Schmallenberg virus - are you affected?

Very valid Q Lizness. Is there anyone who can answer that? I suppose the Black Death was spread by flea's, and Maleria is endemic and spread by midges, so perhaps it is an inherited/congenital thing within the midges?

For Kiribati_uk - this is Teabag as a lamb, just to show you what a ricknecked lamb looks like :)

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Note the low set ears, long and imobile neck and the slightly vacant expression, bless him!!

Keeping everything crossed for those of us yet to lamb! x
 
Thanks Rosehip.....Evie(born NYE)her neck was facing her bum, but we think she was squished in the ewe because her brother is HUGE and she wasn't small.
But with all the uncertainty about this virus it makes you wonder what if and I don;t need any excuse to panic!
The commercials start on thursday only 300, so fingers crossed.
But for people lambing later surely the chance of the ewe being infected with schmallenberg would of decreased because the midges where only about in warm.
 
Rosehip said:
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Last year we had a few (admittedly from old ewes that perhaps werent in top notch condition) funny lambs, slight wobbles that soon corrected, a ewe had twins that seemed unformed inside (big, watery bellys), a couple of knock knee's lambs that straightened with time, that sort of thing. I wouldnt call that a virus or a medical problem, I would say that we stretched ourselves too thin, and our stock management wasnt quite up to scratch. So our problem, not a medical one. If you know what I mean?
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How right you are. Every year we end up with the odd misshapen lamb, and for what ever reason, they do seem prone to it, and as you so rightly say, are we now to start labelling those lambs as Schmalenbergs?

Your lambs from older ewes? They're often not quite as we would hope, and what ever you'd done for the ewes, the lambs would probably have been just the same. It's highly unlikely to have been your fault, and it's why I never lamb broken mouthed ewes, or those which struggle to keep condition.

Looking at the pic of Teabag, we all get the odd lamb like that, don't we? You may get him up to killing weight, with luck!! ;) Stick him in the freezer!

My vet was asked by the AHVLA for a stricken lamb, he said that he had one, they said can you remove the brain, and it didn't actually have one, just grey water. The virus seems to attack it's victims in a variety of different ways.

The only thing which we know about the virus, for certain, is its name.

Alec.
 
Do you think the level of supposition helps? In that countryfile report seemed to contain a hell of a lot of "thinks". Do you think it being non notifiable and having no movement restrictions is the right idea now? Or would it be better to assume worse-case scenario?
 
;) He's in a friends freezer as we speak! Lol! He killed out at 45.6kg, so not bad for a scrag end!! :) We never have a cade in the freezer, we have to have an anonymous one out of the field! We are the fluffy version of farmers, we even appologise to anything we have to shoot!

My vet was asked by the AHVLA for a stricken lamb, he said that he had one, they said can you remove the brain, and it didn't actually have one, just grey water. The virus seems to attack it's victims in a variety of different ways.
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How interesting!!! I have a feeling my OH and I will be dissecting any and all bodies! We had a ewe one year who had a stonking lamb and then passed a very odd looking placenta, when I went to bag it up, I noticed what looked like a minute leg inside the membrane, so we cut into it, and found 3 legs, half a head and a sort of triangular bit of body mumified inside the placenta....Absolutely fascinating, I wish we had taken pictures or video'd it!

In an ideal world we wouldnt lamb broken mouthed ewes either, or only minimally broken mouthed, in reality we have ewes out in the field that aught to have been in a kebab several years ago! Dad and OH bought a ewe in tonight that has lambed a smashing set of twins, but has only one quarter (she was fully bagged at tupping though) when I went out to top the lambs up with colostrum I recognised the ewe as an old favorite....when I got in Dad and I worked out that she must be around the 15 year old mark :p and looking back, she has lambed a set of twins every year since her shearling year! A cracking ewe and fantastic mother :) Conversely we have a dorset ewe out in the field who had a stillborn lamb last year - she mothered an orphan though so we kept her - she had a dead lamb again this year, nothing wrong with it, it was just dead. She is only 3, and a waste of time and money, so will be off to market soon.

