To know what diseases sheep have, all livestock breeders involved in breeding these mammals should. Recently, the popularity of sheep farming has increased, since the benefits of such an activity have become apparent. True, an inexperienced person, without paying enough attention to the prevention and treatment of diseases, can easily remain without the whole population at once. To avoid this, you need to know what are contagious and what are non-contagious diseases of sheep, how to prevent them, how to cure them.
general information
All diseases of sheep, goats and other animals are divided into infectious, caused by parasites, non-infectious and provoked by mycoplasma. Known insects initiating diseases in representatives of the flocks. Infectious ones arise due to the influence of microorganisms, various pathological agents that penetrate the body of the animal from the outside. Infections spread inside the flock between individuals, can cause the disease of the whole livestock, mass death. Non-communicable are often caused by a lack of diet, poor living conditions.
Infectious diseases often become the problem of the sheep breeder, who has just acquired a new individual, which is the carrier of the disease. There is a risk of infection through the equipment used in the work. If a person was first on the territory of an infectious economy, and then came to another site, he can bring the disease with him, since he becomes a carrier. When planning an increase in flocks or visiting other households, you need to follow the general rules to prevent diseases.
About Prevention
In order not to know from personal experience which sheep diseases are most common, it is necessary to buy new individuals strictly from farms, known for their well-being in terms of animal health. Each specimen obtained in this way must have a veterinarian certificate demonstrating the level of health. At first, new individuals must be quarantined on their farm. You should regularly inspect them in order to notice that something is wrong. Separate keeping and checking a doctor is needed for early identification of manifestations of dangerous diseases and potential risks. This will help reduce the risk of losing the entire population due to illness.
Infectious diseases are known which have a long incubation period. There are also diseases that occur without any symptoms. This makes quarantine a particularly important event, allowing you to protect your livestock.
Disease prevention
To prevent parasitic diseases of sheep, it is necessary to treat at least two times a year all livestock from worms. For this, drugs recommended by the veterinarian are used. The optimal period for the first event is the spring months, shortly before moving the flocks to an open pasture. The second procedure should be carried out in the fall, as the period of sheep’s residence in the stalls approaches. To prevent parasitic infestation, you need to water the flock with clean liquid. Water should be extremely high quality. You can not collect water from puddles, use water bodies in which stagnant water is located. It is also recommended to regularly alternate pastures. The sun's rays are dangerous for helminth eggs, larvae that have penetrated the ground with discharge of diseased specimens. Leaving the infected land alone for some time, the owner gives it the opportunity to cleanse itself and become safe.
It is equally important to pay attention to sheep diseases affecting the limbs. To eliminate such problems in the household, it is important to introduce mandatory cleanliness requirements. Floors, bedding in stalls should be extremely clean. One of the main tasks of the breeder is the regular inspection of the entire livestock. If an individual limps, it is isolated, a group is formed from such animals. A closed enclosure is diverted for their maintenance. It is believed that hoof disease is well prevented by formalin solution or 10% solution of copper sulfate. Chemicals are used to prepare water for a water treatment. Baths are placed at the entrance once every 10 days. All premises, platforms, pens must be treated, removing the remains of feces, litter. The dampness caused by them is highly likely to lead to hoof diseases.
Infectious and intestinal
One of the serious problems of modern animal husbandry is contagious sheep diseases. They spread from the mother to the bearing fetus at the birth of the lamb. You can infect during a natural abortion. If the calf died, it is necessary to burn or bury the body. The area in which childbirth occurred is cleaned after normal lambing. It is important to replace the litter.
Mastitis is quite common. To prevent this disease, you need to take care of the udder. If an individual falls ill, it is kept separate from the others.
To exclude gastrointestinal diseases, they control what individuals eat and drink. Female specimens deserve special attention during the period of carrying the embryo and feeding the lamb. Such animals have a special feed enriched with mineral inclusions, carotene. In the winter, they are regularly walked and treated with ultraviolet radiation.
For sheep, pulmonary diseases are terrible. To prevent them, it is necessary to exclude drafts. Do not allow gas contamination of the stall. Otar should walk regularly in winter. For preventive purposes, animals are given antibiotics, serum.
Smallpox
Infectious diseases of sheep are traditionally considered the main problem of flocks. If it is not possible to identify the problem in time, the disease quickly spreads among the livestock. Cases of mass death are frequent. There is a danger to humans. The classic representative of especially dangerous diseases is smallpox. It is initiated by a viral agent. When an individual becomes infected, fever is observed, appetite worsens or disappears, and lesions form on the skin and mucous membranes. The rash can often be seen in areas where there is no hair: nasal wings, labial surface, areas near the eyes, udder, legs. Bubbles appearing in these areas burst over time, and crusts appear. After some time, they disappear, thereby leading to the further spread of the dangerous virus. On average, the duration of one case is three weeks. For treatment, it is necessary to transfer sick individuals to a separate room. Antibiotics are regularly administered. To combat smallpox, penicillin, terramycin are used. As a prophylactic agent, serum, caprine are shown.
