[Jacob-list] Floppy lamb

[Cathy Brown]

Was this a 4 horn lamb?  If so, these clinical signs could be  due to occipital condylar dysplasia (OCD).  This causes basically a traumatic injury to the spinal cord at the base of the skull.  Selenium deficiency is also a possibility, although that more often affects lambs at 2-4 wks of age (but can occur earlier).  Selenium/vit E deficiency results in muscle degeneration, and since the damage is already there once you see clinical signs, recovery after supplementation (to prevent continued muscle damage) would take a while (weeks not days).
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From: jacob-list-bounces at jacobsheep.com [jacob-list-bounces at jacobsheep.com] on behalf of Zach Oaster [zach at fattoaster.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 9:45 AM
To: Donnangelo, Nick
Cc: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Floppy lamb

We had a lamb -- a twin ram lamb -- born this way last year. We jugged the mother with the two lambs (she was one of our old and reliable ewes). Three or four times/day we went out and held the lamb up to the ewe's bag so that it could get its fill. It is worth noting that we tried to bottle feed, but he would have none of it... so the "natural" method was the compromise. We also consulted the experts who suggested BoSe or MuSe (I do believe they serve a similar purpose, someone correct me if I am wrong... we ended up using MuSe) and several other vitamin and nutrient injections that I can't recall at the moment. He survived for about a week, but did not thrive and never gained the ability to stand on his own. He seemed to have the strength but not the coordination. He would get on all fours for a few moments, and then fall over. It was almost like his sense of balance was completely blocked.

He passed while we were at work one day. It was unfortunate. I am guessing that IF it is possible for a lamb to recover from that situation that bottle feeding would be one of the only options to ensure proper feeding. I am interested to hear if anyone has seen recovery from this?

We had several complications last year during lambing season, and I think many of them were in part due to nutritional needs that were unmet. Among those complications were the above noted lamb, but also nearly all of our adult ewes that normally have twins only bore a single lamb. The winter prior to last year's lambing season here in Michigan was unusually warm and unusually wet. I think this made conditions good for increased worm problems, and also different nutrition requirements. This year we made some changes and the ewes look MUCH healthier and lambing was a breeze (mostly we just fed alfalfa blocks as a supplement to unlimited free choice hay, and gave a small ration of sweet feed every day starting a few weeks before breeding season).

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Zach Oaster
zach at fattoaster.com<mailto:zach at fattoaster.com>
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Visit Zach & Lindsay's farm blog: http://www.fattoasterfarm.com
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On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 4:49 PM, Donnangelo, Nick <ncd at mitre.org<mailto:ncd at mitre.org>> wrote:
One of our new ewes gave birth to a normal ewe lamb but a profoundly weak ram lamb. The ram lamb is completely unable to stand but is capable of dragging himself. We managed to get about 40cc of colustrum from ewe and tubed him. We have been tubing with sheep milk replacer but last night we decided to bring him inside and he immediately took to a bottle. Alert, is able to support head and sit prone but completely unable to stand. Vet recommended giving it a few days. Wondering if anyone could provide advice/experiences/prognosis?  Thanks

Nick
Shiloh Manor
Purcellville, VA
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