[Jacob-list] Not Gummy Bears Any More!

[ranchrat at telusplanet.net]

Heel low:

Since I have received such EXCELLENT help here, I have a rather timely 
situation ongoing to ask about...

Noted that one of the triplets had light blood around her mouth and on her face-
-thought maybe she had scraped herself on something.  When I inspected, I could 
find no cuts or abrasions...inspected her brother and he too had a little dab 
of weak blood on his head...so I then inspected Haley...long story short, the 
triplets have cut teeth and are obviously chewing on Haley's teats, so much so 
they have really opened up the underside of both her teats and they are causing 
her to kick at her lambs when they nurse.  I cannot say for sure that all 3 are 
inflicting the damage, but obviously I now understand why Haley has just begun 
to be agitated about them nursing.  Will the lambs "learn" that if they "bite" 
Mommy, they get tossed outta the way with one of her hind feet?

In a feeble attempt to do something, I have applied bovine bag/udder balm to 
Haley's big ol' cow sized udder & teats (if it's good for Shania, it's gotta be 
good for the Jacobs!) and put out more alfalfa/whole grains for the lambs to 
nibble upon hoping what they miss out in nursing, they can make up for in 
eating other foods.  The triplets will be two weeks old this Saturday, and I 
figure Haley is going to be pretty hesitant to let them nurse if they are 
hurting her in this way.  It is too soon to wean them (earliest I've heard of 
in commercial accelerated lambers is three weeks) so I am wondering if I should 
start topping them up with milk replacer seeing how their current dispensor 
facility is all thrashed up and going "out of order."  I check daily for 
bulging bellies and see good weight gains so far...

Is this just a problem with the primitiviness of the Jacob; which is slower to 
develop/mature to a larger size, but maybe the cutting of teeth this early 
allows them to begin foraging for themselves sooner.

Am I able to do anything else to ease this situation?

Doggone,

Tara 
-- 
     ____(\                Tara Lee Higgins                  /)____ 
    (_____~>        Rat Ranch - An ACD is for LIFE          <~_____) 
   ( ``  ``          ranchrat at telusplanet.net                ``  `` ) 
    \                       Alberta Canada                         / 
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