[Jacob-list] Floppy lamb

[Zach Oaster]

We had a lamb -- a twin ram lamb -- born this way last year. We jugged the
mother with the two lambs (she was one of our old and reliable ewes). Three
or four times/day we went out and held the lamb up to the ewe's bag so that
it could get its fill. It is worth noting that we tried to bottle feed, but
he would have none of it... so the "natural" method was the compromise. We
also consulted the experts who suggested BoSe or MuSe (I do believe they
serve a similar purpose, someone correct me if I am wrong... we ended up
using MuSe) and several other vitamin and nutrient injections that I can't
recall at the moment. He survived for about a week, but did not thrive and
never gained the ability to stand on his own. He seemed to have the
strength but not the coordination. He would get on all fours for a few
moments, and then fall over. It was almost like his sense of balance was
completely blocked.

He passed while we were at work one day. It was unfortunate. I am guessing
that IF it is possible for a lamb to recover from that situation that
bottle feeding would be one of the only options to ensure proper feeding. I
am interested to hear if anyone has seen recovery from this?

We had several complications last year during lambing season, and I think
many of them were in part due to nutritional needs that were unmet. Among
those complications were the above noted lamb, but also nearly all of our
adult ewes that normally have twins only bore a single lamb. The winter
prior to last year's lambing season here in Michigan was unusually warm and
unusually wet. I think this made conditions good for increased worm
problems, and also different nutrition requirements. This year we made some
changes and the ewes look MUCH healthier and lambing was a breeze (mostly
we just fed alfalfa blocks as a supplement to unlimited free choice hay,
and gave a small ration of sweet feed every day starting a few weeks before
breeding season).

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Zach Oaster
zach at fattoaster.com
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Visit Zach & Lindsay's farm blog: http://www.fattoasterfarm.com
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^


On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 4:49 PM, Donnangelo, Nick <ncd at mitre.org> wrote:


> One of our new ewes gave birth to a normal ewe lamb but a profoundly weak

> ram lamb. The ram lamb is completely unable to stand but is capable of

> dragging himself. We managed to get about 40cc of colustrum from ewe and

> tubed him. We have been tubing with sheep milk replacer but last night we

> decided to bring him inside and he immediately took to a bottle. Alert, is

> able to support head and sit prone but completely unable to stand. Vet

> recommended giving it a few days. Wondering if anyone could provide

> advice/experiences/prognosis?  Thanks

>

> Nick

> Shiloh Manor

> Purcellville, VA

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