[Jacob-list] Baby Lamb Issues

[gotothewhip at aol.com]

Hi all, I could use some advice.  Mmost of our ewes lamb on their own, and have very active little lambs at even a few hours old, but I am missing something here.
 
Yesterday (Monday) morning at 3am, my husbands favorite show ewe, Trudee went into labor.  This is her first pregnancy, so we watched a bit closer.  We have a camera out in the barn, and when we heard her pushing, we watched on the camera.  She delivered a little ewe lamb, but ran like a mad woman to the other side of the stall, and stood with the other ewes staring at it.   We hustled out to the barn, put her in a jug, and let her smell...She decided to clean the lamb, and instincts kicked in.  Little lamb seemed active and well..... Lamb #2 was coming back feet first, Momma seemed uninterested in pushing.  I gave the lamb a little tug and it slid out... not moving... I got the face cleaned, swung out some liquid, and gave it Atropine IV and Respiram under the tongue. I massaged the heart and gave it a few blows of air... nothing.... it was a TINY 3 pound lamb. I made sure the live ewe got some clostrum.. Sucked 20-30 seconds and was standing.  We weighed the live lamb  5.3lbs  still a small lamb.
 
It was now 4:30 we set up a heat lamp, and went to bed.  On the camera I noticed that baby was just standing still.  At 5 ish AM, I went out and held her to nurse... She was interested and got a few sucks in.  I put her under the heat lamp.  I woke up at 6am, and she was still standing, hunched up... I went out to the barn, and put a little lamb coat on her, and got her nursing.. i turned the heat on in the barn, and she snuggled down and took a nap.  I let her sleep about 1 hour, and woke her up to eat.  That's when this trend seemed to start......and has gone on since.  
 
I go into the stall, and have to wiggle and bother her or even stand her up to get her to get up.... She stands there.. If I push her into the ewes udder, she fumbles around, gets on the teat, seems to suck softly, falls off and walks away.If I push her back into the udder she will try to find the teat again and suck softly.  She does not seem to get much, so we have been doing this every 2 hours....day and night.. YAWN! 
 
I have tried a bottle and she wont suck at all.
 
She is warm, and has a belly, and has gained weight (she is at 5.75 lbs) but seems weak and a bit "out of it"  She holds her head up, sleeps in the normal lamb position, and walks fine.  
 
I probably need to let her get hungry for more than 2 hours, but with as small as she is, I feel like I could get in trouble fast.  Add that it was cold yesterday, and last night got below zero.  
 
Today is supposed to be nicer, but again I am worried that if she gets behind we may loose her
 
Any advice?
 
Jennifer  Tucker
Moose Mtn Ranch

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