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Author Topic: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!  (Read 9784 times)

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« on: March 27, 2018, 10:07:20 am »
This may be a daft question, but I'm sure I'm not alone in this!

When tubing lambs, I'm always relieved when I go back ten minutes later and they're still alive, since I'm always paranoid that I've just filled their lungs with milk  :-[ .

Is it just a case of "if the tube went all the way down, it must be in the stomach", or is there a better way to be sure? 

My lambing course notes say that I should be able to feel the tube going down the throat, but I haven't figured out how yet?  (The practical demonstration during the lambing course was somewhat hampered for me by the fact that my dead lamb was still frozen, so I could only get the tube down a few inches anyway!!).
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

davet

  • Joined Sep 2016
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2018, 10:12:51 am »
You should be able to hear the stomach burbling if you have it in the right place.

Backinwellies

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
    • Nantygroes
    • Facebook
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2018, 10:44:50 am »
Having taught this many times on live and 'frozen' lambs....

1.  Dip end of tube in milk to lubricate a bit
2. Insert end of tube in mouth and move to back of mouth where it will stick a bit .... hesitate for a few secs and lamb will swallow tube (you can feel it become easier to move again)
3. You can feel it go down throat......  finger either side and just pull tube up and down a bit  (if it is in wind pipe you cannot feel it as wind pipe is held open by rings of cartilage)
4. Tube should as you say Womble should go almost all the way in (unless you have tiny lamb).  It must be in the stomach cos the lungs are only half way to stomach.
5 You can hear stomach burbling though tube.
6. lamb should be relatively comfortable with tube in and probably suckle it a bit. ....

I hope that helps a bit .... once mastered it is a complete lifesaver both for the lamb and for sleep deprived lambers who really need to go back to bed knowing the lamb has had enough colostrum to keep it going till morning!!   (I have very little patience for lack lustre sucking on a teat)
Linda

Don't wrestle with pigs, they will love it and you will just get all muddy.

Let go of who you are and become who you are meant to be.

http://nantygroes.blogspot.co.uk/
www.nantygroes.co.uk
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Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2018, 11:16:58 am »
Thank you both so much!  :thumbsup:

Backinwellies - I'd got all of that except for pinching behind the windpipe as you put the tube in, and the fact that you wouldn't be able to feel it if it was in the windpipe. It's true, you really can feel it going down.

I also found out why I couldn't get anything to flow earlier - the tube had become blocked with a lump of powder  :dunce: .

Fantasy says thank you!  :love:
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2018, 11:19:02 am »
Oh, and assuming I can't find her a mummy soon (looking increasingly unlikely, since the others show no sign of lambing, and she bleats in response to my voice anyway  :-[ ), how soon should I move her onto standard lamlac, rather than powdered colostrum?
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2018, 11:41:54 am »
My goodness Womble, those shelves are well organised  :o


Thank you for raising this question and thank you backinwellies for a brilliant description  :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.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2018, 11:46:14 am »



I've just had a thought  :idea: .  Could we pin Backinwellies' reply please so everyone can benefit?


I don't know who moderates each section, but it might be worth having that info available too?
"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.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2018, 12:09:01 pm »
I find it can help if you "measure" how far down the tube needs to go and put your fingers at the spot on the tube as you slide it down to where the lamb's nose will be.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2018, 12:56:30 pm »
That's a good idea, MF. I've taken it one step further, and have marked the tube at roughly the right point :thumbsup: .
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2018, 01:16:40 pm »
Oh, and assuming I can't find her a mummy soon (looking increasingly unlikely, since the others show no sign of lambing, and she bleats in response to my voice anyway  :-[ ), how soon should I move her onto standard lamlac, rather than powdered colostrum?
24 hours on colostrum then onto milk powder

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2018, 03:45:27 pm »

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2018, 03:52:33 pm »
You should be able to hear the stomach burbling if you have it in the right place.

And even more importantly, not hear breath sounds
« Last Edit: March 30, 2018, 11:11:51 am by SallyintNorth »
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

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2018, 03:32:07 am »
^ guys, whilst each of these are true, I'll be honest, the sound is really hard to tell the difference enough to trust it, especially when you've only heard one of them!

Anyway, it's 3.30am, so I'm just on to write and say thank you once again to @Backinwellies : Because of you, I am now going back to bed, rather than spending the next hour in the barn muttering "Just f&*^%ing suck, will you!?!".

I had previously thought of tubing as a semi-emergency measure, perhaps one down the list from IP glucose injections. However, I now realise that it's a really important routine skill for us all to have. Definitely practice it this year even if you don't need to  :thumbsup: .
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Backinwellies

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
    • Nantygroes
    • Facebook
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2018, 07:36:23 am »
Glad to help Womble  :sunshine:
Linda

Don't wrestle with pigs, they will love it and you will just get all muddy.

Let go of who you are and become who you are meant to be.

http://nantygroes.blogspot.co.uk/
www.nantygroes.co.uk
Nantygroes  facebook page

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Getting the feeding tube down the right tube!
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2018, 11:12:28 am »
Having taught this many times on live and 'frozen' lambs....

1.  Dip end of tube in milk to lubricate a bit
2. Insert end of tube in mouth and move to back of mouth where it will stick a bit .... hesitate for a few secs and lamb will swallow tube (you can feel it become easier to move again)
3. You can feel it go down throat......  finger either side and just pull tube up and down a bit  (if it is in wind pipe you cannot feel it as wind pipe is held open by rings of cartilage)
4. Tube should as you say Womble should go almost all the way in (unless you have tiny lamb).  It must be in the stomach cos the lungs are only half way to stomach.
5 You can hear stomach burbling though tube.
6. lamb should be relatively comfortable with tube in and probably suckle it a bit. ....

I hope that helps a bit .... once mastered it is a complete lifesaver both for the lamb and for sleep deprived lambers who really need to go back to bed knowing the lamb has had enough colostrum to keep it going till morning!!   (I have very little patience for lack lustre sucking on a teat)

:bookmark: Tubing a lamb
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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