Ozhorse
Well-known member
Good point on the healing and nutrition too.
I found good nutrition and stress reduction immediately after being through a fire and being burnt made the difference between getting over the fire, and not, and dying. The rams I found and put on high quality feed and minerals with good shelter (and the company of their flock mates - very very important that) got over third degree burns to fairly extensive areas of their body. The ones not found for a few days and left alone in a paddock without the above went off their feed and needed to be put down.
I have another injury project going at the moment. On Sunday evening one of the rams tried to jump out the yards and snapped his leg. I have had a fair bit of success with broken legged sheep in the past so I had all the material and drugs on hand and have a technique. I was inclined to shoot him but it was actually quicker to splint him and see how he was next day. He is about three times heavier (120+ kg) than most of the sheep (30-40 kg) I have fixed in the past. Usually when sheep approach his weight I cant get the splint to stabilise the leg enough (mostly because they panic and gallop about on it). I have been surprised how well he has done over the past 4 days, probably because he is fairly quiet and does not panic much and I have given him some pet sheep to live with. It was a fairly nasty break too, about 3/4 of the way up the back cannon bone with lots of bone fragments.
Keep us posted - pics too if you can.
I found good nutrition and stress reduction immediately after being through a fire and being burnt made the difference between getting over the fire, and not, and dying. The rams I found and put on high quality feed and minerals with good shelter (and the company of their flock mates - very very important that) got over third degree burns to fairly extensive areas of their body. The ones not found for a few days and left alone in a paddock without the above went off their feed and needed to be put down.
I have another injury project going at the moment. On Sunday evening one of the rams tried to jump out the yards and snapped his leg. I have had a fair bit of success with broken legged sheep in the past so I had all the material and drugs on hand and have a technique. I was inclined to shoot him but it was actually quicker to splint him and see how he was next day. He is about three times heavier (120+ kg) than most of the sheep (30-40 kg) I have fixed in the past. Usually when sheep approach his weight I cant get the splint to stabilise the leg enough (mostly because they panic and gallop about on it). I have been surprised how well he has done over the past 4 days, probably because he is fairly quiet and does not panic much and I have given him some pet sheep to live with. It was a fairly nasty break too, about 3/4 of the way up the back cannon bone with lots of bone fragments.
Keep us posted - pics too if you can.
