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Author Topic: Lambs Dirty Bums  (Read 26906 times)

RonMinch

  • Joined Sep 2011
Lambs Dirty Bums
« on: March 07, 2012, 09:49:01 pm »
Hi All, I have 3 Greyface Dartmoor yews, 2 sets of twins so far, 3 boys, 1 girl. My question is how best to clean lambs bums when Colostrum works its way through? This stuff is so sticky, it virtually blocks there bums up. Last year we cleaned them twice a day, scraping the muck away. Is this normal or is it just mine. Next yew due next week so can get so sleep before it starts again. Regards, Ron.

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2012, 10:07:10 pm »
I use baby wet wipes or if it's really bad and hard, massage in baby oil then wet wipes. Yes, it's horrid sticky stuff!

Bramblecot

  • Joined Jul 2008
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2012, 10:32:26 pm »
GFD's here are just the same.  I put Vaseline on their tails so at least the goo does not set rock hard and glue their tails to legs.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2012, 12:22:06 am »
It can indeed block up their bums completely, so stand back when you release it  :o  If it is very hard, carefully cut the wool with scissors - that's what Swiss Army knives are for  ;D ;D :sheep:  This problem usually happens a couple of days or so after birth but then it clears.  I hate to think what would happen if you didn't clear it. Apparently it can be avoided by the use of a certain mineral or vitamin, but I don't know which, maybe E.  Anyone?.....
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

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SteveHants

  • Joined Aug 2011
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2012, 08:01:52 am »
If I had to wipe my lambs arses twice a day, I might actually weep. And then Id sell all my sheep. That rhymes, doesnt it? ;D

RonMinch

  • Joined Sep 2011
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2012, 08:26:09 am »
Thanks for the replies, it is a bit of a faff, how do commercial sheep farmers go on? they cant possibly sort all there lambs out every day. Ron.

Haylo-peapod

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2012, 08:42:07 am »
Hi Ron, I also have the same problem with my GFD lambs.

Like Bramblecot I put vaseline on their tails but I do also clean off the poo in a bucket of warm water (NO soap as this would mask their smell and Mum may then reject them). This also helps to soften the poo that has dried rock hard.

It's a messy job - remember your waterproofs!

Hopefully the problem should resolve itself in a day or two. Good luck!

smudger

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Devon/ West Exmoor
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2012, 09:42:09 am »
Toss a coin and hope you win so OTH has to do it...

I only had 2 lambs and only had prob with one, so took it as a sign that the good mother was cleaning lambs bottom as it should. The first one sufered from a bit of mismothering and as I had read that the ewe can smell her own milk coming thru I didn't clean the lambs bum for about a week (just means you get covered in yellow gooey stuff every time you pick it up when you forget ::)). I just knocked off the worst lump bits with a spoon and then used warm water and disposable wipes when I did wash it.

Might try the vaseline next time.
Traditional and Rare breed livestock -  Golden Guernsey Goats, Blackmoor Flock Shetland and Lleyn Sheep, Pilgrim Geese and Norfolk Black Turkeys. Capallisky Irish Sport Horse Stud.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2012, 09:51:11 am »
Thanks for the replies, it is a bit of a faff, how do commercial sheep farmers go on? they cant possibly sort all there lambs out every day. Ron.
We don't.

It is rarely a problem but you do get the odd one.  Mostly they sort themselves out.  I've only ever twice had to resort to scissors and that was woolly-tailed Swaledale lambs with first-timer shearling mams.

Commercial farmers do give mineral drenches routinely, so if you non-commercial folks are seeing quite a bit of this and we commercial types are not, maybe there is something in the mineral theory.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fronhaul

  • Joined Jun 2011
    • Fronhaul Farm
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2012, 10:50:29 am »
I think you may be right about the mineral drenches Sally.  Just been thinking about it and last year I saw a problem but this year (and we started mineral drenching last summer) so far all has been fine. 

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2012, 11:01:31 am »
What kind of mineral drench? I see it in a quite a few lambs... so if there is a fairly reasonable solution, I would be prepared to try it.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2012, 12:39:20 pm »
In this case it must be the drenching the of the mums so their mineral and vitamin levels are maintained.

We use a chelated drench - Carrs do one call OviThrive, we get ours from a guy called Paul Keeble; others have posted on here about another bloke, Jonathan Guy is it?

We give the chelated drench a couple of months before lambing for sheep that may need the copper to prevent swayback in the lambs (in our case our mules and not our Texels) and anytime after that up until shortly before lambing for the others.

Farmers looking for higher lambing percentages than we do probably use a drench before tupping as part of their flushing programme, and may give another drench shortly before lambing to make sure the girls are fighting fit for lambing.

Most farmers will be feeding in-lamb ewes an increasing cake ration in the final 8 weeks, up to 2lb/head/day in the final month for twin-bearers, and this will be giving them minerals and vitamins too.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Haylo-peapod

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2012, 02:50:21 pm »
So SallyintNorth, do you leave mineral licks out for the girls as well as drenching them?
I leave mineral licks out all year and until now figured this would have been adequate... ???
Intriguing that this might explain mucky bum syndrome

Bramblecot

  • Joined Jul 2008
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2012, 05:22:45 pm »
My ewes have mineral buckets most of the year - garlic in summer (will it keep midges away?  another random thought), Lifeline pre-lambing and own brand GP the rest of the time.  The GFD lambs all get horrid sticky bums for the first few days but the Shetland lambs do not.  I have no idea why.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Lambs Dirty Bums
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2012, 06:39:33 pm »
So SallyintNorth, do you leave mineral licks out for the girls as well as drenching them?
I leave mineral licks out all year and until now figured this would have been adequate... ???
We leave licks out up until we start caking; after that they are getting minerals in the cake.  The trouble with licks, is not all of them take them.  And they eat differing amounts of cake, too - with a drench you know for sure that every ewe has got a proper dose.

I really don't know if the minerals in the ewe's diet is or is not a factor in 'mucky bum syndrome' - but someone on here mentioned it as being possible, and it's a fact that commercial farmers don't seem to see as high a proportion of gummed-shut bums as smallholders seem to.  It could equally be that commercial farmers let lambs and ewes get on with it more, and don't intervene in minor cases which a smallholder might decide to help clean up.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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