Tag: sheep

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Contagious Agalactia

Contagious Agalactia is a highly contagious disease that affects dairy sheep and goats. Mainly caused by the Mycoplasma agalactiae bacteria in sheep and goats, this disease has also been linked to M capricolum capricolum, M mycoides LC, and M putrefaciens in goats. Contagious Agalactia is transmitted through ingestion of food, milk, water, colostrum or other body fluids contaminated with M. agalactiae. Contagious Agalactia has been known for the past 200 years and can cause severe economic loss from mastitis and …

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What can cause edema of the jaw, anemia, and weight loss in goats?

Edema can be caused by several factors, including hypoproteinemia or low blood protein in the animal, which is commonly related to the large stomach worm (barber pole worm, Haemonchus contortus); malnutrition and stress of pregnancy; lactation; and adverse weather conditions.
Anemia likewise can be caused by infestation with the barber pole worm or any other blood-sucking parasites (e.g., lice, mites, keds). Other conditions, including metabolic disorders and malnutrition, can also cause anemia.
Weight loss is caused by a variety …

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What is "Body Condition Scoring” in Sheep?


Body Condition Score

By Dr. Rodney Kott and Dr. Lisa Surber, Montana State University

The use of both body weight and condition scores can help producers make important feed management decisions.  Condition scoring is a system of describing or classifying breeding animals by differences in relative body fatness. 

Generally in the United States, body condition scores ranging from 0 to 5 are used, with 0 being emaciated, near death and 5, a morbidly obese ewe (Body Condition Scoring of …

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