Brucellosis
Another sheep disease dangerous to humans is brucellosis. It is especially bright in a pregnant female, it can cause an abortion, endometritis with the generation of pus, and a delay in the discharge of the placenta. In a chronic form, the disease is accompanied by chronic inflammation, articular deformation. In the male, the testes become inflamed. Infection can occur through mucous membranes, skin, gastrointestinal tract, birth canal, with mating. Fighting the disease is possible only through prevention. All sheep must first be checked for the presence of this infection. If one is found, the sheep should be kept separately. After an abortion, a miscarriage must be checked in a laboratory. The premises used for the maintenance of individuals should be regularly disinfected. It is necessary to check the health of personnel working with individuals. Skin lesions should not be present on human skin. Do not eat foods obtained from sick individuals. If a person works with an infectious (potentially sick) animal, special vaccines must be regularly administered.
Necrobacillosis
An experienced breeder should be aware of these diseases of sheep and their treatment. Necrobacillosis belongs to the category of infectious diseases. Lesions can be seen on the skin, mucous membranes. In most cases, sheep are affected by hooves. Infection occurs if there are wounds on the hooves, the dense layer has softened due to some factors. In this case, the disease first spreads to the gap of the hooves, affecting the skin, then provokes edema in this area, then covers the horn wall. The risk of getting sick in individuals forced to graze in wetlands is increased.
Before you begin, based on the symptoms of sheep’s disease, their treatment, you need to study the condition of the hooves. Sometimes it becomes necessary to cut off the affected areas. After that, the limbs are carefully treated. They use zinc or copper sulfate. If the infection has become widespread, group treatment is necessary. To do this, organize baths with a solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate. A fairly effective remedy is biomycin. It is prescribed in a dosage depending on the weight of the individual: 0.02 mg / kg. The duration of the therapeutic program is 4-7 days. The drug is administered twice a day.
Foot and mouth disease
Foot and mouth disease is a rather dangerous and widespread disease of sheep. It belongs to the category of infectious, acute. Foot and mouth disease can be suspected if aphthous ulcers appear on open skin zones. Hooves, mucous membranes may be affected. To get rid of the symptoms of the disease, they use tripaflyavin, copper sulfate. If foot and mouth disease has affected hooves, clay baths must be made. In the trench, you should mix the creolin (or formalin) solution and clay.
Pasteurellosis
Pasteurellosis is an infectious sheep disease. Because of it, the intestinal and respiratory mucous membranes become the area of localization of hemorrhagic lesions. Often, the disease is accompanied by pulmonary inflammation, pleuropneumonia. The infection penetrates from infected individuals and those who have recently been ill. A secondary source of infection are objects in contact with the secretions of a sick sheep. The disease can proceed with lightning speed, there is a possibility of acute, subacute or chronic form.
About development options
The fulminant course is more often observed in young animals. The infected specimen suddenly weakens, trembles, falls to the ground, dies - all this takes only a few minutes.
The acute course lasts up to five days. The sick individual becomes weak, she does not want to eat, she is thrown into the heat. On the second day, a runny nose appears, first mucous, then with discharge of pus. Gradually, cough, loose stool with blood inclusions supplement it. High probability of death. Severe cramps may occur.
The subacute course lasts up to three weeks, transforms into a chronic form. A sick animal swells neck, jaw, chest area. Over time, pulmonary, pleural inflammation, runny nose is fixed.
With the above symptoms of sheep diseases, their treatment involves the appointment of antibiotics. Most often use medicinal serums. In general, prevention is considered a more effective measure than treatment. To prevent infection, you need to monitor the cleanliness of the rooms that contain the flock, and feed the individuals in a balanced manner. Under such conditions, the body's ability to resist dangerous agents increases, as a result, the risk of getting sick decreases. You can use preventive vaccines.
Stomatitis
This term refers to inflammatory processes localized in the oral cavity of the animal. More often observed forms: catarrhal, ulcerative. The reason in most cases is trauma, irritation due to hard, prickly food. The cause may be gross manipulation. This can happen when the owner introduces drugs. The secondary form of the disease occurs when the digestive tract is impaired, metabolic failure. It can provoke the occurrence of inflammatory processes of the throat, nasopharynx, nasal cavity. A possible cause is a lack of vitamin A.
