Pink Eye

Pink Eye is a contagious disease, spread by touch.  It can be caught by any animal. In the week we visited Spring Grove there were 4 rams with Pink Eye. It is caused by the Chlamydia bacteria, and/or Mycoplasma with secondary bacterial infection. Symptoms were the eyes weeping and inflamed, with and a cloudy look in the sheep’s eye. I helped administer the medicated cream to two of the rams. There were 2 methods which I used. The first method was to syringe the cream through the applicator into the eye and rub it in. the second method was to put some cream on my thumb and then rub it directly into the eye, gently. The cream stops the pink eye being contagious for 20 minutes, but there is an injection you can administer directly into the eye that is a lot longer lasting.

 

Applying cream straight into the eye of Ice, a Shetland Ram.

 

Outbreaks of Pink Eye are common through summer and autumn. If any of your animals have Pink Eye you should set them aside from the herd to contain the outbreak and prevent contamination of the other animals.  Then you should contact your local vet.

 

Breeding Rare Breed Sheep

There are many rare breed sheep in the UK, such as Boreray, Soay, Jacobs and Grey Face Dartmoor. To keep these breeds from going extinct we need to keep the bloodline pure whilst preventing in-breeding (where 2 sheep that are closely related, e.g. a father and daughter, breed). In-breeding commonly causes birth defects.

In order to ensure the bloodline is pure without being in-bred, farmers must record the breeding of their sheep so that they can track which ram breeds with which ewe, and which lambs they have.  Every sheep has an ear tag with its identification number, and the identification number of the breeder.  The farmers can use these records to keep track of their breeding stock.  Once a ram has been used several times, a farmer may sell it on and buy a new, unrelated ram to replace it.

The Boreray are the rarest native sheep in the UK, with only about 300 sheep.  It must be very hard to find an unrelated ram in such a small gene pool.

A Grey Face Dartmoor Ewe at Spring Grove

Tupping Time at Spring Grove

It is tupping time at Spring Grove.  As they breed rare breed sheep at Spring Grove it is important to mate the correct ram with the ewes in order to maintain the purity of the breed.  Click on the link to see a video where I talk to Scott Harding about the key attributes he looks for in a good stud ram.

How to Warm your Dragon

I have a Bearded Dragon, called Spike. Recently he hasn’t been eating and his faeces have been mostly urates rather than faecal matter.  Last week, we decided to take him to the vet.

Bearded dragons, like all reptiles, are ectotherms (cold blooded) and cannot regulate their own body temperature.  They need to be kept at the right temperature when they are out of their vivarium.  If you do not keep them warm it will affect their bodily functions, such as digestion – which only happens between 100-115 deg F.  This is why you will see them basking on a hot rock after they have eaten.

 

The Trip There

On the trip to the vet, we used a plastic bucket, lined with newspaper and with a towel which we had warmed in the tumble dryer. 

The Trip Back

After the long stay at the vet, the towel had gone cold, so this would not work for keeping Spike warm on the way back.  Instead we got a hand warmer, activated it, and put it under the towel (so that his claws would not puncture it).  This generated enough heat to keep Spike warm on the way back home.

Killing for Keratin

Today I watched a news story about saving the black rhino in Africa.  A group of vets and volunteers are tagging the rhino and putting a tracer in their horn.  The tracer will not stop poachers from killing the rhino, but if they can trace the horn, they can find the criminals behind the trade. 

There is no evidence to suggest that rhino horn is an effective medicine or aphrodisiac, and yet, gram to gram, rhino horn is worth more than gold.  Maybe if we convince people that rhino horn is not an aphrodisiac and is just keratin - like your hair and nails - people will stop buying rhino horn, and that will make poaching rhino horn a profitless business.

Birthing Lambs

Spring Grove Birthing Lambs

Birthing a lamb

On our 2nd day at the farm, we were heading up to the field to check on the ewes. We found a ewe in labour and it needed some help birthing. She was a first time mother and was very scared. Naomi caught her with the crook and my mother held the sheep still. Naomi had to reach in and put the lambing rope around the lamb’s head and gently pull it out. I had to pick up the newly born lamb by the front legs and use umbilical spray to stop the umbilical cord getting infected. The lamb was covered in birth fluids and was very slippery. The mum would not come back to the lamb so we had to catch her. She would not let her lamb feed at first so we had to put her head in stocks. Eventually she let it feed and became a good mother.

I was also involved in birthing the triplets – when the second second lamb was born, I had to wipe the fluid off the lamb’s nose so it could breathe, and then picked it up and sprayed the umbilical cord.  When the third lamb came out, it was breach and came out backwards, but as it was tiny, that was not a problem.  At first we thought it was dead because it was blue, so Naomi wrapped it in a blanket and rubbed its sides to get it breathing.  We took it home to look after it, but brought it back to its mum for colostrum.

