Lost another lamb tonight. This is the second time I have lost a lamb following the death of it's mother. When we find a dead ewe we always try to find the lamb that might be left behind but they tend to disapear in the crowd. Both times it wasn't until tey started to fail that I caught them ( let's face it, if you can catch a lamb easily then it needs attention) First one died of pneumonia after about a week of tlc. This one was much older but same symptoms, lethargic, dehydrated, refusing to eat. She has only been in for two days but rapidly went downhill despite rehydration, terramycin injection and bicarb in case of acidosis. She was actually out nibbling grass with another for company when I found her sat up and dead.
Any thoughts on this? could it be just grief that stops them eating? Incidentally we have three flocks of around 250 ewes in total so losing two ewes isn't unusual and they were from different groups.