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Lambing FAQ [6.1]
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Subject: Lambing FAQ [6.1]
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From: Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com>
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Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 05:15:05 GMT
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Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu
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Article: 24735 of misc.rural
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Expires: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 05:15:01 GMT
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Followup-To: poster
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Newsgroups: misc.rural, misc.answers, news.answers
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Organization: Maple Lawn Farm, Stonington, CT
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Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) about lambing, and the care of ewes and lambs, for small producers and hobby farms.
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Supersedes: <lambing_818054101@mlfarm.com>
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Xref: bigblue.oit.unc.edu misc.rural:24735 misc.answers:3327 news.answers:62186
Archive-name: rural/lambing-faq
Last-modified: 29 Jan 1996
Frequently Asked Questions About Lambing
----------------------------------------
Changes since <lambing_818054101@mlfarm.com>:
heat lamp precautions
repeated tube feedings
lighting
lime for the maternity warde and lambing pens
testing ventilation in the barn
antibodies in aged ewes
Contents:
1. Care of the Ewe Before Lambing
2. Gestation Problems
3. Equipment and Supplies
4. Signs of Readiness
5. Normal Procedures
6. Twins & Triplets
7. Rejected Lambs
8. Nursing Problems
9. Problem Births
10. Timing Births
11. Aged Ewes
12. Drying Off Ewes
13. Prolapses
14. Medications
15. Lambing Pens
16. Orphans
17. Care of Lactating Ewes
18. Human Health Concerns
19. Pasture Lambing
20. Are Sheep Wild Animals
21. Credits
22. Copyright
This FAQ is organized as a digest. You can move to the next question
with the digest commands in most newsreaders, or search for subjects
listed in the contents.
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Subject: Care of the Ewe Before Lambing
1. What special care do ewes require before lambing?
If you use a marking harness on your ram(s) during breeding, or if
you have been very observant and recorded breeding dates, you can
add five months to the date when the ewe was last bred to predict
when she will lamb. The exact gestation period varies by breed,
from 142-154 days. For our Cotswolds, we use 150 days to predict
lambing.
For the first three and a half months of gestation, fetal lamb
growth is slow. A generous ration of nutritious and palatable hay
like alfalfa, clover or timothy, or a less-nutritious hay with a
small supplement of protein-rich grain, is sufficient nutrition
for the ewe. Feeding ewes too much during early gestation may get
them over-conditioned, which is uneconomical and can be unhealthy
for the ewe when the lambs begin their growth spurt. If you can
feel a heavy layer of fat along the backs of your ewes, they are
probably over-conditioned.
The last six weeks of gestation is the period of rapid growth of
the fetal lambs. If you are feeding timothy or alfalfa hay
free-choice, start giving the ewes approximately 1/2 pound of
grain per day; with less-nutritious hays you may need to feed more
grain. 4-6 weeks before lambing is a good time for vaccinations:
a CD/T booster, and BO-SE or a vitamin-E supplement if you have
had problems with white-muscle disease or if your hay is grown on
selenium-deficient soils. If you have had problems with
abortions, or if the problem is common in your area, your vet may
recommend that you vaccinate against enzootic and/or vibrionic
abortion.
One month before lambing is a good time to shear ewes. With the
fleece out of the way, lambing is easier for the shepherd, the
barn is roomier and warmer (all that body heat is shared instead
of being held in by the fleece), nursing is easier for the lambs,
and the ewes require smaller lambing pens. If the ewes are not
shorn before lambing, crutch the vulva and udder areas, and watch
out for breaks in the wool from nutritional deficiencies late in
gestation.
Make sure the barn or lambing area is clean and well-ventilated.
Test the ventilation by smelling on your hands and knees. Often
barns that smell fine five feet up have a strong ammonia buildup
at the level of sheep and especially lambs. If you have a bedding
pack built up, it is a good idea to spread hydrated lime and clean
straw in what will become the maternity ward and lambing pen area.
-------------------------------
Subject: Gestation Problems
2. What problems should I watch for during gestation?
The commonest risk to pregnant ewes is Pregnancy Toxemia (twin
lamb disease, ketosis), which typically manifests itself in older
ewes carrying multiple lambs, or extremely thin or fat ewes. The
symptoms are dullness, lagging behind the flock, teeth grinding,
frequent urination, and unsteadiness; in later stages of the
disease, the ewe goes down, and her breath smells like acetone
(nail polish remover). Pregnancy Toxemia is caused by a diet
deficient in energy late in pregnancy; the ewe uses up her sugar
reserves, turns to her body fat, and the resulting metabolism
releases ketones, which accumulate in the bloodstream.
