[Jacob-list] Re: lambing problems

Tue Apr 25 20:13:20 EDT 2006

I think this was one of my worst years yet with lambing problems, not because of numbers but because I lost my favorite, the oldest and smartest ewe to a prolapsed uterus. She was in such pain after the vet came.  I almost suggested giving her extra pain medication but she didn't make it through the day.  I am usually more useful to the sheep after the lambs are born and normally check once in the morning and once at night.  Sometimes I run home over my lunch hour if something looks amiss but usually, I just go in and look for lambs and make sure they are with a mom, dip their cords and if there are a lot of lambs or a younger ewe, I pen them for a day or two.  I think I make them nervous and they make me nervous too when they are having babies or cleaning a new lamb so I leave them alone as much as possible and just dip cords and check to make sure lambs are eating.  I pulled a lamb that I probably didn't have to from last year's bottle lamb but she needed some help
 bonding to him so I'm glad I was there to help and get him off to a good start.  It is the first lamb I ever assisted with in the birth.  I did have a yearling who had a large dead lamb and later died of complications so that was what I was thinking when I pulled this guy and the mother looked totally clueless with his head sticking out of her. Actually, the feet were there too in a normal presentation and I thought he was stuck but he just needed his shoulders shifted.  I think he might not have made it if I wasn't there though because little Sassy would have walked off without him.  My kids wouldn't have forgiven me if Sassy died though and after a couple days locked up together they were doing fine.

  This year we had two bottle lambs, one because of the prolapsed uterus and one who got away from her mother, out of the pen and chilled on the morning of her birth.  I got pretty proficient at ewe milking to get the chilled lamb some colostrum and hoping to get her re-bonded but it didn't work as her mother had bonded to her sister and didn't want her back.  Last year was our first bottle lamb after having Jacobs since 1997.  She almost died of chilling and pneumonia as I kept trying to put her back with her family.  I took her in to work with me one day so I could feed her every two hours, but I finally had my Mom take her and nurse her back to health.

  I really like the primitive sheep idea and when I was thinking of adding another breed, that was a large consideration.  I got Icelandics and they lamb after the Jacobs and really prefer to have their lambs outside for some reason.  The one who had her lamb inside was really nervous and ran in circles when I was around and wouldn't stand still for her lamb or even clean it.  I had to give the baby a tube feeding before going to work and left them locked up together.  The lamb was standing at lunch and good to go outside with the flock by evening.  The other two had twins outside and I had to chase them down to dip their umbilical cords.

  My most frustating case was last year,two perfect looking lambs born fully formed an on their due date, but both dead.  One had it's head licked out of it's casing the other was still in it.  I'm not sure if the top one was alive for a while or not or if the mother was just hoping to wake it up.  They were born on top of each other as if one right after another.  I think I got there about an hour after the births and the mother was frantic.  I was never was sure what caused it but she had healthy twins this year.  I can only think she may have been butted in the side, killing the lambs.

  Heather

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