The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Hevxxx99 on April 07, 2016, 11:31:43 pm
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My elderly Swaledale (Eweness) lambed yesterday evening. It was a long labour followed by a big lamb with a leg back. Had to push it back and rummage around before rather forcefully getting it out. Followed closely by another, correctly positioned lamb. She obviously had a pretty rough ride, but was up washing them happily enough.
This morning, she ate her breakfast and seemed fine. I'd already planned to get antibiotics from the vet, so got them and jabbed her. By the time I did that, she was fairly recumbant and fast asleep before I started sticking needles in her. She's been lying down all day, except to briefly rise to suckle lambs and nibble a tiny bit of hay. She's not interested in hard feed or water. I gave her a squirt of the ewe version of kickstart (the name escapes me).
Do you think I should be worried or is this fairly normal for an old ewe and a difficult birth? She cleansed no problem so don't think there's a third lamb stuck or anything beyond any damage I caused with my itervention. I was concerned that there seemed to be no rumen activity earlier, but she's ruminating ok now.
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It never hurts to give an urgent Calciject injection - something to hold in your lambing box, but if you don't have it, get some from the vet pronto.
Did she also get pain killers and steroids from the vet, along with the antiBs?
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No steroids or painkillers, but I do have calciject. I think (hope!) she seems to be picking up a little.
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Painkiller always useful. Get some from vet.
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I agree a shot of painkiller and an anti-inflammatory would help. A ewe energy drench might not go amiss, plus a bit more cake than usual. She's probably still tired and sore. You could supplement the lambs for a couple of days to give her a chance to recover fully.
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Calciject injection - something to hold in your lambing box, but if you don't have it, get some from the vet pronto.
Also, learn from my mistake and buy some large (50ml) syringes whilst you're at it. We had the Calciject in the box already, but then had a right faff to use it, since we only had a 20ml syringe.
Oh, and keep it in the house, not out in the shed. That makes it easier to warm it up before use.
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I have the syringe and needles at the ready, but good tip to bring it into the house. I keep it in my pick up for field emergancies as I have to drive there, but this ewe is in the barn at home.
She seems brighter today: eating a little hay, drinking, cudding and getting up and down more and has produced several large poos. We gave her ivy last night, which she ate with enthusiasm but wasn't interested in course mix either last night or today. She did, however, eat the whole barley I offered with gusto. She didn't get a lot as I don't want to add acidosis to her problems but I'll get a bag of some other feed today to see if I can tempt her and some lamblac at the same time..
I'm surprised the vet didn't suggest painkillers and steroids when I contacted them. She had the energy drench yesterday - I'll give her another dose today if she still seems dull later.
The lambs are doing well and she adores them. One of them has learned to lie flat on his belly to drink while she's lying down!
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I would keep up with the energy drench until she's 100%. :)
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I agree entirely with painkiller. I had a ewe that had a massive lamb that I had to help out and she seemed pretty under the weather for a few days, athough she looked after the lamb. I gave her a painkiller (Loxicom I think) that came in a large tube that you dial the ammount you want. Anway this really bucked her up - so much so that she was waiting for me each morning to give her another dose and you could visibly see her perk up as the painkiller took effect.
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Wow! i'll see if I can get some: think I could use it myself! ;)
She's mostly seeming much better: still tired, but eating well now but still being fussy. Tempted her with apple and carrots, which she seemed to enjoy and is tucking into hay now, so think she's on the right track again but will keep a wary eye on her.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!
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That loxicom is super stuff and quick acting. tempted to try it on myself!!! Apparently soluble aspirin is ok in an emergency and nothing else available (for the sheep that is).
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Good advice above. For another time, if a lamb has one leg forward with its head correctly positioned, if I can't get the second leg easily, I'd rather lamb it like that than push it back. If you get the first shoulder out, you often then have room to get your fingers round the back of the second shoulderblade for a bit more leverage. Pleased she enjoyed her treats!
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Thanks: I'll bear that in mind.
As I'm awaiting the birth of something akin to a hippopotamus, going by the size of the ewe and the interminable pregnancy, I may need that bit of information.
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I have one of those too, I put them outside for a little bit today to bed the shed, and she got stuck in the door on the way back in.
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You generally need to push the lamb back only a short way to give you the room to bring the backwards leg into the right position. Use lots of lubrication as the lamb often starts to dry out if the labour's been longer than usual. Rather than pulling both legs together try pulling one leg then the other - this can narrow the shoulder area just enough to help the lamb through. Timing pulls with contractions speeds things up.
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Unless it is a massive texel lamb I have lambed (and kidded) in "superman" position a few times... lots of lube and a good pull. When I tried to do it textbook I promptly lost the head inside and it ended up a vet job...
however - always have painkiller for afterwards for the ewe/nanny, my vets either give flunixin or loxicom, which cheers the ewes/nannies up in no time...
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Never push the head back without putting a snare or something round it first, as there is nothing more frustrating than losing the head inside!
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Good tips! Everything is so darned slippery it's hard to grip anything at all.
The old girl is up and eating well, so I'm reasonably confident she's going to be fine. Her lambs seem content and well fed and although she seems to be lying down a lot still she's getting up regularly to feed them and is merrily cudding away when she's down.
Thanks for all the help!