[Hillview Farm]

Utterly heartbroken to find the first ewe to lamb with two dead lambs. One looks like she Lambed into the water trough and the other on another side of the shed.

Second lamb has the navel cord going between its front legs and then round the side of her neck and ends at the back of the head. As the cord is near the neck I'm thinking it's either strangled or was a breech.?

The ewe is obviously very upset and pawing at the lamb and shouting. I've penned her up with the lamb and hoping that a Triplet will lamb.

Do I milk her? I've left her as I don't want to break the teat seal but if I can get another lamb soon I obviously want her to have milk and not dry up.

What's the cut off point to fostering on?  I intend to skin her lamb.

She's and third lamber so not new to this. Anything else I can do?

Update**

Another Ewe Lambed triplets and popped the smallest lamb in with her as it was the odd one out and she took it in a heartbeat. Stripped her out as much as possible and fed the lamb with it. Left her washing her new baby!

[snowyriver]

Hi. Oh the joys of keeping livestock!

With regards to the ewe, personally I'd say, the sooner you get a lamb for her the better chance of fostering success if you're skinning her lamb. Do you not have any neighbours or friend with a spare lamb? but make sure a lamb from another flock is not introducing any disease to your lambing shed, or you will have a bigger problem.

However, again personally, once the ewe has bonded with the dead lamb, I'd remove the lamb from the individual pen and reintroduce the new lamb with his overcoat. That's no different to removing a sick lamb to put under a heat source for a few hours.

I hope that makes sense to you.

[Me]

Biosecuruty nightmare bringing in lambs from other farms - not worth it 

[Hillview Farm]

Closed flock so I can't even if I wanted to.

I've got plenty of triplets due it's just such a pain that she was the first! Fingers crossed for a Triplet to lamb today

[Me]

 

[snowyriver]

Biosecuruty nightmare bringing in lambs from other farms - not worth it 

To be fair, I did mention it!

But I'm also very aware that cats, crows, magpies, foxes, rats and such like move around from farm to farm and shed to shed carrying the exact same diseases which we are trying to avoid carrying with a cade lamb.

Biosecurity is a word on everyone's lips, but in all honesty we can only do what is humanely possible to protect our animals.

If you don't have a spare lamb in the next day or two, I'd say you'll end up with an unproductive ewe.

[Hillview Farm]

Thank you snowyriver, I'm hoping for a lamb soon otherwise she'll have to be dried off.

Me wasn't having a go at you just a warning to myself.

[Anke]

If you cannot get another lamb to foster on, put her on a hay only diet (straw even better), access to water obviously and strip some milk out twice a day, until her udder feels a bit softer. Otherwise you risk mastitis and you won't be able to breed her again next year. I had one doing that last year (she was the last! so defo no foster lambs), and she was tupped this year and I hope will be ok to lamb. No hardness in her udder. Took about 4 to 5 days if I remember, she was penned up, so no access to grass either.

[SallyintNorth]

I have successfully fostered - several times - onto ewes who'd lambed a week earlier, so don't get too stressed about getting a lamb today or tomorrow, although that is of course preferable.  Some of the ewes had been milked for colostrum for the freezer, but others hadn't been milked, and I can only think of one or two that didn't have milk for the foster lamb.  Up to three or four days I wouldn't expect a problem - and I've done one where the ewe had lambed 10 days previously!

Experienced girls who have lost their own lambs will generally take a foster lamb whether or not it smells of their own lamb; they are just desperate to have a lamb to love.  So if the dead lamb gets a bit stinky I wouldn't be too worried about saving its skin to use.  Again, it helps, but don't get too worried about it.

It's often the first lamber or two that give the problems, isn't it.     Sometimes I've felt that we were going to have the most disastrous lambing in history, but generally after a few false starts and hiccoughs, things start to flow as they should.   

[Marches Farmer]

We were told that a bad beginning to lambing generally means a good end, and vice versa.  Often turns out that way but still a sickener when it's the first.  Being a third timer she may well have popped them out with barely  sign she was in labour - often happens with our Badger Face - tucking in to the feed trough and a cup of coffee and a biscuit in the farmhouse later they're licking off twins.

[snowyriver]

Thank you snowyriver, I'm hoping for a lamb soon otherwise she'll have to be dried off.

Me wasn't having a go at you just a warning to myself.

I fully appreciate that!

Late 1980's I was a farm manager on an average size farm, we had a closed flock and despite every possible biosecurity our first 71 lambs were born dead and 4 days into lambing we didn't have a live lamb. The local VIC tested several of these lambs and it came back as Toxoplasmosis. We didn't have cats, nor did any of our neighbours, so where did Toxoplasma come from and how did it get into the flock? It could have been any of the aforementioned carriers. But with the Vet's help and advice we controlled the problem and as Marches Farmer says, we had a fantastic month's lambing after the initial disappointment.

[Me]

Biosecuruty nightmare bringing in lambs from other farms - not worth it 

To be fair, I did mention it!


Biosecurity is a word on everyone's lips, but in all honesty we can only do what is humanely possible to protect our animals.

I know you did! You are all over it like a bio-security ninja!

Bio-security in sheep in general is poor and difficult to maintain. We can barrier worm, quarantine etc and then some helpful fellow puts a wandering scab sheep with CODD, resistant worms, MV, Jaagsetkie and a bad attitude in your field to stop it being run over  . or you bring it in yourself and set it on a ewe! 

Had a chap call yesterday "can you pop over and look at a lamb please" (great) he went straight towards my lambing shed for a nosey while talking about his abortions! I did go and have a look at said lamb and got out of my truck into a bucket of disinfectant then a bath. You can but try. 

[Me]

If you have no cats (as we don't, lots of dogs and wife is allergic) then there is no natural exposure as lambs and when wandering cats do turn up and poo on hay etc it can cause no end of trouble. Very stressful for the shepherd 

[SallyintNorth]

he went straight towards my lambing shed for a nosey while talking about his abortions!

   Been there... 

[snowyriver]

Biosecuruty nightmare bringing in lambs from other farms - not worth it 

To be fair, I did mention it!


Biosecurity is a word on everyone's lips, but in all honesty we can only do what is humanely possible to protect our animals.

I know you did! You are all over it like a bio-security ninja!

Me wasn't having a go at you just a warning to myself.

I think you'll find by later posts that Me was having a go!  Clearly by his later post he thinks he knows a lot more than he actually does!

So good luck to you, I'll keep my opinions to myself, I've no intention of entering a slanging match.