saw this ewe almost as soon as I entered the field and wasn't too chuffed. The fence was a bit of a give away also.

Having walked around ensuring all was well with the boundary walls and fences I headed back to my car, picked up the camera and went back to the flock. I knew there would be explanatory photos to take and the five minutes ended up being more like twenty as the sheep didn't seem to wish to show off to the camera, they would turn their backs, hide behind another....... basically do anything but pose for the shot! I persevered tho'!

When sheep get itchy they like to scratch - don't we all? Horned sheep turn their heads back and dig their horns into their shoulders and flanks, having a good old ratch on, all sheep will bite back at themselves, scratch up at their bellies with their back feet and rub themselves on fences, walls and any suitable scratching post.

This hogg (the star of the very shaky video clip) doesn't have horns to help her reach that itchy spot, she is biting back at herself, throws her head around abit in the hope that itch in the neck may just abate, basically she becomes frustrated that she can't just reach the spot.

Sitting down on her backside may just help, can she reach around and hit that spot, get rid of that itch? She did finally lay herself down and wriggle around on her side (which is how sheep can get cast on their backs and end up kessing) So frustrating for her not to be able to ease that awful itching sensation.

This ewe faired better, managing to stick her horn just in the back of the shoulder to have a good howk on. Is she smiling? probably grimacing! They can look as though they are smiling because their lips will often be moving at the same time, a desire to nibble and chew on at the annoying itch which they really can't reach.

It is this scratching on with the horns which causes wool to get wrapped around the horn, or hang off the horns which is the reason alarm bells rang when I first spotted the sheep with wool on her horns, it is a sure sign something is amiss. Sure enough something was amiss.

Sheep can get naturally itchy in the warmer months prior to being shorn, they get sweaty and uncomfortable under their heavy fleeces and can feel uncomfortable. This is not an excuse for them in the colder winter months.

When there are itchy sheep and many of them at that it means one thing - parasites, some creepy crawlies creepy crawling over the sheep's skins and causing discomfort, either due to the little blighters biting their host or a reaction to the parasite and whatever it discharges from it's body.

These sheep have got creepy crawlies. Left unattended the condition will worsen, their wool will fall out, their skin will get sore and their condition will melt (they will lose physical condition). The parasites themselves do not kill the sheep, it is the permanent discomfort, the never ending desire to scratch, bite, rub against something which drains the sheep physically and could probably eventually kill them. There is also the worry of infection from sore skin should the condition be left untreated.

The fleece will eventually take on a scraggy look about it, the above could well be mistaken for a wooled sheep which has been stuck in wire or some such, however, closer inspection will reveal bare patches of skin below the fleece, the fleece is literally becoming unattached from the skin, and not like shearing time when there is a new growth of wool left on the body, this is quite literally down to the skin.

The above photo shows the exposed skin of a sheep which had been affected for some time with creepy crawlies. Pink bare skin, with a crusty look about it, not very pleasant.

How does this happen? Where do the creepy crawlies come from? Well, I don't have all the answers, some are able to live in the ears and around the eyes, others can lie dormant for a long time waiting for a host to trot along and pick them up. In this case I'm presuming that as there are no neighbouring sheep through the fence that the itch either came from a neighbours sheep which crept into the field and remained there for the duration of the snowy weather or else it has probably come from the hay which they are eating.

There is no doubt that the itch will have spread throughout the flock by them having contact with one another whilst feeding at the hay heck.

So what parasite have they got? Again I don't know, I would very much hope it isn't sheep scab and would tend to presume it is lice. There are many ways of treating the cause. The ideal solution would be to dip the sheep(submersing the sheep in a 'bath' of diluted sheep dip). Sheep dip would eradicate any of the external parasites which can affect sheep. There are also chemicals which can be poured along the sheeps back and their are injections available.

I intend to treat these sheep with a pour on, it is kind to the sheep and very effective against lice. Once I have them in the sheep pens I will check through their wool, lice are quite easy to spot and once I've got my eye on the little blighters I'll feel a lot happier as sheep scab is a greater problem, extremely smitten and can easily pass from flock to flock and takes a bit more dealing with.

The weather needs to fair up as the pour on has to be applied to fairly dry wool and preferably not be rained upon for a few hours. I will let you know how we got on at a later date.