The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: plt102 on March 16, 2017, 06:32:28 pm
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Hi there, we have a 4 year old ewe who had twins the day before yesterday. No problem with lambing
We always bring mums and lambs into stable for 48 hours for some quiet bonding time with some hay, coarse mix and water. When we checked her this evening she won't get up and looking quiet and has scoured. Could it be belly ache from the coarse mix? We are going to try twin lamb drench and try to get her up so lambs can feed but any suggestions would be welcome. We had no problems with her last year
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Did she pass the after birth OK? Have you checked her udder for mastitis?
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As above if yes to either then vet , give her calcium borogluconate , combivit or vit B12 . I assume that she had been on coarse mix before lambing so feeding after should cause no problem
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Thank s for your fast replies. We have given her twin lamb drench and some water with sugar in it. We got her up and got the lambs to feed but she lying down again and we had to hold her up.Both udders look fine and are producing. I massaged her belly in case it is bloat. She is a bit more alert now and nibbled some hay, so we have left her for a bit while we grab some food for ourselves and a bottle to top up the lambs. They have been having coarse mix for the last 8 weeks but maybe the change from grass to just mix and hay upset her a bit or she is dehydrated. We'll give her some more water and twin drench by syringe and see if we can get her standing again in an hour. Thanks again
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We don't know about after birth as she lambed at night unaided and quite often it is gone by morning.
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Does she have a temperature?
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What is her temperature? If it's low that indicates milk fever/hypocalcemia if high then indicates infection. But if you're still scratching your head I would be getting the vet for her asap. If it's one thing I've learnt this year from my first year lambing is don't hang around if you have a sick ewe after lambing or you'll have a dead ewe...
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She is brighter this morning and can stand for a bit on her own to feed the lambs so I think it was dehydration and vitamin deficiency as the drenching seems to have helped. We will keep a close eye and hopefully she will continue to improve. No temperature or mastitis still. If things change for the worse I'll take your advice and call the vet. Thanks so much. I'll keep you posted