Secondary type of infectious disease is often found in young individuals. Numerous rashes form near the nose and mouth, increasing both in size and quantity. Gradually, the bubbles burst, scabs appear. After a few weeks, they fall off, leaving in their place areas without hair, overgrown with hair after a few days. To exclude secondary infection, use antiseptic drugs. Then stomatitis will stop at the step of rashes and will not harm the individual. A relatively severe course is characteristic of lactating sheep, in which the rash often affects the udder, the nipples. This forces to isolate the cub and feed it artificially. Upon contact with an infected individual, the ease of transmission of the disease is taken into account. This forces the use of protective gloves. To prevent sheep viral disease, a vaccine is introduced that initiates the activity of immunity - this leads to the development of special antibodies. To remove the inflammatory focus, disinfectants are used. It is necessary to exclude coarse food from everyday life of a sick individual.
Listeriosis
This sheep disease is triggered by microorganisms that penetrate through the mouth. Sick, recently ill specimens, new individuals enter as a source. Possible infection of the premises in which the sheep are kept. A typical manifestation is an unpredictable abortion. The owner must send the embryo for laboratory testing. It is strictly forbidden to use the milk of a sick animal in food, since the bacterium survives in the liquid for several days. If the pathogen enters the human body, there is a high probability of meningitis, a spontaneous abortion in a woman.
Often, listeriosis indicates symptoms that occur with encephalitis. The heat is fixed, the sick individual does not eat, cannot coordinate movements normally. Her ears are down, her head and neck muscles are tense. Often, an individual clogs into a corner and bleats without stopping. It can also randomly rotate in a circle. The higher the likelihood of the disease at the end of winter or early spring. Symptoms may appear with a slight increase in external temperature. Having barely noticed the manifestations of the disease, it is necessary to isolate the sheep. For treatment, sulfonamide drugs, antibiotics are used.
Malignant serous edema
Such an infectious disease can occur if the animal has a wound that has been infected with clostridia. This is often observed with lambing, surgical procedures without adequate sanitation. Infection can occur through the udder, touching the dirty litter. A fatal outcome occurs two days after the onset of symptoms. Symptoms are: loss of appetite, fever, swelling of the wound edges, swelling of the tissues near. You can cure an individual if you immediately enter a sufficient number of antibiotics. In practice, the animal most often expects death.
Enterotoxemia
The symptoms of this disease of sheep are almost unknown, most often the diagnosis is made posthumously. The lethal outcome is unpredictable and sudden. An adult animal loses its ability to coordinate actions, suffers from severe diarrhea, and dies after a few days. Lambs develop convulsions, appetite disappears, diarrhea occurs, and death occurs in a couple of days. An increase in susceptibility to a pathological agent may occur with poor feed quality. To prevent the disease, use vaccines, antibiotics in a small dosage.
Trichophytosis
The breeder needs to know about the various diseases of the sheep, their symptoms. Trichophytosis, also known as ringworm, will not be an exception. This disease manifests itself on the skin: on the head, near the ears, in the eye area. Rounded spots appear in these areas. Most often, the disease is formed in conditions of unsanitary conditions. If at least one sick animal has appeared among the herd, you need to select it in a separate room, and thoroughly clean all stalls and treat them with disinfectants. Sick individuals are treated with drugs. It is necessary to change the nutrition program, introduce more food rich in trace elements, vitamins. The lack of these compounds is one of the factors provoking the disease.
Since trichophytosis is a sheep’s disease that is dangerous for humans, you need to work with infected individuals with gloves and special clothing that protects the skin well. , , . , . . , .
The liver is especially affected by this disease of sheep. Pathology belongs to the class of parasitic. More commonly observed in animals grazing in wetlands. Young individuals are more susceptible to the disease, the parasite lives in the bile ducts of the liver, where it generates eggs that penetrate the intestinal tract and secrete outward with feces. In puddles and other small ponds where water stagnates, larvae infecting snails are hatched. As the development cycle ends, the pathological organism again goes into the external environment - on grass, in water. When a sheep enters the grazing area, she receives, along with food, a parasite, which, with the flow of blood, moves to the liver and develops into an adult.
A sick animal eats poorly and loses weight. Digestion is noticeable, the sternum, abdomen, and eyelids swell. To cure a sheep, carbon tetrachloride is used, which is intended to be injected into muscle tissue, scar or under the skin. A sick animal is kept in a separate paddock, litter, excreta infected with parasites are disposed of. To minimize the risk of spreading the disease, pastures are checked from time to time. If hay infection is detected, it is first stored for six months, only after that it is used as feed.