Treatment can be successful if given early with 50 mL of a saturated solution of magnesium sulfate injected I.V. or rectally. Grass tetany can be prevented by feeding high magnesium mineral salt mixtures. About half of our phone call concern coccidiosis. Generally we see the disease clinically in lambs three weeks old to market. It is characterized by dark scours with varying degrees of clinical illness from almost no effect to emaciation and death.
Lambs suffering from coccidiosis are more susceptible to other diseases particularly pneumonia.
Preventation is accomplished by feeding a coccidiostat to ewes prior to lambing and including a coccidiostat in the creep ration. Of the three cocciodstats commonly used, Deccox, Rumensin and Bovatec, Bovatec is the least effective. Only Bovatec and Deccox are approved for sheep. We presently recommend Deccox in creep rations and we occationally have a few breaks. We suspect that they would be more severe if Deccox was not fed.