The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Bishybarneybee on March 13, 2023, 10:10:44 am
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Does anyone have any ideas or tips for gently cleaning up the bright yellow poo (meconium) from lambs bottoms?
A few of my woolly mums are not very diligent about cleaning up their lambs and I keep finding solidifying lumps of it that are not easy to remove.
Trying to pull or squeeze it off is painful for the lamb and spraying with warm water doesn't seem to soften it much.
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Glue bum as I call it :roflanim: I tend to just peel it off gently, the lamb will wriggle but it’ll be fine. Incidentally this is just good colostrum going through the lamb- meconium is black and the first poo normally within a couple hours of life (or passed at birth if stressed).
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I had two particular lambs with this a couple of years ago. Their mum just didnt seem to want to clean them up. I took some warm water and a cloth out to the field in a bucket and distracted the ewe with food while I grabbed each lamb, wedged it between my legs and wiped the poo off. After 2 or 3 days the problem disappeared - either the ewe decided to clean them or the poo became less sticky, I don't know which. I haven't bred from this ewe again so haven't had the issue since.
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You need to really soak it in water to soften it, not just spray it. Otherwise you're likely to pull the lamb's skin off with the hardened mass.
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Thank you very much for your suggestions. Glue bum is a very good description!
I used a bucket of warm water and sponge in the end plus an old lambing towel to dry them off. Had to dunk one little boys bottom in the water to soak it off but it worked.
Surprisingly, now the hard work is done, the mums are keeping them clean. Hopefully they will keep it up!