Dry cough: Icelandic Dorper Yearling Ram

I hear him occasionally.  None of the ewes or other yearlings cough.

The shearer was here a couple weeks ago.  He said the ram had worms.  A shepherd for 15 years, registered suffolk, if that matters.  He seemed quite knowledgeable about sheep.

I was going to ask my vet, but then I thought “Wait a minute, she’ll give me a pharmaceutical wormer, and here I am trying to nurture soil microbiology.

So, what do you all experienced sheep keepers think?  Is it worms or something else?  

If it’s worms, how to tell if it’s too big a burden, I don’t handle him much, and what do I do.

Dry air and desert setting.  Rarely is there dew in the morning and soon there will be even less.  We have had a dry winter.

We have significant predators, I have put them in a small shed over night every night since October.

He’s healthy.  A solid well muscled frame.

They spend the day in a big pen while I fence the pasture.  They all self feed off the 800 pound bale which I replace as needed.  Rolled oats to get them into the shed at sunset.

I have almost no experience, so, if you can suggest improvement to anything I have described I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Can your vet do a fecal test?  If it does need medicine, this way it could be a focused one, not a broad kill everything one.  

In the meantime, we have had a lot of sucess keeping a subclinical wormload by increasing mineral supplements for the sheep at the first sign of stress.  This is very dependent on the breed and even more dependent on location and the soil minerals.  Too little minerals kill a sheep slowly, too much kills a sheep fast.  So check locally at the feed shop or vet to see what's missing in your local soil.

If there is sheep tex, this might have vitamin added to use as grain to get them home at night.

And check on the salt lick to see if it's used up or fallen down.

Sunflower seeds and squash are fabled to help.  I think they do in my flock when there is mild worm sign.  But add to the diet slowly.

Hi R, thanks

I will check with my vet.  She put herself through college and vet school with sheep.  She likely will know what minerals are abundant in our soil, and which are lacking.

I had a salt rock from an ancient dried up sea.  They keep burying it in their bedding, and I never saw a polished place where they licked anyway.  As I think about it, over geological time, the ancient sea probably had the same minerals available here, and the Redmond salt is likely deficient in the same minerals as my soil.

I will start with mineral supplement… if I can find one for sheep, not sheep and goats.  They have different needs.  Appropriate copper for goats will kill sheep!  (That’s what I learned when I had goats.)

insufficient copper also kills sheep. Usually by weakening them enough to die from worms.  

It's one of those crazy things we get told one half of the story - too much copper kills fast, but not the other side where not enough copper kills slowly.  I think this is because most places have a lot of copper in their soil already or the safe range is so small and most people don't notice the symptoms of not enough, that it evolved into the mantra "copper kills sheep"

I'm NOT saying give them copper.  

More, I'm shining a flashlight down the rabbit hole you might start exploring.  Natural Sheep Care by Colbey goes in to this in painful detail.  Her method is to free choice the minerals so each sheep can choose the one they need when they need it.  It's a complicated way of doing things, but some people match well with it.

I buy the sheep mineral mix for our area from the feed shop and put it in a bucket for them to eat when they want. Maybe add a bucket of a specific mineral if they show deficiency - selenium (SE)is a big problem in our area.  Most places have way too much in the soil that for them, SE kills as fast as copper.  But here, it's so deficient, most farmers give the lambs a shot of SE at birth.  

I haven't seen a mix that is both sheep and goats as, like you said, they have different thresholds for minerals.  But again, different places have different needs.  

If he's only coughing near the food, it could be something in that.  I have one family line that isn't great with timothy.  I think it's like our seasonal allergies in humans.  I'm not great with timothy grass either so we try to avoid hay with it.

Most of the things I'd recommend have already been mentioned.  

The only thing I'd add is to check the FAMACHA score (a fancy way of saying to look at the color of the lower shelf of the eye to see how much red blood cell density they have).

What I do when I suspect worms or an infection is:
1. Watch it to see if it continues.
2. Is it happening when my ram is around food.  Rams seem especially bad around trying to wolf down hay or any supplement.  Powdery supplements are especially bad for this.
3. Check their FAMACHA.  
- if I expect an infection I'll also look over the animal for other signs.
4. Check and refill the loose minerals.  (sheep mineral only, to avoid copper as RRanson mentioned)
5. Do a Fecal Float (or pay a vet, it's cheap)
- corollary, if you have a high-school ag program, 4-H, or FFA around, the members will usually be excited to do it for you. :)

If the levels are low, I don't worry about it and step up pasture rotation.  If they're higher, I use targeted wormers.  Depending on the parasite, I may treat in a targeted way or I may treat the whole flock regardless.  For example, barberpole worm is nasty, and hard to get rid of.  If I had evidence of it I'd start injecting everyone.  Coccidia, same thing but just because it tends to spread quickly based on conditions.  Some others it would be more targeted.  Your vet can guide you when you tell them you're trying to avoid a *scorched earth* approach.

I tend to give a variety of foods for worms, many have been mentioned.  I have no idea if they make a difference but I figure it doesn't hurt and they enjoy the treat.

(edit: correcting spelling)

Thanks R and Dave

The cough has been occasional ever since I brought him home.  Not worsening.  They have a large bale of grass hay available, so he doesn’t eat desperately… I never thought the cough was telated to food.

But the light is shining down the rabbit hole and here I go!