9 February 2008
A Busy Day in the Maternity Ward
Posted by Kate under: Sheep; Smallholding .
Yesterday was a very hectic day starting at 6am with the arrival of our second lamb, the ewe (Felicity) seemed to be doing just fine, so I stood at a discreet distance and watched for a while. After a few minutes 2 legs and a nose popped out, then popped in and out several times more, hearing the lamb bleat then go back in I decided to offer a little assistance and with a bit of lube and a gentle pull our first tup was born. And he is gorgeous, a proper little bruiser who got up and fed within a few minutes.
After some time she delivered the after birth, while I busied myself with mucking out, but just as I thought I might be in for a cup of tea I noticed one of the ewes had a snotty nose, so finally got dressed and headed to the vet for some antibiotics.
On my return I found that another ewe (Flora) had a very unpleasant brown discharge, but her vulva wasn’t at all dilated and she was showing no other signs of labour, So I penned her up and went to try and get clean. An hour later I went to check on her to find her pushing away, first out were 2 very dead and decomposing lambs and I don’t mind saying I was heart broken and brought to tears, but as I wrapped the two lambs in a towel and put them to one side Flora pushed again and this time the lamb was alive, small and very weak, but alive! I quickly let his mum lick him then pumped 2 shots of ‘kickstart’ down him and ran in the house for colostrum and the tube feeder. It was a nervous 40 minutes after feeding before he finally found his feet and looked like he might make it.
9 Comments so far...
colour it green Says:
9 February 2008 at 11:05 pm.
ah hope he makes it.
Did you use the ewe’s colostrum or powdered?
uphilldowndale Says:
10 February 2008 at 6:51 am.
It’s seems amazing to me that one lamb could survive along side it’s dead siblings
kate Says:
10 February 2008 at 10:02 am.
I used powdered colostrum, as was on my own and didn’t think I’d be able to get enough off the ewe, quick enough and hold her. I did rub the ewes colostrum over the lambs nose when she was up and latch her on and they both seem to be going great guns, so fingers crossed.
I used a product called “Volostrum”, which compared to some powdered colostrum I used years ago, dissolved really well.
Kate Says:
13 February 2008 at 4:50 pm.
Lamb still with us, he’s small but doing well. Silly creature tried to drown himself in a bucket of water yesterday, but luckily I was there and fished him out and on Monday he escaped through the hurdles of the pen and then couldn’t get back to his mum. We’ve called him Derek after one of our neighbours. But given his propensity for trouble maybe it should have been Lucky or mischief!
Rebecca (smallholding in Ireland) Says:
17 February 2008 at 5:07 pm.
Glad to hear there have been some good births. Sorry to hear about the loss though. I found it very tough when our goat had one healthy kid, the second was mummified. I let the mummy goat look, and she sniffed it, we had a moment together and she rested her head on my shoulder (heartbreaking), and then she turned her attentions to the live kid. Mummified kids can be caused by toxoplasmosis infection … from cats going to the loo on their hay. We bought our goats already in kid. Cats aren’t allowed access to their hay here, so fingers crossed the same thing doesn’t happen again.
jennifer Mingione Says:
26 April 2008 at 2:11 am.
I stumbled on your story today….looking for help for my shetland ewe. My ewe has just had a similar experience. How did you treat ou ewe? Is she well?
My vet gave us Polyflex for 4 days, and things for my ewe were looking up. Now ( 1 week later) she looks bad. Not eating and not moving much. I am worried about the ewe, and aout the lamb! My vet is out for 2 days. I have gotten more polyflex, but she needs energy and quick, for the lamb. What would you do?
Richard Says:
27 April 2008 at 10:34 am.
Jennifer - We used a course of broad spectrum antibiotics for 5 days (which is similar to the polyflex treatment your vet advised). The ewe came good - but her milk dried up so we bottlefed the lamb. There are glucose based drenches available to give energy - but these are usually designed for pregnancy toxaemia treatment. The antibiotics may have wiped out the good bacteria in her rumen - there products available (prorumen) that get the gut working again, and give her something very palatable, such as flaked maize…this may get her feeding again. If she starts to feed, then she has a chance - at least until your vet is available again.