[Rhea]

It's our first time lambing and I'd really value some experienced advice.

Experienced balwen ewe had a ram lamb in our field on Sunday 1am, we moved them both into a field shelter after about an hour when she’d finished cleaning him up and he was walking about.  At sunrise he appeared cold and hardly able to move so we took the decision to stomach tube him 120ml of colostrum substitute and sit with him wrapped up for 2 hours till he finally seemed to recover and went to suck. 

We've kept them in the shelter and he goes to feed regularly, but whilst he seems to be putting on some weight he still seems quite thin. We have tested her teats and we're not getting much milk coming out but it's possibly because we are so amateur at this - if we were trying to milk her it would take hours!

Last night we had a ewe lamb born and she already looks sturdier and less hunched than him, we were thinking he was ok but comparing them side to side we're getting worried again.

I was wondering if you would be able to give an assessment from these photos if that is possible?  I just want to make sure he’s ok – he walks fine, but does not bounce around and seems to sit/sleep a lot. Until we had our second lamb we could only compare him to pictures in our books which isn't the easiest thing to do.

Any opinions gratefully received.

[shep53]

The lamb is hungry , it is hunched and its stomach is sucked in , not full and round . Needs either tubed or bottle quick

[Foobar]

Agree with shep, you need to supplement this lamb. Is the ewe on good grass / good food?  Make sure she is as this will help promote milk production.  If you have any lamb boost then that would help the little lamb too. Little and often until it is up and bouncing.

[SallyintNorth]

I'd bottle feed him twice a day.  Maybe only half to two-thirds what you'd give an orphan lamb each time, and only twice a day, because mum must have some milk, just not enough.  So he'll feed from her in between your two top ups, which will keep stimulating her production.

And I'd have him and mum out on the best grass you've got - she won't be able to produce milk without enough input.  You might want to give her some concentrate too.

What is the ewe's condition like?  Do you know how to condition score?  Can you feel her spine?  Her ribs?  The bones in her tail? 

When you see that the lamb's belly is already rounded when you go to give him his top-up, then you can start to reduce the top-ups.

[Marches Farmer]

How old is the ewe?  If she's been correctly fed through pregnancy and has no underlying health issues it may be that she's getting to the end of her reproductive life and can produce offspring but no longer feed them sufficiently.  If you lift the lamb from a lying position it should stretch and if you hold it up with its back to you and put your hand flat on its belly between the navel and back legs it should feel quite firm and at least flat.  If not it's short of milk.

[Rhea]

Thank you so much for all the advice. Since posting we've had another three lambs so not spent too long near a computer.

The ewe is in good condition, we contacted the breeder we bought them from and she came visited earlier and checked her milk - she has plenty so really not sure what is going wrong. Following this advice we've been stomach tubing small amounts regularly, and will continue for as long as needed.

Not sure how you all do this every year - but so glad you're on this forum 

 

[Rhea]

Hi,

His condition has improved and worsened a number of times over the first 7 days of his life.  We tube fed him every 2 hours until his temperature was up to normal and stableand then tried to get him back on to his mum for milk.  However, his temperature dropped during the next night and he became hypothermic so we've again been tube feeding all day.  We tried him on a bottle but he seems to be chewing rather than sucking and so probably only getting 50ml before the milk goes cold (we will try the advice in the other current forum post).

He still seems weak and often shivering so we'll keep tube feeding for now whilst trying the bottle a few times a day whilst leaving him in the pen with his mum.  He also now has a coat made of the arm of one of my jumpers. Does that seem appropriate course of action?

Many thanks,

Rhea

[shep53]

Would be better to get him going on the bottle than continually tubing , and you could put a heat lamp in a corner and rails to keep mum out while allowing the lamb access  . Keep going 

[bazzais]

Have you checked the mam has milk? Seems obvious but worth mentioning.  If mam has no milk - you'll have to feed it.


edit -

(sorry didnt read the thread and your last post)
keep going with the little thing - keep feeding by any means, it may come through - fingers crossed for it and you x

[twizzel]

Try a different teat and leave it more than 2 hours before trying to feed him again on the bottle so that he is actually hungry. The pritchard teats with the yellow screw top and red teat are pretty good for little mouths. Continually tube feeding can cause irritation to the airways and isn't best to do more than a couple of times. That said we had a calf this year who took 4 days before he learnt to suck and drink from a bucket- we had to tube feed him twice a day until he learnt but it came in the end.

[Rhea]

Our Balwen lamb is now 20 days old and 3.5kg and does not appear hollow like he did initially.  We are bottle feeding him Shine milk substitute every few hours (but only once during the night about 2am) and managing to get between 450-700ml into him daily.  Often, he’s not keen to take the milk and so needs *persuasion* to get through it. 

His mum is now completely dry so we know this is all he gets.  During the day he’s out in the field with the others and at night in a pen in a field shelter with his mum, lots of straw, water, etc.
 
He is still low energy except when I chase him at feeding time (!!) and does not play with the other lambs who sprint laps and jump around the field.  His temperature is around 39.4-39.6 apart from in the mornings when it has been around 38.1 – 38.4 so we sit with him until he’s warmed up and stops shivering.  We don’t have a heat lamp which I think was an oversight as the nights have been cold recently.
 
So… Should we take the next step and remove him from his mother and bring him into the house at night and should we worry at this stage about his milk intake.  The manufacturer instructions indicate a lamb should be on 1-1.5litres daily by now but of course ours are a small breed.
 
Thanks so much for any help and advice you can provide.

[shep53]

Probably best to leave with mam as this will teach him how to be a sheep .     3.5 KG would be  a  small x lamb at birth  , so I think you need to re evaluate the milk powder instructions , maybe see if you can start him eating concs of some type as well

[Rhea]

Thanks shep53. We've read estimates to feed about 10% - 30% of bodyweight, does that sound about right?