What sort are you lambing down Alec? We have mainly swales and mules, and some charolais, texel and suffolk x. My OH has Herdwicks, they are the most beautiful lambs! x
 
BoolavogueDC said:
Do you think the level of supposition helps? In that countryfile report seemed to contain a hell of a lot of "thinks". Do you think it being non notifiable and having no movement restrictions is the right idea now? Or would it be better to assume worse-case scenario?
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I think if we start going 'Code Red! Code Red' then the whole industry will be thrown into disarray! It was absolutely crucial during the FMD and Blue Tounge outbreaks, but with a viral infection with an incubation/infective period of 3/6 days, spread by midges, to place exclusion zones and movement restrictions on the industry would bring us to our knees!
I think in this instance the government have got it right.

Ive shocked myself saying a positive thing about DEFRA!! xx
 
Rosehip said:
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What sort are you lambing down Alec? We have mainly swales and mules, and some charolais, texel and suffolk x. My OH has Herdwicks, they are the most beautiful lambs! x
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Mostly pure bred Texels, a few crossed with Charolais, a couple of Lleyn cross Texels and my pride and joy, 3 huge triplet sisters out of a Bleu Du Maine.

Over the last few days, the ewes bags have started to really develop, and they are growing as I watch them. They still aren't that bothered about feed, the shearlings refusing to touch it, so I think that I'll put them onto some grass which I was saving, for lambing itself.

Does anyone else have any news?

Alec.
 
Sounds as though your ewes are going in the right direction Alec!
We are finding that our ewes are starting to refuse the hay we are putting out for them, so the grass is definately growing :) Lets just hope we dont have a repeat of last summer where we had bog all grass and the ewes needed almost year round supplementary feeding! Our early lambers are all looking like they may pop, with bags like dairy cows, and the later lambers (due to start mid April) are springing well too. Karen (my OH) is watching one of her herdwicks like a hawk as she was scanned as early, so should be sprogging any day now!

Ive got to say, I dont like charolais, but the x bred ewes we have are good mums, nice and milky and produce decent lambs. We have used Texel and Charolais tups for the most part on the commercial ewes, and then we have a smashing homebred Berrichon du cher tup that we use on the 1st time and older ewes as hes a super easy lamber, and the lambs are super bright. Karen has her 2 Herdwick tups, and our pride and joy Cracker, who is pedigree Texel x Pedigree Suffolk and a real lump of a boy, his lambs kill out awesomely!

I havent heard anymore on the virus, have you? I was talking to a friend who has a few sheep as pets last night, and was saying to him, what is there to say that the odd 'wrong' lamb that we have from time to time isnt a mild case of Shcmallenberg? Is it only the fact that seemingly whole flocks are affected at the moment that it has been recognised?

Im afraid Im going to have to put some gratuitus pics of the sheep on now! Its the only chance I get!! :D

Cracker :)

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Herdwicks!

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Ill have to pursuade photobucket to play nice and put up some pics of the herdwick lambs too as they are simply stunning! x
 
Rosehip,

bloody Herdwicks!! I had 4 of them once, and with other ewes they lambed out in rough and long grass. They hid their lambs, and the only way to find them was to sit and watch, and they'd always give the location away by an enquiring glance in the lambs direction. The lambs were minuscule, and I wondered if they'd find the teat, but they did, and they grew, sort of!! I sold them, with their lambs, to a local chum, and he was so impressed with them, he now has about 200 ewes, and says that they're the best sheep which he's ever kept! I certainly know that he sells every lamb which he can breed, and locally too.

jrp, what a lovely shearling ewe. Quite lovely!! Smart fat lambs too. I'd bet they they went over 38 kgs!! Our local abattoir pays me the same money for a 44 kg lamb, as for a 38 kg, with both being graded E, and I find that a bit irksome!!

The weather here is glorious today. We're desperate for rain, but with this sunshine, the ewes look so well, too well if anything, but we'll see!

Alec.
 
