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Mystery issue with rectal prolapse in hair sheep #881075

Asked August 11, 2024, 7:35 PM EDT

Rogue Valley, Medford area.  Between 2 farms there have been several rectal prolapses in ewes/ewe lambs.

In late spring/early summer of 2023, two Dorper ewe lambs at one farm scoured and prolapsed rectums.  One eventually died and the other was put down.  They were born Nov/Dec of 2022.  

In June of 2024 another ewe prolapsed from the same cohort as the above, so approximately  1 1/2 yo.

A Katahdin X ewe at another farm in Rogue River just had a rectal prolapse, just over 2 yo.

Five Dorper ewe lambs born Nov/Dec 2023 at the first farm prolapsed between May and August of this summer, so between apprx 6-9 mo old.  Two died and three were slaughtered.

A Dorper ram I owned sired the lambs from both years, though it's possible an earlier Dorper ram sired some from 2022 because record keeping was poor as to which ram sired the lambs affected in 2023.

The ram came from my flock and I never had prolapses of kept ewe lambs by him at my place.  The same ram has been used on Dorper ewes at the farm where the Katahdin X ewe prolapsed, but none of the kept progeny have prolapsed on that farm.  The dams are related to the Dorper dams on the first farm.  These ewes had all lambed without incident with the previous ram, never producing prolapses.

While not desirable, my ram has bred his mother and I kept a ewe lamb that is now coming up on 2 years old and is fine.  Other ewes by him were beyond the age this has been happening when I sold them and were fine.

There was scouring of lambs on the first farm and lambs were wormed, but once prolapsing had begun, deworming didn't help.  

I have known the owner of the first farm where most of this is happening for four years and parasite control has always been reactive to scouring rather than proactive with FAMCHA scoring, but it's only the last two seasons that this has happened.  I did a fecal on pellets from the affected ewe lambs that weren't scouring at the time and identified Barber pole and trichostrongyle eggs, but mostly Barber pole.

The 2022 lambs were raised on grain hay over winter with inadequate protein/calcium for ewes in milk - 2 prolapses.

The 2023 crop was raised on grass hay and alfalfa over winter, and there was more clover in the pasture this spring.

Vitalix sheep tubs have always been available along with selenium sheep salt.

Have there been any other reports of this happening in our area?

Jackson County Oregon

Expert Response

Hello,

I am sorry you are having prolapse and scours issues on your farms. Can you please tell me how many sheep are on each of the effected farms? And what are the tail docking practices on each farm (technique and site of dock/length of tail remaining)?
Thank-you, Replied August 12, 2024, 1:56 PM EDT

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