Window Lickers

We’ve had a flurry of water belly cases in feedlot lambs in recent weeks.

Water belly is caused by urinary stones that are created in the kidneys and bladder and end up blocking the urinary tract. Lambs develop swelling around their prepuce, and the condition ultimately results in death. Wether lambs are most at risk because they have a long, narrow urinary tract, plenty of places to get blocked.

Just a reminder that there are three main reasons why this occurs. Firstly, is that the animals don’t drink enough, and their urine becomes super concentrated - maybe the cooler weather is contributing to this? Secondly, is that the calcium to phosphorus ratio is imbalanced in the diet (it should be 1.5-2:1) and thirdly, that there is just way too much phosphorus in the ration.  Phosphorus levels above 0.43% of the diet predispose animals, no matter how much calcium you throw in there.

It’s worth noting that cattle also get these issues and the big feedlots do see it.  We just don’t tend to see it when cattle are fed on farm. Who knows why? Maybe it’s because the cattle aren’t fed for as long, maybe the grain inclusion is lower, maybe we’re just really good nutritionists (ha!) or maybe it’s because feeding on-farm involves much lower stress and better water access than the high pressure co-mingling feedlot pen environment.

Back to the sheep cases - we think there must be some type of environmental influence on these cases, because we see them in all different circumstances and with all different diets.  To give you an idea of the cases in recent weeks - one was using Converter 50 (albeit at a reduced rate), one was using Nutrimax 4% and had a perfect feedtest on the ration (maybe some lambs are sorting?), one was using a cattle feedlot inclusion product, another was using DDG pellets (known to have high P levels) and another on a well-balanced silage/grain TMR.  These cases occurred over a 700km geographical area. No common thread except the time of year.

The good news is that we keep ammonium chloride in stock.  Ammonium chloride can be formulated into a drench, a lick or added to a ration to acidify the urine and break down stones. It does a marvellous job, curing lambs that you think could not be cured (picture of stones above, ouch!).

If you’re feeding lambs, even if you see one or two affected lambs, there are probably more in the mob with stones. So, act promptly, give us a call and we can have a look at your ration and suggest some remedies - for the individual and the whole mob.

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