Spring Grove Easter Lambing Visit

Over the Easter holidays, I went to Spring Grove Alpacas to help out with lambing.  Lambing is a very busy time of year for farmers, and we went to help Scott and Naomi look after their sheep and other animals.  First thing in the morning, we fed the other animals, and made lamb milk for the sock lambs.  Then throughout the day we would do a sweep of the sheep field to see if any ewes were in labour, or if any lambs had been born.  This was important so that we could get the lambs into the warm shed as soon as possible, to protect them from the cold, and allow the ewe and lambs to bond.

Sock lambs

There were 9 sock lambs at Spring Grove when we went to work there this Easter.  A sock lamb is a lamb that has been taken away from its mother because:

-          It has been rejected

-          The ewe has triplets and cannot cope with feeding a third, as a ewe has only got 2 teats

-          The mother is dead

If it is being rejected some farmers will put the ewe’s head in a stock to stop her from killing the lamb.  Eventually the ewe will accept the lamb, but that might take up to 3 weeks.  It is important to try to keep the lamb with the ewe because ewe milk is better than fake milk.  The first milk, colostrum, is a thick milk full of antibodies, so this is particularly important.  It can only be absorbed in the first 6 hours of life, so even if the lamb has to be taken away, it should still be brought back regularly for colostrum.

If a lamb is taken away from the ewe it will need shelter, lamlac (a special type of milk) and a heat lamp . The lamb will need to be fed 2 times a day. If it is not feeding you have to insert a tube into the stomach and pour the milk down the tube. You have to make sure the tube it in the stomach and not the lungs, because if the milk went into the lungs the lamb would die.  You can tell the tube is in the right place by:

-          Listening – if you hear breaths, it is in the lungs

-          Looking – if it has gone into the stomach, the tube outside the body will be shorter.

Sock lambs are more friendly than regular lambs as they are more used to humans.  One sock lamb, Peanut, was the smallest triplet and had to be taken away from its mother. It could not go with the other sock lambs as it was too small, so it was kept in the house, in a laundry basket, with a nappy on.  She would climb out of the basket and come to have a cuddle with us.  It was very sweet.

Alpaca Injections, Feb 2013

Spring Grove Alpacas

The other week end (9^th of February) we visited our friends’ farm. On the first day we mucked out the pigs and fed the alpacas. Unfortunately the field was very muddy so the pigs were in a shelter. We also fed the goats.

On Sunday we did the morning feed and tidied the yard.  We had to rub oil on a pig’s bald spots to lubricate the skin where it had got dry. Then we let in the alpacas. They all needed vitamins (A, D and E - because we do not have enough sunshine), given as a paste through an oral syringe, and injections of detomax for worms and mites. We started with the little cria (a baby alpaca) and two slightly larger cria. To catch them I had to grab their necks and pull them against my body.   Holding their necks against my body made them think that there was no-where to escape to, so they calmed down.  To open their mouth I stuck my finger into their mouth to find the gap at the back where their teeth finish.  This causes them to open their mouth so we could give them the vitamins. Finally we did the adult alpacas - there were 5 of these. Naomi held them for me while I tried to adminster the vitamins.  I almost gave Naomi a dose of vitamins when paste went right through the other side of the alpaca’s mouth!

Next, we did the intramuscular injections. We could tell that they needed the detomax because they had crusty scabs on their noses where mites had been.   Naomi held the alpaca and Scott parted the fleece over the thigh muscle.  I inserted the needle, then retracted the plunger a little bit. If I saw blood then I would remove the needle, because it would mean i had hit a blood vessel. If not then I could continue the injection. Once the fluid had gone in, I took out the needle and rubbed the site to disperse the liquid.

While I was there, I also got to clip a sheep’s hooves and do a check up on the goats. After this we had to go home. 

When I was injecting, the only thing I was worried about was hitting my hand, or Scott’s hand.  I was not worried about injecting the alpaca as Scott showed me how to do it properly.

We are going to return at Easter to help with the lambing.  I am really excited.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spring-Grove-Alpacas-and-Rare-Breeds/168072699873656

Introduction to me

Hello.  My name is Elizabeth O'Shea, and I would like to be a vet.  I have 2 bearded dragons, called Spike and Drusilla, and I have just started incubating my first set of 6 chicken eggs.  Last weekend I was at my friend's farm and I got to give injections and vitamins to a herd of alpaca.  But more about that later.

I have wanted to be a vet since I was 3 years old.  I used to tell stories about putting bandages on giraffes and giving lollipops to monkeys after they had their injections.  I am a lot older now.  I have worked on a farm.  I have helped with shepherding, feeding piglets and alpacas, and I have even fed the reindeer in the Cairngorms.

This blog will record all my veterinary and animal handling experience on my way to becoming a vet.  Please follow me.