Mechanism of formation:
• Plant hairs are apparently poorly digested by ruminal micro-organisms and accumulate in especially the abomasum.
• Here under the influence of abomasal movement, innumerable hairs conglomerate (possibly around a small milk clot as nucleus) and felt together firmly in packed, dense layers to form balls of various shapes and 10 to 150 mm in diameter.
• Up to 30 balls might be present in the abomasum.
Intestinal hair balls originating from plants.
Goats are more often affected than sheep and clinical signs and death occur in the age group 3 - 15 months.
• Slow progressive loss in condition
• Ruminal stasis
• Distended abdomen (gas, hair balls)
• Faeces - foul smelling and scanty.
• Emaciation, cachexia
• Fore-stomachs thin-walled, papillae atrophied, contents watery, foul-smelling.
• Bezoars in abomasum
• Signs of rupture of abomasum or intestine may be seen.
• Purgatives are ineffective
• Balls too firm to break manually
• Surgery - consider cost effectiveness
• Diagnose through palpation of abdomen and slaughter before too much condition is lost.
Avoid exposure of lambs to only seradella pastures or camps with causative plants especially during periods when pappus hairs are prevalent.
Colour photos. Final web-ready size: JPEG. Photo 1: 43.8 kb, 72 ppi; Photo 2: 19.3 kb, 72 ppi; Photo 3: 47.6 kb, 1350 ppi; Photo 4: 16.2 kb, 1350 ppi; Photo 5: 12.9 kb, 72 ppi; Photo 6: 14.9 kb, 72 ppi. Original TIFF file housed at the Dept. of Paraclinical Sciences, Section Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Pretoria.