Post by corrie on Jul 11, 2018 7:14:53 GMT -5
I'm mainly posting this because it might be helpful to someone sometime, but also because good news stories are encouraging when it's natural to post more about problems, crises etc.
We had 7 ewes due to lamb in the first couple of weeks of July. The first two, both first-time mothers, produced good-sized healthy ram lambs that thrived from the first despite some pretty cold and wet weather. Then, a 2nd-time mother produced a healthy ewe lamb. All good so far.
Then an experienced ewe gave birth to a ram lamb about 8:30 yesterday morning. He was up quickly and looking for a drink. We left them to it, checking on them through the day.
By afternoon chores, he was hunched up a bit (it was cold) and although I watched him for ten minutes, he didn't attempt to drink. He was alert and walking around, but just didn't look 'right'.
Knowing the night was going to be cold and wet, we brought mum and baby into a shelter and left them with water and hay.
As is usual when we have new lambs or ewes in late pregnancy, we went out to check everyone a bit after 10pm. The ram lamb was still hunched up and didn't drink during the 20 mins I watched. His poo was very watery, and his butt was messy. Also the ewe didn't seem to be paying him much attention.
This particular ewe doesn't like being handled, so we weren't expecting anything to be easy. My husband caught her and held her, and I checked her udder. It was very hard. I placed the lamb in position and put the teat in his mouth, but he showed no interest. The ewe often moved her leg to block the lamb's access to her udder. I attempted to milk her and got only a few drops.
We got a hot towel and warmed/massaged her udder. She stood surprisingly still, but further attempts to milk her or get the lamb sucking also failed.
Not knowing what to do, we brought in the ewe who had lambed 36 hours earlier. We milked a small amount from her - maybe 50ml. We warmed it up and offered it to the ram lamb. After a couple of attempts, he sucked and drank about half the milk.
We left them for about half an hour, then checked again to find him still not drinking from his dam.
We massaged her udder again and warmed it with a hot towel, but her lamb still refused to drink and she still seemed resistant to him being near her udder. We milked the other ewe again, getting about 20ml to add to the leftover milk, warmed up the bottle, and this time, the lamb drank more eagerly. Wanting to get him through the night, we went back to the adjoining pen to milk the donor ewe again.
As we were milking her, we heard sucking noises. We left our heroic donor and checked on the little ram lamb. He was suckling, and his mum was standing still and allowing him to feed.
We watched by torchlight - it was now about 1:30am - and although he tired easily, he exhibited normal lamb behaviour - repeatedly going back to the udder and drinking from both teats, wagging his tail, and head butting the udder - until he settled into the hay.
This morning, he was still feeding regularly, and by this afternoon, he had mostly lost the hunched-up look (it was still very cold by our standards) and his poo was normal. He was curiously checking out the pen and nibbling at his mother's hay.
My best guess is that they had got into a cycle - him not feeding, her not getting the stimulation/massage from him feeding, him getting weaker and more discouraged, her getting sorer and fuller.
Maybe the small amount from the donor ewe was enough to encourage him to try again. Maybe massaging the ewe's udder helped her. I was pretty surprised (and very happy) that our efforts brought about the desired result.
Hopefully, he got enough colostrum early enough and will have an easier time from now on.
We had 7 ewes due to lamb in the first couple of weeks of July. The first two, both first-time mothers, produced good-sized healthy ram lambs that thrived from the first despite some pretty cold and wet weather. Then, a 2nd-time mother produced a healthy ewe lamb. All good so far.
Then an experienced ewe gave birth to a ram lamb about 8:30 yesterday morning. He was up quickly and looking for a drink. We left them to it, checking on them through the day.
By afternoon chores, he was hunched up a bit (it was cold) and although I watched him for ten minutes, he didn't attempt to drink. He was alert and walking around, but just didn't look 'right'.
Knowing the night was going to be cold and wet, we brought mum and baby into a shelter and left them with water and hay.
As is usual when we have new lambs or ewes in late pregnancy, we went out to check everyone a bit after 10pm. The ram lamb was still hunched up and didn't drink during the 20 mins I watched. His poo was very watery, and his butt was messy. Also the ewe didn't seem to be paying him much attention.
This particular ewe doesn't like being handled, so we weren't expecting anything to be easy. My husband caught her and held her, and I checked her udder. It was very hard. I placed the lamb in position and put the teat in his mouth, but he showed no interest. The ewe often moved her leg to block the lamb's access to her udder. I attempted to milk her and got only a few drops.
We got a hot towel and warmed/massaged her udder. She stood surprisingly still, but further attempts to milk her or get the lamb sucking also failed.
Not knowing what to do, we brought in the ewe who had lambed 36 hours earlier. We milked a small amount from her - maybe 50ml. We warmed it up and offered it to the ram lamb. After a couple of attempts, he sucked and drank about half the milk.
We left them for about half an hour, then checked again to find him still not drinking from his dam.
We massaged her udder again and warmed it with a hot towel, but her lamb still refused to drink and she still seemed resistant to him being near her udder. We milked the other ewe again, getting about 20ml to add to the leftover milk, warmed up the bottle, and this time, the lamb drank more eagerly. Wanting to get him through the night, we went back to the adjoining pen to milk the donor ewe again.
As we were milking her, we heard sucking noises. We left our heroic donor and checked on the little ram lamb. He was suckling, and his mum was standing still and allowing him to feed.
We watched by torchlight - it was now about 1:30am - and although he tired easily, he exhibited normal lamb behaviour - repeatedly going back to the udder and drinking from both teats, wagging his tail, and head butting the udder - until he settled into the hay.
This morning, he was still feeding regularly, and by this afternoon, he had mostly lost the hunched-up look (it was still very cold by our standards) and his poo was normal. He was curiously checking out the pen and nibbling at his mother's hay.
My best guess is that they had got into a cycle - him not feeding, her not getting the stimulation/massage from him feeding, him getting weaker and more discouraged, her getting sorer and fuller.
Maybe the small amount from the donor ewe was enough to encourage him to try again. Maybe massaging the ewe's udder helped her. I was pretty surprised (and very happy) that our efforts brought about the desired result.
Hopefully, he got enough colostrum early enough and will have an easier time from now on.