The Lamb Pen
General Category => All Sheep and Lamb Discussion => : Honey Tree October 05, 2015, 04:21:47 PM
-
We welcomed twin ram lambs from Viking Genetics ram Tomcat this morning. They weren't due until the 14th so it was a surprise. Both are pretty tiny. I don't have a scale but I don't think they weigh more than six pounds. Mom's first lambs so I'm keeping a close eye on them.
-
Wow, that's really early. How many days do you use to calculate your due dates? Glad all is well and congratulations!
-
When they did the LAI they gave us October 14th as the due date based on a 148 gestation.
There won't be too much sleep tonight. I'll need to get up a couple of times to help the lambs nurse. She's not standing really well for them and they are so small they're having a tough time reaching the nipples.
-
I'm not one to recommend indiscriminate antibiotic use, but if it were me, I'd be dosing every ewe on the place with LA200 or similar tetracycline, to head off an abortion storm. Those lambs are too early, and I'd be concerned about an infectious cause. Tetracycline is a good, cheap, and effective way to head off many of the common causes of such a storm, and injecting it is the fastest, surest way to get it in them. Talk to your vet if you need to, but do it quick would be my advice.
Phil Crome
-
Not a bad idea. I had an abortion storm a few years ago, started with ewes delivering dead lambs at 137 days. If my calculations are correct, that's only one day early that your little ones. The LA200 sure wouldn't hurt, as there's not much more devastating than a bunch of ewes delivering dead lambs.
-
How much should I give? IM or SQ? At what point of gestation should it be given? I have three more ewes that were bred the same day and due October 14th, but I have a bunch that have been bred over the past eight weeks.
I tied the ewe this morning and one lamb nursed off of mom. The other lamb is pretty slow. He'll get the nipple in his mouth and then continue to nose around.
Also, I gave both lambs 1cc of Penicillin during the night. I need to get a small scale to weight them. It's more curiosity than anything although it's nice to see if they are actually gaining weight. When my daughter was in the NICU as an infant, they would weigh her before and after each feeding to determine the exact amount of milk she was taking in.
-
Give SQ at the rate of 4.5 cc per 100 lbs. To be safest, all bred ewes would need treatment, but I would at the least treat any that were with the ewe that lambed. Another option would be to feed them all aureomycin crumbles, though the LA200 is probably a bit more effective in the face of an abortion storm.
-
http://www.pipevet.com/page.asp?p_key=C7F93559C54D44FEB0BCADABD308746E
This is a good article. The La 200 will give immediate short term protection. It's sub q. If you have a good vet l would go talk to him/her.
-
I would be milking the ewe and tubing the lamb. At least if I had any worry about if it was nursing. 1 once per pound .
-
If you don't follow Shane's sound advice it would be smart to at least take the temperature of the lambs you are sure are eating. If they are under 102 they aren't getting enough to eat. If under 100, it's very critical and best way we've found to get them going is to inject 25% dextrose [edit] into the lambs. When it's warm out lambs that aren't getting enough to eat can mislead a lot of people and die of hypothermia and/or starvation before they know it.
-
Curious what date you did your LAI?
-
The LAI was May 19th.
Where do I get the glucose? Even if I don't need it now, it would be good to have on hand. I'll be heading out to pick up tube in just a bit. The one I had from last lambing season seems to have disappeared.
Milking this ewe is cumbersome. She's got those little bitty nipples. I know the large nipples are always a problem for small lambs to get a hold of, but I sure do like them when I have to milk out a ewe. Has anyone used those pump milkers before?
-
My mistake, (I've edited the post) I should have said dextrose, most farm supply stores sell bottles of dextrose. Ours sells a 50% solution.http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/-dextrose-50-500-ml/0000000003442 (http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/-dextrose-50-500-ml/0000000003442)
Some mix with sterile water. We mix with hot tap water to bring the refrigerated solution up to room temperature or bit more. We mix it 50:50.
-
Where do you inject the dextrose at Don?
-
Okay, I have to add a thermometer to my shopping list.
My little postal worked for weighing them. I put a small cardboard flat on it and put the lambs on that. My original estimate of six pounds was really off. The biggest one weighs 4 lbs 15 oz and the smallest one weighs 4 lbs 7 oz. after they ate. They sure needed that extra 9 days in the oven. No substitute for a full term pregnancy.
Now for the really dumb question…sterile water? Do you boil tap water or do you buy it? I would guess you inject it SQ?
-
Follow this link, it shows how to inject dextrose into the peritoneal cavity. That's the ideal location, if you can't bring yourself to do that you can also inject sub-q 2-3 mL per location. The protocol described in the link is slightly different than ours. You use this technique when it's an immediate matter of life or death as the lambs body temperature has dropped under 100 Degrees F.
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/sheep/facts/98-089.htm (http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/sheep/facts/98-089.htm)
Regarding the sterile water. We use tap water as we want to get glucose into the lambs blood stream as fast as possible. The state sheep vet once told me if you had a life and death situation on your hands would you stop to boil water? If you have immediate access to sterile water that's fine, but I wouldn't spend anytime to get some.
-
Are they nursing?
Bf lambs at that weight would likely not survive here. But do know that fall born lambs do not typically weigh as much as winter born.
That being said,that weight is common for my hair cross ewes bred to hair rams or even Hamp rams. Lots of 5 to 6 lb trips and quads weigh a bit less. Most twins born out of 13 to 14 month old hair ewes were in that 4.5 to 5 lb range.
-
One is nursing pretty well on his own. The other is a bit lazy at holding on to the nipple but does pretty well on the syringe. The bottle nipple is as big as his muzzle. I had been using a regular 12cc, but picked up a catheter tip because it works much better. I let him determine how much milk he draws from the syringe and follow with a slight pressure on the plunger. It's amazing how much suction a tiny lamb creates! I never force the milk.
Right now they are both looking pretty well but I know that can change quickly.
-
The babies are doing quite well. Both are nursing from Mom. They always stretch when they get up and when I pull their skin up it snaps back into place. I put them on the postal scale and both are over 5 lbs now. Since the scale zeros after 5 lbs I don't have an accurate weight.
-
Great news!
-
We added a second set of twins this evening. These are five days early but are doing well. The score is now even with two ewe lambs.
-
With others having so many challenges this year and with us having many challenges in prior years, we are excited that this year is turning out well for our ewes due this month. We welcomed a ram lamb from a first time mom yesterday. He's strong and healthy.
One of the second set of twins was stepped on and I think I'll have to splint the leg as she's putting very little weight on it.
We have one more ewe to lamb. Just hoping that everything turns out well.
-
Last of the four lambed on her due date, Wednesday October 14th. A healthy ram lamb. Very, very happy with a 150% lamb crop via a May LAI and three of the four being maiden ewes. :)