[in the hills]

We have one Soay ewe lamb so far. She is out at grass with her mum and has a ball of the dreaded sticky stuff on her back end.


I know I'm supposed to wash it off but can't catch her or mum  . She is 3 days old and seems otherwise to be fine ..... following mum, feeding, springing about.


Not so adept with the crook as OH and he's away at the moment. Went out with the children last night and tried all the tricks we know. Our land slopes steeply and the long and short of it is that she and lamb are much faster and agile than we are. 


The yellow goo is still coming out .... saw her do a fresh one  .


Should she be okay? Only way to catch her would be to basically run her down which seems a bit harsh unless I have to do it. How do hill farmers get on .... no way they could chase and catch lambs to clean bums surely? 

[FiB]

sympathies!!!  I am now in same position with one of mine - I'm guessing that as long as it still has a place to come out and lamb is well, it's not a crisis?...... 
 
I caught mine and TRIED to remove day before yesterday but it is now wise to that and faster than me!  hoping it will be a bit easier to snip off gentle when more wool has grown --- got swiss army scisors on me at all times and ready to swoop if he snoozes whilst I am around .  I WILL be wearing lambing gloves this this time though!  Good luck, Fi 

[Marches Farmer]

Can help to train the ewes to come to a corner of the field for cake and have a couple of hurdles tied up permanently to make a pen so you and a helper can close them up once their heads go down for the cake.

[Foobar]

Yeah, I find that when the ewes have their heads down eating from the trough I can catch a lamb quiet easily as they mill about waiting for Mum to finish.  Either catch with a crook (although just waving that about can scare them off), or aim for a leg and grab it ...   good luck.

[Fleecewife]

As long as the lamb is pooping it doesn't matter too much.  Not worth stressing them with trying to chase them down.  If you can pounce with a rugby tackle when they haven't noticed you creep up, fair enough.  If the poop dries then it is actually easier to remove, and if the fleece has grown even a tiny bit before you try to trim then there is less likelihood of cutting the skin as you can get a small blade under the dag.  Swiss Army knife scissors are perfect  .  Sometimes when it's well dried you can pull it off from one side, especially with a breed which can be roo'ed.  It's only the yellow early motions that tend to stick, later ones are normal, unless the lamb has diarrhoea.   So just keep an eye open to check that your lamb doesn't get completely blocked off.   If you get flies around then you would need to round them up and clean up the bottom.

[in the hills]

Many thanks for your replies.


FW - Will have another try tonight. Keep checking her and she looks fine but mum is treating me with utmost suspicion. Yep, normally food in the trough in the penned area works but mum is having none of it.  She won't come anywhere near and can't get close enough to use the crook. Tried confusion tactics last night .... to get between her and the lamb ... but she is too wise.


The farmers round here told me that sheep were stupid. Well, mine are proving faster and smarter than me .... that says something. 


FiB - You brave lady. The bottom job with bare hands  . The environment is having to suffer (and I don't say that often) ....the disposables are in my pocket. Asked my daughter last night if she was washing or holding .... the look on her face 

[kumquat]

Our youngest lamb is 6 days old and can run rings round me and i do a wee bit of fell running....ah well 


One of ours has a couple of 'clingons' so i'm just keeping my eye on her. At the moment, shes bouncing round like a loonie and feeding well. i'm trying the minimal intervention technique.

[in the hills]

Jon 


Ah well, I won't feel quite so useless then .... outrun by a titchy lamb. No fell runners here but thought we were fairly fast on our feet    .


I'll have an attempt tonight but don't rate my chances.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

I think what you are seeing is the Meconium. It's the first stools of an infant mammal. The meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the womb. After that the colostrum from the ewe causes the lamb to have a sticky, mustardy yellow stool which is mushy and loose but not wattery. It is often found around the lambs bottoms and probably looks worse to you than it is.
 

[Marches Farmer]

If trying to catch any age of sheep it helps to remember that they know they're a prey animal and you're a predator.  They'll watch your face so, if you're right handed, move to the left and hold their gaze while holding out your right arm.  They watch your face and you swing your hand round and grab them.  It gets easier with practice, promise!

[shep53]

I find it so amusing  the time and effort put into having a clean bum , my lambs would drive you crazy hundreds and hundreds of  yellow sticky bums untouched by human hands   i only catch the odd one when the tail is stuck to the  wool              HILL lambs receive less milk so tend not to get sticky bums

[FiB]

no buffy and shep - if its anything like mine - this is the odd one where the tail is fused to the anus, stopping any poo coming out - the tail starts to look like there is a grapefruit underneath... can imagine if untreated there would be bad things happening (split flesh or worse..).  Sticky yellow poo, fab, meconium fab, normal sheepy dirty bums and tails - no prob.....     
 
My one who has it is the lamb of a greedy 'pet lamb'guzzler who gave birth to twins, rejected one, and has udders the size of a cow - so prob too much rich milk.
 
 Will try and get photo tomorrow for other newbies reference.  And also try to post not near a mealtime. 

[Anke]

Reading this thread while having my tea... doesn't bother me anymore... we smallholders are a hardy bunch!

[FiB]

Reading this thread while having my tea... doesn't bother me anymore... we smallholders are a hardy bunch!

  Good job you cant smell what I can smell  (its just doesnt go away does it!!!  Up my nose I think!!!)

[wellies]

we had one last year whose tail got stuck and ooooh when we released it... it was all too much for me, could smell it for days afterwards    Now I tend to smear a spot of Vaseline under the tail area and it helps to stop it welding shut