The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Farmsheep99 on April 22, 2021, 06:47:12 pm

Title: New lamb not doing well
Post by: Farmsheep99 on April 22, 2021, 06:47:12 pm
Hey everyone. I had two ewes give birth this morning right next to eachother. They were licking each others lambs and trying to claim them all. Finally got them sorted out, one had twins one had a single. Came back out to check a little later and the ewe with the single had had another one. I thought she was only having one as she was content and not trying for another. She had it around an hour after her first and it was barely alive when I got there. Tube fed it and gave it a shot of selenium. I’d assume he’s oxygen deprived from the long birth and he’s not moving much seems depressed. Any suggestions on what to do to help him out?
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: shep53 on April 22, 2021, 07:26:36 pm
Important to keep him warm and keep tubing colostrum for first 24 hrs at roughly 200ml  total per kg lamb weight , so roughly 50ml per kg each feed over 4 feeds
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: Farmsheep99 on April 23, 2021, 11:14:13 pm
Important to keep him warm and keep tubing colostrum for first 24 hrs at roughly 200ml  total per kg lamb weight , so roughly 50ml per kg each feed over 4 feeds
Yes, I had her under the heat lamp yesterday but brought her into the house as the mother didn’t seem to want her. I’ve been tubing her and trying to get her to start to suck. She’s just started standing with assistance and she wobbles around the floor. She hasn’t perked up yet like I thought she would...
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: SallyintNorth on April 24, 2021, 06:53:47 am
Sometimes they take a while to really get going.  And sometimes they seem to recover but then die later  :'(.  But some make it through, so we always have to try. 
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: shep53 on April 24, 2021, 07:26:18 pm
Just needs time, keep going with warmth and keep trying the bottle first then if  needed  finish by tubing always checking how full its stomach ,just in front of its hips
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: Farmsheep99 on April 25, 2021, 09:06:44 pm
Thanks guys I’ll take that into consideration. As of right now I’ve been tubing and also squirting milk into her mouth and making her swallow. She gets up and wobbles around on her blanket and is always trying to drink off the dog. She wiggles her tail and buts at his legs like she wants to drink so we hold the bottle up there for her 😅 but she wont open her mouth to suck. So for now we’ll keep tubing and trying her on the bottle and see what happens.
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: twizzel on April 25, 2021, 09:41:42 pm
Sometimes missing a feed will make them hungry enough to suck. Other times I’ve had success just feeding rehydration fluids (rehydion, life aid) instead of a milk feed. They seem to be more inclined to suck water fluids than milk sometimes. Repeated tubing isn’t good as they never feel hungry enough to be inclined to suck.
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: shep53 on April 26, 2021, 05:39:57 pm
Open her mouth put the teat in ,wrap your hand around her muzzle to keep the teat in ,squeeze the bottle and using your little finger on the wrap around hand gently massage her throat , unless the lamb can connect the teat with milk then they will just hold it or spit it out, as twizzel says missing a feed to make them hungry can help
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: Bramham Wiltshire Horns on April 27, 2021, 11:04:42 am
Important to keep him warm and keep tubing colostrum for first 24 hrs at roughly 200ml  total per kg lamb weight , so roughly 50ml per kg each feed over 4 feeds

i echo this comment

also try some Lamb Kick start that helps get them going.
Title: Re: New lamb not doing well
Post by: Backinwellies on April 28, 2021, 07:10:08 am
Important to keep him warm and keep tubing colostrum for first 24 hrs at roughly 200ml  total per kg lamb weight , so roughly 50ml per kg each feed over 4 feeds

i echo this comment

also try some Lamb Kick start that helps get them going.

totally agree ...... dont force teat or deprive of milk till sucking well .....  I have tube fed for 3 days (and kick start) before 2 very small twins developed a sucking reflex ....