Overfeeding early in pregnancy can aggravate the condition.
Pregnancy toxemia can sometimes be treated by administration of
intravenous glucose and oral glycerin or propylene glycol, but is
frequently fatal. It can be avoided with a proper feeding
program.
Chlamydiosis, which produces enzootic abortions in ewes, is highly
contagious. If it is a risk in your area -- your vet will know --
there are vaccines available. Because of the contagious
potential, including transmission to humans, exercise extreme care
with aborted fetuses and tissues. The incubation period is 60-90
days after infection. Vibriosis, which has similar symptoms, is
difficult to distinguish from Chlamydiosis except in the
laboratory. The vaccine is different, so it is important to
carefully transport a fresh or frozen aborted fetus to a qualified
pathology lab for diagnosis.
Hypocalcemia (milk fever) is caused by the huge demands for
calcium a near-term lamb makes on the ewe. The usual symptoms are
that the ewe goes off her food, her ears are ice cold, her muscles
stiffen, she goes down, and bloat may set in. The condition
responds spectacularly to subcutaneous injection of 50-100 cc of
calcium borogluconate solution. Hypocalcemia can be prevented by
adequate liming of pastures and hayfields, and by avoiding sudden
changes in feed.
-------------------------------
Subject: Equipment and Supplies
3. What equipment and supplies do I need for lambing?
If everything goes right, and it does most of the time, you need
nothing more than:
- a pair of surgical scissors, available from a drug store or
vet supply;
- a wide-mouthed bottle of 7% iodine solution;
- a clean, dry, bedded pen for the ewe and her lamb(s). The
dimensions can range from 4x4 feet for smaller breeds to 5x5
feet for larger breeds, with a water bucket and a hay feeder
for each pen. For a small flock, plan on one pen for every
five ewes; a larger flock can get by with one pen for every
seven ewes.
It's a good idea to have the following available, just in case:
- a baby bottle (4 or 8 oz.); use a heated needle to expand the
hole in the nipple;
- a tube feeder; vet supply houses sell them, or you can buy a
rubber catheter and large syringe from a drug store;
- a hair-dryer and/or a heat lamp;
- 60cc. syringes, 20ga. needles, and a sterile solution of
electrolytes with 5-10% glucose added;
- shoulder-length plastic examining gloves;
- a rubber or plastic bowl and Ivory liquid soap or an
obstetric/vaginal lubricant;
- Penicillin & syringes, or antibiotic vaginal boluses;
- frozen colostrum from an earlier birth, from a goat or cow,
or an artificial colostrum mix; the easiest source is to
milk out and freeze extra colostrum from a ewe with a single
lamb;
- warm, dry towels.
-------------------------------
Subject: Signs of Readiness
4. How do I know when a ewe is ready to lamb?
No two ewes manifest the same signs. Some wander off to a far
corner of a pasture, or find a corner of the barn where they can
be alone. Some will go off food. Most will `drop': as the
position of the uterus shifts lower in their bodies and hollow
areas appear in their flanks; this is sometimes hard to see in
older ewes, who are dropped most of the time. Ewes usually `bag
out' as milk develops in the udder a day or two before lambing.
When the ewe goes into labor, she may paw the ground as if digging
a nest, and is often restless, getting up, circling or moving to a
new spot, lying down, and repeating the cycle. As she moves
further into labor, you can see contractions, the water (amnion)
will often break, and she may grit her teeth.
-------------------------------
Subject: Normal Procedures
5. What do I have to do for a `normal' birth?
Most ewes can handle things pretty well; patience is often more
productive than intervention if nothing looks awry. Within four
hours of the onset of labor, the ewe will deliver a lamb and set
to cleaning and mothering it. The vigorous licking is important
stimulation to the lamb, and helps trigger hormones that
accelerate the development of milk, contractions for remaining
twins or triplets, and the expulsion of the afterbirth. If you're
there when the lamb is born -- and you should try to be -- clear
any mucus from the lamb's nose and make sure it is breathing. If
it isn't, tickle the nostrils with a piece of straw. If that
doesn't work, pick the lamb up by both back legs and gently swing
it in a vertical circle over your head; the up and down movement
of the diaphragm as the lamb swings is an efficient artificial
respiration. Some shepherds use oxygen or even mouth-to-nose
respiration to start a lamb.
