A few years back I killed about 17 lambs with selenium shots. If your
soil or water has selenium in it, I would not even consider feeding any
selenium supplement. Selenium is another heavy metal just like
arsenic. A lot of feeds are supplemented with selenium so that it can
be sent anywhere in the country. One problem with this is they do not
test the grains in the feed for selenium, so the total amount may be
higher. If your growing area is lacking selenium, then this may be
ok. If you are in an area where this is naturally occurring then your
sheep are getting plenty of this mineral and adding it in the mineral or
feed will have disastrous results. There have been some studies about
selenium toxicity, but the results were screwed up because the people
involved were not really taking adequate care of the animals. They
attributed nearly 80% of the death loss to pneumonia in most of the
studies. Selenium poisoning will present as pneumonia when autopsied.
It first attacks the stomach lining. then kills the animal by
suffocation from a bloody froth in the lungs which is created when the
tissues creating the air/blood barrier in the lungs breaks down.
I saved one of my bottle lambs affected by this. I got it to nurse the
bottle and we think that the milk diluted the selenium in the stomach.
Selenium is also the active ingredient in locoweed. The pain created in
the stomach is what causes the animal to act loco.
Selenium builds up in the tissues and will release during stress. I
lost another lamb a week after the injection problem, when one of my
lambs was stressed during moving them out of a wet wheat field.
This was several years back, but I remember this like it was yesterday.
I also researched selenium toxicity, but the studies were so screwed up
they were ridiculous. The studies were paid for by the feed
manufacturers and it appeared that the results were skewed in favor of
the manufacturers. One of the primary studies was done in Texas, As I
remember, nearly 15% of the sheep flock was lost, but the losses were
attributed to pneumonia. Many of these sheep were found and analyzed
over 2 weeks after death. As I stated earlier, selenium poisoning looks
like pneumonia after the froth in the lungs has dried out.
My apologies for this long post, but you struck a nerve. I will not
feed any supplement that has selenium. Our water supply well here in
western OK has been moved due to high selenium content.
Cecil in OKla
On 10/11/2011 6:12 PM, Carol Elkins wrote:
Pipestone carried the following advertisement for their
Selenium/Iodine Premix in this month's Pipestone Veterinary Clinic
Sheep Newsletter and I am curious about what the rest of you think.
I've never had a sheep die from sheep mineral, so the ad's leading
sentence caught my eye.
__
How many lambs and rams have to die before we quit using sheep mineral?
*There is no justification for feeding phosphorus to sheep.
*Consumption of sheep mineral is controlled by salt and flavoring
agents, not by need.
*Sheep generally need salt, iodine and selenium in addition to their
ordinary diet intake.
*Feedlot lambs need 20 lbs. of salt and 30 lbs. of limestone per ton
of concentrate ration. Ammonium chloride can be added to further
control urinary calculi.
Selenium/Iodine Premix (#8770) now contains trace minerals and iodine
as well as selenium. Sodium molybdate is included to help ward off
excess copper. We have added iodine and trace mineral to our sister
product Vitamin E-Se-Iodine Premix (#6249). This should be fed win-ter
and spring as Vitamin E content of feed stuffs declines.
DIRECTIONS FOR USE
Mix 1 lb. of either premix with 50 lbs. of salt.
Offer salt free choice.
#8770Selenium/Iodine Premix 5# 10.00
#6249Vit E/Se/Iodine 5# - $27.50
_
Carol Elkins
Critterhaven--Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep
(no shear, no dock, no fuss)
Pueblo, Colorado
http://www.critterhaven.biz
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