By Debbie James

POOR forages and bad weather have triggered cases of twin lamb disease in Wales.

Many ewes are suffering with body condition scores below two in the run up to lambing, says nutritionist Richard Lewis, of Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers Ltd.

Grass has been plentiful this season and farmers have held back from giving supplementary feed. This has tipped the balance between energy intake and energy requirement, resulting in twin lamb disease.

“We have had six weeks of very wet weather and dry matter intakes are down. I am getting three or four phone calls a day from farmers who are in this situation,’’ Mr Lewis reports.

"There is a lot of grass out there so farmers have been reluctant to put any feed out. Ewes are not taking in sufficient levels of energy because of the wet weather. If there are one or two cases then it usually means that the flock is on a knife edge, the likelihood is that more cases will follow,’’ he says.

Plentiful grass has meant that ewes are in good condition and more prone to twin lamb disease.

“The first sign is likely to be a ewe standing apart from the flock, not grazing, or not coming to the trough at feeding time,’’ Mr Lewis explains.

“She may be unable to see, and will not move away when you approach her. You may notice she has a foamy mouth and nostrils and is grinding her teeth, which is a sign of head pain, and as you get closer, you may see facial or body twitching. Smell her breath for ketones – the scent of ‘pear drops’ or acetone, like nail polish remover. This will almost certainly mean a diagnosis of twin lamb disease.’’

To avoid this, Mr Lewis says ewes need supplementary rations six to eight weeks before lambing.

"Ewes must be fed according to energy requirements and producers should assume that grazing provides few nutrients,’’ he says.

Good quality forage, hay or straw, must be available as well as a compound with at least 12.5 MJ/kg of ME, which should be fed in two separate feeds during the day, not exceeding 0.5kg/head in each feed.

“Twin-bearing ewes six weeks from lambing should have some dry feed in their diet. Put some glucose buckets out and consider putting some liquid feed out to boost sugar and energy levels,’’ says Mr Lewis.