Most lambs need little help beyond a tickle with straw. Then,
allow the mother a few minutes to mother her lamb, before you
CLIP, DIP, and STRIP.
- CLIP the lamb's umbilical cord within an inch of the lamb's
navel.
- DIP the umbilical cord in the iodine solution, making sure it it
thoroughly covered with iodine. Some shepherds use a Terramycin
spray instead of the iodine dip.
- STRIP the ewe's teats, to make sure the wax plug is gone and
milk (actually colostrum) comes out.
You may want to weigh the lamb, and on a very cold night, a
hair-dryer on the lamb's ears, or a heat lamp, can help a chilled
lamb get up to speed. Be careful with heat lamps: use only
porcelain sockets and heavy duty cords, and keep them at least 36
inches from bedding or other flammable materials. Even with every
precaution, ewes knock lamps over, starting barn fires, and too
much time under the heat lamp can encourage pneumonia. For a
really chilled lamb, some shepherds use a heat box with a hole for
a hair-dryer, or a bucket of warm water to submerge the lamb
(except the head, of course). Try not to wash or dry the lamb too
much; letting the ewe do the work stimulates the lamb and
encourages bonding between them.
When the ewe is finished lambing, which can take a while for twins
or triplets, gently drag the lambs into the lambing pen. The ewe
will follow the trail of smells in the bedding. She will want a
bucket of water (warm if possible, adding a few tablespoons of
molasses will encourage her to drink) and a nice tab of hay. She
won't need grain for a day or two, but should have free choice hay
and plenty of water. When you spot the afterbirth, usually from
an hour to eight hours after birth, remove it from the pen.
-------------------------------
Subject: Twins & Triplets
6. How do I know if the ewe is going to have twins or triplets?
Sometimes you can tell in advance from the size and shape of the
ewe. If another lamb is coming, the ewe may get restless again,
walking away from her lamb, or lying down with contractions. The
second (or third) amnion may break with another flood of fluid.
If a bag of reddish fluid and a white worm-like tissue, or the
afterbirth itself, appears, it probably means she is not going to
have any more lambs that year. Sometimes the only way to be sure
whether there is another lamb is to physically examine the ewe
with a glove and lubricant. Unless something seems to be awry,
it's best not to interfere.
-------------------------------
Subject: Rejected Lambs
7. What do I do if the ewe rejects her lamb?
Some rookie mothers don't know what to do; they drop a lamb and
walk away as if they had just pooped. Putting the lamb in front
of their noses, or putting them into a pen with the lamb is
usually enough. You may have to help the lamb nurse the first
time. It usually works better to nudge the lamb from behind, the
way a ewe does, than to drag it to a teat. Tickling the lamb's
bottom when it has the teat in its mouth is often enough to get it
sucking. A wagging tail on the lamb, or the belly going in and
out, is generally a reliable sign the lamb is getting milk
(actually colostrum the first day).
Some mothers will reject a lamb, often one of twins or triplets.
If you hold the ewe so the lamb can nurse, either manually or by
putting the ewe in a stanchion, after several days the ewe will
usually begin to accept the lamb. The key for the ewe is the
smell of the back end of the lamb; after a few days, the ewe will
detect her own milk in the lamb's feces. Another trick is to
bring a dog into the barn. Often, the instinct to protect the
lamb from the dog is strong enough to reestablish the bond of ewe
and lamb. If the mother bashes the lamb as well as not allowing
it to nurse, you may have to take it away and bottle feed it.
Grafting a lamb to another mother, because the first mother lacks
milk or has too many lambs, is tricky. Some techniques include:
bathing the graftee in amniotic fluids from the new mother, a
stanchion for forced nursing, tying the feet of an older lamb so
it won't seem too active, skinning a dead lamb (the way you skin a
rabbit) and placing the skin over the lamb you want to graft.
Some shepherds have had luck inflating a balloon in the adopting
ewe's vagina, which apparently tricks her into thinking she is
giving birth again. Whatever the technique, it takes patience and
luck. Sometimes a ewe will initially allow the lamb to nurse,
then later figure out that it isn't her lamb and reject it.
If there is any chance a lamb may end up a bottle baby, it is a
good idea to give it a bottle or two fairly early. Lambs that
have known only a ewe's teat sometimes are tough to train to a
bottle.
-------------------------------
Subject: Nursing Problems
8. What if the lamb can't or won't nurse?
Make sure the ewe has colostrum by milking each teat. If the ewe
wasn't shorn or crutched before lambing, you may need to use hand
shears to clear some of the dung locks away so the lambs can find
the teats. Lambs aren't the brightest little creatures, and will
often suck away on a tag of wet fleece instead of the teat.