"jrp, what a lovely shearling ewe. Quite lovely!! Smart fat lambs too. I'd bet they they went over 38 kgs!! Our local abattoir pays me the same money for a 44 kg lamb, as for a 38 kg, with both being graded E, and I find that a bit irksome!!


The shearling is by Castlecairn Pheonix, the champ fatstock lambs (we had supreme and reserve) made £240 each!! Not sure what weight they were but one lot were heavies the others lights. I'm not the 'sheep' person, more my hubbie and youngest daughter. Haven't been in this Texel game long but we are starting to get some nice stock. Just need to sell one to beat the top Texel price, 240k! If only. :)
 
They are some smart looking sheep jrp!!! Im not a fan of the purebreds per se, but even a heathen like me can see the quality!
Have you every heard of/been judged by a chap called John Simms? Im his daughter :)

Alec, they are brilliant mothers, but scared the living daylights out of us at first! The lambs just flop out and lie there! They dont raise their heads, they dont mumble or bleet, they dont do anything until the ewe has licked them spotless!! We thought the 1st ewe had dropped dead lambs, we couldnt understand why they were so slow! They also 'tentpeg' their lambs - you can guarantee that wherever the ewe has put her lamb, that is were it will be at any given time in the day. Its a wonderful thing to witness really, and shows their absolute adaptation to their native habitat. Brilliant sheep, cant praise them highly enough to be honest :) Karens tup lambs actually grew pretty well, and killed out nicely - and are yummy!! - and we are finding that crossed onto Dads texel x mule types (like the spotty faced girl out with cracker in my top pic) they are producing lambs with good length of leg, fabulous racks and a good backend too. They are very versatile!x
 
Just a quick update. Found a seriously under-developed lamb, and some way away, a second lamb, also dead. I've found the ewe, an adult, and suspect that in the process of aborting one dead lamb, she's dumped the live one, too.

The adult ewe, would be 3 weeks early. Mostly, I find, the problems arise at the start of lambing, or the end, so fingers crossed, this is a a naturally occurring abortion. Bloody sheep!

Alec.
 
OH, i hate those 'mank' lambs! Doesn't sound SBV though. Fingers crossed for you, its the not knowing. Luckily we only have 4 left to go, we can then breathe a sigh of relief.
 
Oh what a 'bleep' Alec! It does sound - as you say - that she was spitting out a dead lamb and slipped the other too. How dissapointing! Fingers crossed its a one off x
 
Found a shearling ewe with a cracking single, this morning, another with a lovely set of twins, but dead, and now yet another shearling which I can't approach, but I spy a rather large set of front feet. She needs a little longer. I hate using a dog to catch a wild arse'd ewe, but sometimes it's the only way.

So the tally so far is a slipped pair of lambs, a set of lovely twins, also dead, and a live single. That's 1 out of 5. I keep telling myself that we always get our problems at the start, and mostly we do. The dead twins this morning showed no signs of SBV, joints were entirely normal, so perhaps it was just the cold and wet. I only hope that the ewes being over fit isn't the cause. It's worrying, because they do look awfully well!! Bugger, what ever the reason!!

Alec.
 
Would you mind explaining what a shearling is?

I thought I would join in with some photos, ours are suffolk and texel crosses. Mongrels, not worth much compared to some, but I adore them.
Our rams

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and from summer
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and the ewes
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I am hoping with the dog attack, the people involve don't decide to try and chalk our losses up to the virus, who knows. But previous losses on the farm have been minimal, so we'll see.
 
Bluetonge and now this disease is spread by midges. AHS is also spread by midges in horses and the east coast seems to be a starting point and this is where all the freight comes into the UK. I am not persuaded that they blow across the channel and neither are AHS experts in South Africa. What steps is DEFRA taking to trace the spread of this diseases and do something about controlling transport that might carry these midges in summer months. When on sees how close the main route for lorries the A14 is to Newmarket it seems inevitable that at some time AHS will arrive and current DEFRA controls are inadequate and so is compensation paid of £! if they slaughter your horse and it is not infected if it is in infected you get nothing.
 
