Enterotoxemia in sheep and lambs

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Enterotoxemia is a frequently severe disease of small ruminants of all ages. It is caused by two strains of bacteria called Clostridium perfringens, type C and D. Type C principally produces the β-toxin, which most commonly kills lambs less than 2 weeks of age. A typical symptom of lambs that die from β-toxin is simply sudden death. Type D principally produces the ε-toxin which affects lambs older than 2 weeks of age, particularly those eating diets high in starch. Lambs exposed to high doses of ε-toxin also die very quickly. Fatalities occur particularly in non-vaccinated animals or in newborn lambs whose mother was not vaccinated.

Vaccination of ewes 3-4 weeks before lambing improves passive protection in lambs up to 12 weeks of age, whereas there is no benefit of vaccinating lambs before 6 weeks of age. Since the causative bacteria proliferate in the intestine in response to ingestion of abnormally high levels of starch, sugar, or protein, there are two alternatives:

  • to divide the daily allotment into as many small feedings as is feasible, or
  • to feed roughages such as hay before feeding these higher-risk feeds.

These good practices, vaccination and Smart feeding strategies, can prevent animal losses and improve their welfare. Prevention of enterotoxemia is far more likely to be successful than trying to treat the disease. Treatment of enterotoxemia may not be successful in severe cases.

Optimal housing conditions for sheep

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Housing conditions, including ventilation rate, temperature, humidity, bedding and stocking density, are directly correlated with health, welfare and performance of dairy ruminants. Bedding materials contaminated with animals’ excreta (urine, dung, manure) have increased microbial growth, resulting in mastitis problems which increase somatic cell count in milk and umbilical cord infection in lambs.

Bedding conditions (moisture, temperature, pH), combined with limited ventilation rate also affect atmospheric ammonia concentration, which above a critical value (25 ppm) negatively affects animals health and welfare.

Gaseous ammonia is a severe irritant to the respiratory tract, capable of inhibiting the efficiency of the respiratory system at high levels. Slowed breathing, coughing, eye, mouth and nose irritation, poor weight gain, decreased resistance to diseases are some of the main symptoms of high ammonia concentration.

Production indices such as feed intake, feed conversion efficiency and productivity are all adversely affected in sheep and lambs by exposure to ammonia levels above 50 ppm.

Thus, an adequate ventilation rate in the animal house to renew the atmospheric air in it, keeping the moisture levels of bedding to minimum, more frequent replacement of bedding, and lower stocking densities are some of the main good practices to reduce the atmospheric ammonia level in animal houses. This helps to reduce the risk of infections and the use of antibiotics for their treatment.

Umbilical cord healing

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The umbilical cord serves as a conduit for the blood supply between the foetus and the placenta throughout pregnancy, providing the necessary nutrients for the development of the foetus during intrauterine life. The cord ruptures during the birth process, leaving an umbilical stump that becomes a potential route for pathogen entry into the newly born calf or lamb, increasing the risk of omphalitis and septicemia.

Umbilical infection also reduces total body weight gain during the first 3 months of life. Preventive measures for umbilical infection encompass maternity pen hygiene, decreased residency of the newborn in the maternity pen, adequate colostrum management, and antiseptic umbilical cord care.

Careful and consistent umbilical cord care substantially decreases calf/lamb mortality. Appropriate antimicrobial solutions applied to umbilical cord within 30 min of birth are protective against umbilical cord infections.

Iodine is the most commonly used antiseptic compound in the dairy industry. The antiseptic properties begin to decrease approximately in 15 min after dipping, but remain evident for several hours.

Umbilical cord care, as a good practice at farm level, is very effective to promote health and welfare to newborn lambs and calves, which are less likely to need antibiotics for any possible infections.

Sieplo’s FEEDR

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A Dutch veal farmer feeds his 1,100 veal calves with the FEEDR, an intelligent feeding robot. This robot can monitor exactly what the needs of the individual animal are and can therefore deliver exactly enough feed. The robot feeds the animals small portions several times a day, instead of a large portion once. A major advantage of this is that the feed is always fresh. Consistently fresh feed ensures that the calves are healthier, thus reducing the use of antibiotics. The following are other advantages and disadvantages of the robot system.

Positives

+ Low labour requirement

+ Accurate feeding and higher feed intake (improved growth is an indicator of a healthier animal)

+ Better animal health (less use of antibiotics)

+ Little residual feed

+ Energy efficient

+ Lower costs for barn construction (narrow feeding alleys)

+ Little adaptation of existing stables required

+ No feed kitchen, roughage stays fresh longer (better for the health of the animal)

Negatives

– High purchase costs

– Can only process grass silage in chopped form

– Milk truck and bulk truck drivers sometimes find routing robot difficult.

The FEEDR can be used directly in almost all stables. It has been developed to provide pellets in raised troughs to white veal calves. For feeding larger quantities of roughage to sheep or rosé veal calves, adjustments have been made to the robot to allow the system to run smoothly.