The lamb may be too small, too cold, or too weak to nurse. Put
your finger in the lamb's mouth to see if it is strong enough to
suck. If it sucks on the finger, milk 2-4 ounces of colostrum
from the mother into a baby bottle. Then, using a nipple that has
had the hole widened with a hot needle, feed the lamb two ounces
at a time. One or two feedings of colostrum may be enough to jump
start the lamb.
If the lamb is too weak to suck on your finger, and especially if
the lamb's mouth is cold, tube feed two ounces of colostrum. You
can buy ready-made tube feeders from vet supply houses, or make
your own from a surgical catheter and a large syringe. Lubricate
the tube with a little mineral oil or warm water, measure how much
tube it takes to reach the lamb's rumen, and slide it down gently.
Stop frequently and hold a wet finger over the end of the tube; if
you feel air coming out, you're in the trachea or lungs; pull out
and start again. A really weak lamb may also be dehydrated. You
can inject 30-50 ml. of 5-10% dextrose solution subcutaneously, in
three or four spots (10 ml. each) along the back and sides to
rehydrate the lamb. You may need to tube feed at 2 or 3 hour
intervals until the lamb is strong enough to nurse.
Whatever procedure or combination of procedures you follow, the
lamb needs feedings of colostrum for the first eight to twelve
hours. If the mother doesn't have any, use frozen colostrum saved
from a ewe with a single lamb, colostrum from a goat or cow, or an
artificial colostrum. Frozen colostrum should be heated in a
double-boiler, or by putting the bottle in a pan of heated water;
avoid the microwave, which will kill the useful microbodies.
-------------------------------
Subject: Problem Births
9. How can I tell if a birth isn't going right?
If a ewe has been in labor for four hours without dilating enough
to deliver a lamb, if the lamb appears in an unbroken amnion, or
if you see indications of a presentation other than the normal two
front feet and the nose of the lamb together, the ewe may need
help.
If the cervix of the ewe remains tight after prolonged labor,
careful manual massage of the vulva may help, or the ewe may need
an injection of Oxytocsin to induce contractions and to relax the
cervix. If the lamb seems to be coming, and the presentation is
correct, rolling the ewe on her side, or onto the other side, can
sometimes tip things enough to ease the birth.
If a lamb appears in an unbroken amnion, use a fingernail to
gently break the the sack AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. The danger is
that the lamb will take a breath inside the sack and drown.
If the presentation of the lamb is wrong, you will need to help.
Make sure your fingernails are cut short, put on one or two long
obstetric examining gloves, and lubricate your gloved hand and arm
in warm water with dissolved Ivory soap, or with an obstetric
lubricant. The ewe should be on her back or her side, with an
assistant holding her back legs up. If you're alone, you can tie
a length of baling twine to her back legs and loop it over your
neck, or loop a rope over a beam in the barn. Even ewes who are
normally shy are often cooperative when you're helping them with
lambing, but you want to hold her still. Ease up when she has a
contraction, so you aren't fighting her; the contractions are
strong enough to clamp hard on your arm. You will be working by
feel, so try to imagine what is connected with what as you GENTLY
work your fingers into the vaginal canal. If you don't have an
assistant to hold a light for you, try to arrange adequate
lighting. In a dark barn it is easy to confuse hooves and noses.
Some presentations are relatively easy. If one leg and the head
are in the birth canal, you can usually turn the lamb slightly and
ease one shoulder out. If the lamb is in breech position (fanny
first), pull it out quickly so it doesn't drown in amniotic fluids
when the cord breaks. If the presentation is head first without
the front legs, don't try to pull the lamb out. Instead, gently
push the head back in and sort out the hooves so they come out the
canal with the head. Sometimes twins are tangled. Gently sort
the head and hooves of the twin closest to the cervix into a
proper presentation. It's a good idea for a person with a
relatively small hand to do the job. It often helps to close your
eyes and imagine the lamb(s) inside the uterus; once you have a
clear image of what goes where, you can figure out how to get one
lamb at a time down the birth canal. Above all, be GENTLE; the
tissues are delicate, and perforation of the uterus or birth canal
is almost certainly fatal to the ewe. Some presentations, like a
transverse lamb at the cervix, are jobs for an experienced vet.
Even with complex presentations, unless the lamb is in breech
position, patience is often rewarded. Excessive or premature
intervention can cause or aggravate problems that would otherwise
work themselves out in time.
