The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: OhLaLa on February 26, 2013, 11:43:41 am
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The ewe in question is heavily in lamb (twins we think).
It's her second day of not eating or drinking, she is laying down (head up ok), and although she has tried to make the effort to get up, all that weight seems just too much for her. She is peeing and pooing where she is. She is too heavy for me to assist getting her up, and she seems to be 'all lamb' so I wouldn't know the best place to get hold of her to help anyway.
She is sometimes grunting a bit as she breathes.
Her rear end doesn't look pink or swollen enough for her to be ready to lamb yet, although has poss shown signs of being a bit damp.
The above is the best description I can give, I know they go off their grub when they are close to lambing.
Advice please.
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When is she due? I dagged my ewes today 6 weeks from lambing and they all are a little damp so I dont think thats a sign.
We had a ewe years ago with 6 lambs on board who couldn't carry the weight about 4 weeks before lambing. she lambed but the damage was done and she never got back on her feet no matter what we did.
Move her legs about and keep them working or she'll get muscle wastage if it happens for a long period.
Have you tried getting her back end up first? then getting the front up
Good luck!
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Thanks for the reply. Unsure when she is due as the ram caught us out and got busy earlier than we would have liked so no raddle colour.
Her legs are tucked under her, can't get to them but I'll go out and give it another try. Unsure where best to place my hands to help her up as she is heavily in lamb and everywhere on her just seems to be where the lambs are (and I don't want to harm them).
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If she's not eating then possibly Twin Lamb disease? I would check her for symptoms of that.
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Yes, she most definitely needs attention if she has not eaten/drank anything for 2 days and can't get to her feet. I would suspect twin lamb disease and you need to act fast now to avoid her deteriorating to a worse condition and have the risk of losing both her and her lambs. Have you tried a twin lamb drench? Please do not delay any longer in helping her in some way either yourself with a drench/injecting or getting the vet out to her.
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I've looked up the symptoms, could be that, although she can see ok and gave me nudge to move me away when I tried to help her up. She did try again to get up when I first went into the pen.
I offered her some grass, didn't chew it, but poss a flicker of interest.
Editing just to let you know, I've rang the vet, hopefully will be here within a couple of hours. Will keep you posted and thanks for the replies.
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Any big syringe or the like and squirt it into her mouth and make sure she swallows it.
You can make up a high energy drench using milk, egg yolk and molasses.
Like Zak says, you need to get energy and fluids into her asap or else she will go downhill quickly.
You should really have a TL drench handy well ahead of lambing time, just in case.
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I always say rather than take the risk of losing them get the vet, its cheaper in the long run. Do hope ewe and lambs will be OK.
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I may be a bit over-reacting to something like that, but ANY ewe that doesn't come to the trough in the last 6 weeks and/or is a bit slow to eat/doesn't show any appetite will get a drench with Twin Lamb, usually a couple of those will sort it out. Once a sheep is down it is usually too late to get them back up.
Also if she hasn't chewed her cud for a couple of days you will need her rumen to get re-started I would have thought?
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I always say rather than take the risk of losing them get the vet, its cheaper in the long run. Do hope ewe and lambs will be OK.
I am with you on this. I know calling the vet out can be expensive and is a loss of profit, but in all fairness to your stock it is far better to call out the vet for immediate diagnosis and treatment, rather than guess at what it might be that is the cause of the problem. I never hesitate in calling the vet to any of my animals and yes, the cost of call out and treatment for a in-lamb ewe might well be the cost of the price of a prime lamb, but you have saved the life of a ewe, the lamb(s) and have peace of mind that you have done your best for her. In my experience, and in particular with sheep, the faster you act the better the outcome for all concerned. Never hold off calling out a vet if you are at all unsure of what you are dealing with as you owe that to your stock at all times.
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I agree 100%. Over the space of a few years you'll gain lots of experience and advice from vet call outs and you'll need to call out less and less as a consequence. I never hesitate and budget for the cost over lambing.
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As already posted, am waiting for the vet.
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Vet hasn't turned up despite 3 phone calls and a visit to them to pick up some meds to help (they didn't have anything and were useless).
Yes, she's gone downhill. Bless her.
Edited to let you all know that vet turned up (albeit v late) and treated her.
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I had a ewe last year with twin lamb tried the drench and a molasses gruel mix then gave her lamblac milk from a bottle ( she was a pet ) that kept her going for 2 weeks then assist lambing I think that what saved her
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Hmm. There are vets and vets, I guess. Ours is a dedicated large animal practice and they're brilliant. I once sold some ewe lambs to a smallholder new to sheepkeeping and told him if he had any problems to call me. He contacted me a couple of months later and said one of them had begun to limp and the vet had come out and given it everything in the book barring a visit to a spa resort and charged him over a £100 for the privilege. I'd have driven over and given her foot a squirt of Footmaster Violet for £20!
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How is the ewe? have you given her a high energy drench? If nothing at hand id be making a glucose drink mix (flat lucozade, sugar n water / digestive biscuits or anything really at this stage.
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As above, you need to get energy into her at short regular intervals, now, if you don't have twin lamb drench or glucose, get some honey, treacle, or sugar solution into her asap. Also if you have a vitamin drench give her this, there is vit B12 in twin lamb drench, if she is likely to be calcium deficient then would recommend getting some calciject (calcium with magnesium ) into her asap.
We have managed to save an old ewe that we hadn't realised was pregnant with drenches, soaked sugar beet, she was down for some 2 weeks before lambing, and it then took a few days after lambing for her to recover and be up on her feet again. Try different feeds to tempt her to eat, if she isn't ruminating you can buy a rumen stimulant, or you can steal cud from another sheep to help get her ruminating again.
Good luck
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Vet turned up and treated her.
My thanks to foobar and zakthelad for their quick and helpful replies.