Why are all these diseases so flipping difficult to pronounce!??? Schmallenflippingberg! Can't they just call it lambs syndrome and be done with it?
Sorry if ewe are effected by the way.:o
 
BoolavogueDC said:
Would you mind explaining what a shearling is?
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Shearling is, for the ease of explaining, a 1 year old ewe - shorn once, hence shearling ;)

I am admiring some lovely sheep photos here. Including the brillo pads ;), sorry, Herdwicks - I have 3 of them in my flock.
Mine are mainly polled dorsets, some zwartbles and quite a few mongrels. We started lambing first batch on 11 December and as much as we are having a fairly poor year, it is hard to say if our losses can be attributed to Schmallenberg virus, or the loose dogs we had in with the ewes in November or just general bad luck.
I lost 2 ewes that just died :confused: I mean, just popped their clogs for no reason whatsoever.
 
sywell said:
Bluetonge and now this disease is spread by midges. AHS is also spread by midges in horses and the east coast seems to be a starting point and this is where all the freight comes into the UK. I am not persuaded that they blow across the channel and neither are AHS experts in South Africa. What steps is DEFRA taking to trace the spread of this diseases and do something about controlling transport that might carry these midges in summer months. When on sees how close the main route for lorries the A14 is to Newmarket it seems inevitable that at some time AHS will arrive and current DEFRA controls are inadequate and so is compensation paid of £! if they slaughter your horse and it is not infected if it is in infected you get nothing.
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I'm with you doubting the claims that the midges or mosquitos are blown over here, as carriers. We have our own resident populations of the identical flying insects, and I would believe it to be far more likely that infected animals are imported, from these our own insect population become carriers, and so the disease is propagated. All the time that we were worried about Blue Tongue, infected animals were still being imported into the UK, but when we have an out break of just about anything, then the Continent ban us from exporting to them.

millreef said:
Why are all these diseases so flipping difficult to pronounce!??? Schmallenflippingberg! Can't they just call it lambs syndrome and be done with it?
Sorry if ewe are effected by the way.:o
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Schmallenberg is the town where the disease was first discovered, and that's about all that we know about it!!


The single lamb from earlier is out, unassisted and a whopper, another set of twins have made an appearance, and Pinky, a pet Lleyn ewe, who is as preggers as any sheep which I've ever seen, is now down, and fletching skywards, looking for inspiration. She had triplets last year, so we'll see.

Alec.
 
I am astounded at the lack of available research, even for a supposedly 'new' virus; am I right to believe that there is as yet no test for antibodies to the Schmallenberg virus?
 
rhino said:
I am astounded at the lack of available research, even for a supposedly 'new' virus; am I right to believe that there is as yet no test for antibodies to the Schmallenberg virus?
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That's my understanding, with diagnosis relying on a visual assessment. It's also thought that a suitable vaccine will take 2 years to develop. The problem here, I would imagine, is that as the larger companies invested huge fortunes in developing BTV8, and no one seems to bother to vaccinate against BT any longer, are the large drug manufacturers going to be in a rush to put in the research costs? I very much doubt it.

Alec.
 
On another note, I've just received an interesting 'phone call. It seems that within the town of Schmallenberg, there's a pharmaceutical company who are being very tight lipped, and a little twitchy over the details of their research work.

Considering that the last outbreak of FMD originated from laboratories at Pirbright in Surrey, it does rather lead us to wonder just where this entirely new virus came from, doesn't it?

Alec.
 
Fingers crossed for your Llyn ewe Alec....It certainly is very very interesting that a lab at the point of origin are sealing all lips....hmmmmm...... I had vocalised something similar to Dad when the news 1st broke, but was pooh pooed, time will tell I guess - I just hope correct proceedures are followed.

On the note of your lost lambs Alec, we are having some stonking great donkey lambs to really quite poor old ewes, I wonder if the sudden flush of grass has pushed your younger, fitter ewes over the edge to 'plump'? We have also had several of the texel sired lambs coming in starved through and needing tubing and general tlc to get them going, where as all our Charolais lambs are bouncing around like ninja's almost immediately! We used different texel tups this year, and Im not convinced we will use them again.
 
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