[Stanlamb]

Hogget lambed a couple of hours ago - single, thank goodness.  She appears to have mastitis, both quarters, have started her on Pen & Strep.  She doesn't have a drop of milk.  Lamb has been tubed with 100 mls Provita Colostrum.  What next?  It's so long since I've had a 100% bottle fed lamb.  Will he need more colostrum tubed tonight or should I just start him n Lamlac - if so, how many mls per feed do you think?

Thanks

[SallyintNorth]

Oh, what a shame.  It's been a hard year for livestock mind. 

Are you sure it's mastitis or just she hasn't dropped the milk yet?  Sometimes it takes a while, especially with a hogget. 

But to answer the question on the lamb - I'd check what it says on the colostrum packet.  We use one that says they just need one feed of it, then onto regular ewe milk replacer, but other brands may need another feed.

[shep53]

In most instances the advice is 50ml per kg live wt colostrum per feed and feed colostrum over a 24hr period then lamlac at the rate advised on the bag which is roughly 1 litre per day fed over 4or5 feeds

[Stanlamb]

Hi Sally and Shep - thank you.

Sally, to answer your question.  I'm not 100%.  In many ways her udder feels like mastitis - a little red, very very full, bit warm.  However, I haven't come across mastitis where the teats are simply empty as hers are.  Usually, I've been able to strip them out or at the very least, feel them blocked.  She's just empty.  I'll call with the Vet once I've done the school run in the morning.  Don't have Oxytocin to give her tonight.  Anything else I can do that you can think off?  I hope it's as simple as her milk not dropping yet - she looks to be mothering the lamb well and it's desperate to suck from her. 

Thanks

[SallyintNorth]

The only thing I can think of is to put milk on the teats and get the lamb to nibble on at them - sometimes the action of the lamb stimulates the milk to flow.  You may have to sit her on her bottom to get milk onto the teat, and the lamb onto that, of course.

  she drops it herself by the morning.

[ScotsGirl]

You could try a warm flannel and massage the udder. That can stimulate the milk to drop.  If mastitis you should eventually get something out looking like cottage cheese.  Some of mine took a bit of encouragement to get colostrum out especially if really thick like condensed milk.


Keep trying and as mentioned if you can get lamb to suck it will do a better job than you. Good luck

[colliewoman]

Do you have another lamb who is feeding strongly??
If so latch that on there for a minute. If she has milk it will find it, and much easier than trying to get milk out of a ewe yourself

[ZaktheLad]

I had a ewe lamb triplets last Tuesday and one side of her udder was the same as you describe, just no milk there at all, despite the whole udder feeling soft, pliable with no lumps or hardness at all.  The teat was just totally empty and I could not get a thing out of there.  Her other side was fine - loads of colostrum and so I hoped it was just a case of her milk not dropping and it would come in an hour or so.  It hasn't, despite 2 of the very large triplets also trying to pull on the teat.  All that appears at the end of the teat is a pin prick size of milk, not anything like you would expect from mastitis, i.e like clotted cream/bloody but just like a perfect pin prick size of milk.  I have never had anything like it and she has always been such an excellent ewe with so much milk.  She is 4 years old and there is definitely no signs of mastitis in her udder - very, very peculiar.  The 3rd lamb I had to take away as she was a tiny little dot and stood no chance whatsoever against the other two competing for what milk was available.  The other 2 appear to be getting enough from the one side and not interested in being topped up with a bottle.  Interesting that you also have had this same issue with no milk from what appears to be a perfect udder 

[ScotsGirl]

Quite strange. My ewe that had mastitis and lost half the udder still gets a bit of milk on that side allbeit not great quality. Would it be another quirky effect of the dreaded Schmallenberg?

[Stanlamb]

Okay been for another look.  Udder is very very warm - think putting your hand on a hot water bottle.  She isn't tender but despite me spending quite a while trying to massage and milk down, nothing came.  It feels like milk comes down into the teat but then goes back up instead of out  .  A neighbour with some experience thinks its a ruptured udder but I don't know - she is in no pain, bright as a button and eating - and from what I've read she would die pretty quickly from that.  Still veering towards mastitis but will try injection to bring her milk in if the vet thinks so.

Lamb meanwhile glugged down 200mls milk and has a heat lamp in.  Next feed 6am yawn!

Thanks for all the advice tonight!

[farmerjim]

Give her some time,as long as the lambs is up and trying to suck and she is mothering it then they will probably be ok. First timer often take a while to get over the trauma.

[Stanlamb]

Wow!  Still no milk this morning but one hungry lamb.  Still lots of swelling and heat so off to the Vets I went.

Vet agreed it's mastitis and gave me an anti-inflammatory as well as Oxytocin to bring her milk down.  Within 10 minutes of me injecting her, I had milk and a lamb lying suckling those enormous teats!

Can't believe it!!  I had a better look and feel this morning and she's hard at the back so think there is definitely mastitis there but it's not showing in her milk which is nce yellow colostrum.

Thanks so much for all your advice last night.  Have a BT more work to do but the bottle can probably be put away!

[SallyintNorth]

Great news.  Fingers crossed the a/bs will hit the mastitis and there won't be any lasting damage.

Well done and thanks for letting us know.