Editing to say just seen your reply blacksheep, thanks for the info. Appreciated.
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How is she?
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Thanks for asking - under observation with drenches twice daily.
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:fc :fc: :fc: :fc: :thumbsup:
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Good-o, fingers crossed she has a swift and full recovery. :fc:
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OhLaLa, did the vet say what it was?
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Hope she is doing well?
Its maybe time to be pro-active and find a better vet! grab the phone book and ring your local agricultural collage and ask them to recomend a farm vet in your area, yours sounds crap, mine would have been out in 6hrs tops.
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It isn't always possible to have such a good choice. here in Brittany in a very agricultural region my vet who is good and gives prompt attention is basically a cattle man his knowledge of sheep which are rarely kept in any sizeable number does not figure on his radar. I find it is better to have some idea of what direction things are gonig in order to be able to prompt my vet as to what problem he is looking at. Also they are in the large majority of cases looking for solutions of economy as that is what drives most farmers around here ( not that its a bad thing) but keeping a ewe alive or treating her for twin lamb disease may well not be considered an emergency rather an appointment with a bullet sad but true.
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Hope she does well :fc:
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Bionic - he diagnosed Toximia (Twin Lamb D).
Early days yet, but I got the ewe to take a little water today and she nibbled a bit at some feed. She let out a couple of good bleats this afternoon in response to her pals (this morning she wasn't even up to that), but is still laying down. Still having drench.
If anyone has any ideas for me to help her improve, please post them here.
And thanks again, had some good replies which I have acted on.
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How about trying her with a few treat type foods to wet her appetite and encourage her to eat. My ewes enjoy a slice of white bread, an apple cut up in segments and some sliced fingers of carrots when they get the chance! Really pleased to hear you ewe is showing signs of recovery and the fact that she is now having a small drink of water is great news.
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Had to dial in to thank you zakthelad. I've never offered them bread.
Having read your post this morning I went out there with a couple of slices. I've seldom seen a slice of bread enjoyed so much - ended up feeding her the second slice as morsels of soaked sugarbeet sandwiches, which was followed by her first really good slurp of water in days.
Read about offering lettuce as well, turned her nose up at that.
Still laying down so it was 'breakfast in bed', but it's perked me up that she took it so readily.
Many many thanks.
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Excellent news - hopefully she will have turned a corner now and be tempted by her sandwiches to make a full recovery. She might slowly regain her appetite no. I'm really pleased for you - well done for keeping with it and doing all you can for her :hug:w
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We,ve had quite a few twin lambers this year,must be about 5 in all, very unusual because we've had the buckets out and don't normally get this in the commercial flock. We've been drenching the affected ewes and one we had to bring up to the barn in a wheelbarrow! She was down a long time, but gradually got up a little more each day with some TLC, anyway she had a triplet yesterday, good strong lambs too.
The others have lambed and are making progress just got one more who was down to go. She collapsed but recovered quickly with drenching, she looks like she wont be long, probably a few days.
Just seems odd, never had so many in one hit before. These ewes are usually tough as old boots! it's why we have them.
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Definitely does seem to be a high number this year just going from the various posts on here :-[ I am watching my girls like a hawk at the moment for any signs. Only had the one ewe last year and we had to bring her in from the field in the frontloader bucket of the tractor! Perhaps the wet weather has had something to do with it?
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Yes there does seem to be a lot this year. Saying that though, our early lambers had low fertility with the SBV problem we had ,these late lambers are all giving twins which is a positive :thumbsup: We were dreading another bad batch of lambers but it all seems ok so far. A bit tired today though we had 8 lamb in 12 hours yesterday finishing around 2.00 this morning.
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To tempt appetites I usually walk around the pond with a bucket a hedge trimmers and cut fresh grass and wildflower leaves - if that doesn't disappear in seconds I know she' in a really bad way.
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Just checking the ewes this morning and there's one down. She's due 1st April with twins, possible triplets but she's an experienced ewe. So she got four injections of Calciject distributed around her, then some Twin Lamb tonic.
After 45m she staggered up and turned round and then sat down again. Another quarter of an hour and she got up so we carried her in to the lambing shed and our vet gave her some glucose - she liked that a lot. We're keeping her in for some more glucose tomorrow but she's looking good. She's sharing the shed with a lamb ewe lamb we found in the same walk round. Too much excitement.
The other seven ewes, all expecting twins, were galloping around as normal but we're watching like hawks.
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With one thing and another it's taken me a while to update this; sadly, the ewe didn't make it.
She seemed to be on the road to recovery, taking her meds, eating an ok amount, drinking in good slurps, but just didn't make it through one night. The vet suspects peritonitis (excuse spelling). From the size and shape of her I suspect she was carrying more than two lambs (last year she lambed triplets). I've never seen a ewe so heavy and wide. V sad.
But the legacy of her lives on; last week, her daughter lambed for the first time, and like her mum, is proving to be a good attentive ewe. It took us all (especially the first time ewe) by surprise, one minute she was eating and grazing with all the others (taking in a bit of rare sunshine), next she was licking her baby. All is as it should be, a healthy and cute young lad; great mum.
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Sorry to hear about your ewe, especially as she seemed on the road to recovery. Glad to hear you have had some luck with your other ewe though - excellent news :thumbsup:
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It's especially sad when you think they are going to recover and they take a turn for the worst. Still, you did your very best for her, and it is all experience for the future if you get a sheep with those kind of symptoms again. (keep some TW drench by) Ivy is good for restoring appetites and is about all year round. Plantains if they're growing are also excellent. At least her daughter did you and her mum proud!
Isn't it great that there are so many people on here, willing to share their knowledge and experience.
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OhLaLa, sorry to hear about your loss but glad that her daughter has lambed and all looks well