The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: GlebeFieldFarm on March 08, 2016, 08:05:03 pm
-
Hi
Had tiny triplet lamb born, sucked off mother straight away then have been tube feeding since last night. I Now can't decide whether it's getting enough of not. Lamb weighs 2.5kg roughly I've been given it 50ml-6mls at a time. Can I give it more?
-
Is it still suckling off mum as well?
Did it get its full dose of colostrum?
How full does its tummy feel after you've fed it?
How often are you feeding it?
What are you feeding it (milk replacer, milked off ewe etc)
-
Feeding every 4hours, does feel full after feeding but seems quiet. I can't decide if it content and sleep or hungry/sick.
Had colostrum from ewe after birth now on volostrum.
-
When lamb gets up does it do a good stretch, a sign of a contented lamb.
-
No doesn't stretch. I'll give it more and hope I don't over feed it
-
I would say @300mls/day is ample for a tiny lamb for at least the first few days.
But if it is able to suckle, why are you tubing it and not letting it suck from a bottle? When bottle fed you'll know how much it needs as it'll stop when full. I only tube an animal that is too weak to suck for itself, so would otherwise die. It can't be pleasant for a healthy animal to have a tube stuck down its throat, and is not without dangers.
-
What breed is it? Small for a texel or something but 2.5kg doesn't sound that tiny to me.
I've got shetlands and some welsh mountain twins born this morning 2.76 each.
-
Unless you are able to put it with a foster mother then it will need to go on a bottle, the sooner the better. Repeated tubing isn't comfortable or necessary unless it can't suck. I had a Cade a year or two back which had a lot of problems sucking (bit snotty!) so gave it kettle and often, just keep eye on the daily total
-
One of my ewes had triplets last night, all really strong. I've taken one off her and it happily drinks 200ml every 4 hours - not sure of its weight though.
-
Give a bottle if you can. Once you get the teat into the lamb's mouth just give a tiny squeze every couple of seconds, so literally a drop goes in, then watch for the swallow reflex. It takes time at first but it'll soon get the hang of it. If it coughs and splutters you've giving too much too fast.
-
It wouldnt suck, I couldnt understand why it was appearing hypothermic although had plenty of colostrum and had been under heat lamp since birth. But rectal temperature slowly decreased throughout the day.
Sadly she died last night
-
She may have had something wrong internally, or an infection.
It doesn't sound like you were feeding her so little that she would be short of nutrition, that plus heat lamp should have been sufficient to keep a healthy lamb alive.
Sorry for your loss :hug:
-
You did your best sometimes it just goes that way.
-
Bad luck. Often if there's something wrong on the outside (including being very small) there's something wrong on the inside too.
-
:bouquet:
Sounds like there was something amiss that didn't show, so although it's sad, this was probably the right outcome.
I hope you don't get any more need topping up, but if you do, I generally give just one feed of colostrum replacer, and regular ewe milk replacer after that. The packaging tells you what size of feed of the colostrum you need to give a neonate.
When tubing, because the lamb has no chance to say, "Woah, I'm full!", you do need to do little and often, as over-filling the first stomach causes all sorts of issues. I generally don't give more than 100-120ml in one feed by tube - these are strapping great Texel lambs, I'd give less to one of my primitive types.