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Author Topic: Lambs with no strength  (Read 3414 times)

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2019, 05:53:37 pm »
OK, so I spoke to the vet. He recommended an injection of vitamin E plus celinedion. Apparently that should help their hearts to go on     :coat: .
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #16 on: May 02, 2019, 07:20:18 pm »
Are you sure he didn't say selenium   ,google keeps telling me celinedion is a Canadian singer  :innocent:

Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #17 on: May 03, 2019, 02:29:49 pm »
How are they today Womble?

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #18 on: May 03, 2019, 04:00:24 pm »
Are you sure he didn't say selenium   ,google keeps telling me celinedion is a Canadian singer  :innocent:


OK, I surrender! The phonecall was quite faint and I was all by myself. However, that's the way it is. Now a new day has come, the power of love has made me think twice; perhaps he did say selenium after all.

So, snapping back into serious mode for a second, they had the injection yesterday afternoon and now seem to be slowly making progress (thanks for asking, Penninehillbilly!). They can now stand unaided, but still need help to suckle. Luckily Mum is the patient sort, so hopefully we'll get there. Watch this space!
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

DartmoorLiz

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • Devon
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #19 on: May 03, 2019, 05:42:39 pm »
Hi Womble, I read somewhere that lambs that have been oxygen deprived at birth might take a while to stand.  If you helped them both then I guess labour was prolonged (or else why intervene?) and if prolonged then O2 supply to the placenta and therefore to the lambs might have been low for some time.  Frightening words like hypoxic brain injury come to mind.


How are they now?
Never ever give up.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #20 on: May 06, 2019, 11:40:33 am »
Hi Liz, Actually labour wasn't all that prolonged - I just happened to spot things weren't quite right, so intervened quickly rather than wait for things to get worse!


The good news is that both lambs are now up and sucking on their own, so I'm hopeful they'll now make a full recovery. Was it the vitamin E? we'll probably never know. But I think all's well that ends well :thumbsup: and we'll take what steps we can to prevent it from happening again.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

nessjw

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2019, 12:29:41 pm »

That's great news... :D


When going the extra mile pays of its good to hear.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #22 on: April 08, 2021, 06:14:57 am »
Hi folks, I think this thread is worth an update, two years on. TLDR: I believe it was a selenium deficiency in the ewe.

One of the lambs described above went on to do reasonably well. She was a little bit smaller than her friends, but not by much.

The other lamb never made it anywhere near slaughter weight by winter, and actually we had it PTS, rather than have it suffer on through the winter. An informal PM showed it had very little muscle, and that the muscles were quite pale in comparison to usual.

Fast forward:

She was empty last year and we earmarked her for mutton. However, that never happened, due to Covid. So, this year, we gave her an injection of vitamin E and Selenium four weeks before her due date. We then repeated that two days before she lambed, and she went on to give birth to three perfectly normal, healthy lambs.

Each of these lambs was given a further injection at birth, and are now doing well. I'll take the vet's advice as to whether more is needed or not.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #23 on: April 08, 2021, 12:55:36 pm »
'White muscle disease' - selenium deficiency, but you got there on your own  :thumbsup:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #24 on: April 08, 2021, 01:12:48 pm »
Yes indeed, Fleecewife. The thing I hadn't made the connection with before was that the root cause was some problem with the ewe's own pathways(?) for using selenium. I suspect that the lamb which did ok had not inherited this, whilst the lamb which did poorly had the same issue.

It'll be interesting to see how this year's lambs turn out. At least we know what to do if they're not keeping up though.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Lambs with no strength
« Reply #25 on: April 08, 2021, 01:27:20 pm »
I think the same thing may have been the cause of a Heb we had which failed to thrive about 15 years ago.  We had him pts eventually but I didn't know about white muscle disease and selenium deficiency at the time.  So a rethink before we lamb next year, just to be safe.  We're not lambing this year.
Thanks for posting your update on the original lambs and on what happened to the same ewe this year.
Thus we learn  ;D   :thumbsup:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

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