If you have intervened, even with a sterile glove, you probably
want to give the ewe either a uterine antibiotic bolus or an
injection of Penicillin afterwards.
-------------------------------
Subject: Timing Births
10. I can't be home in the daytime (or don't want to stay up all
night). Is there a way to get the ewes to lamb when I want them
to instead of at all hours of the day and night?
Maybe. Ewes are creatures of habit. Recent experiments suggest
that shepherds can take advantage of the ewe's conditioned diurnal
cycle to concentrate lambing at a convenient period of the day or
night. There are two parts to the program: 1) feeding the ewes at
a consistent time every day; and 2) not providing any stimuli
during the night that will confuse the cycle. The latter means no
unnecessary noise and no bright lights in the barn at night; all
checking of the flock is done with a flashlight and quietly. Ron
Parker, in Minnesota, feeds his flock in the morning, follows the
quiet regime at night, and reports that 85% of his ewes lamb in
the daytime. At Maple Lawn Farm we feed hay in the morning, grain
at 5pm, follow the quiet regime in nighttime barn checks, and 90%
of our lambs are born in the daytime or early evening. With
different feeds, breeds, climate, or barn setup, your mileage may
vary.
-------------------------------
Subject: Aged Ewes
11. When is a ewe too old to keep?
There is no fixed age for retirement. Older ewes can be wonderful
mothers and raise healthy, fast-growing lambs: the ewes will have
built up a broad range of antibodies which they pass on, and the
mothering instinct seems to grow stronger with time. Eventually,
old ewes get tired. The uterus loses elasticity, the udder may
lose capacity either through a bout with mastitis or just aging of
the plumbing, and sometimes the muscle tissues of the abdomen get
so weak that the weight of a lamb or lambs stretches the
musculature beyond its ability to retension. Some older ewes may
not be able to deliver lamb(s) unaided, even with a normal
presentation. If an older ewe has trouble producing colostrum
right after birth, giving her warm water with molasses and a
little grain to build up her energy may help; kneading and
massaging the udder, or banging it the way a lamb does, may also
encourage the milk to drop down. A loss of elasticity in the
uterus, a permanent drop of the abdominal tissues, or an inability
to produce colostrum or milk means it's time to cull the ewe.
-------------------------------
Subject: Drying Off Ewes
13. What do I do if the lamb(s) die?
If a ewe loses her lambs, and you don't have another lamb to graft
onto her, it is important to gradually reduce her production of
milk. The easiest procedure is to keep her in a pen, feeding her
small rations of the lowest nutrition hay you have, and holding
down her water intake. Don't feed her any grain. It may help to
milk her out a few times. If it is early enough, milk out and
save her colostrum in the freezer for emergency use in future
years. When her bag is soft, you can put her onto a pasture, but
avoid lush pasturage for a while.
-------------------------------
Subject: Prolapses
14. What do I do if the ewe prolapses?
There are three kinds of prolapse that can affect a ewe. During
gestation, the growth of lambs can cause the vagina or rectum to
prolapse, an unfortunate consequence of large lambs and good
nutritional programs. An occasional bulge of pink flesh that
emerges from the vulva when the ewe lies down and retracts when
she gets up and walks around may not be cause for concern, but
keep an eye on her. If a grapefruit-sized mass of red flash
protrudes and stays out, the ewe needs immediate attention.
To treat vaginal prolapse, pen the ewe and raise her rear legs
(standing her back legs on a bale of hay works) to relieve the
pressure. Wash the protruding flesh with mild soap and water and
replace it gently, watching out that your fingernails don't tear
the tender flesh. There are three options for holding the
prolapse in place. You can take stitches in the top and bottom of
the vulva, using a quick-release knot that can be pulled out at
birth. _The TV Vet Sheep Book_ (Farming Press Ltd.) recommends
this technique and shows how to do it. Another choice is the
plastic prolapse retainers sold by the vet supply houses; the
instructions say to tie twine from the ends of the retainer to the
ewe's wool, but it is easier and more secure to put a bell collar
on the ewe and run tight twine ties from the collar to the
prolapse retainer. A third option is a twine harness for the ewe,
a procedure described in Ron Parker, _The Sheep Book_ (Ballantine,
1984). Many shepherds believe the tendency toward vaginal
prolapse is hereditary and a good reason to cull the ewe and her
lambs.
A ewe can prolapse the entire uterus after birth. This is a
situation for a vet, but in a pinch you can carefully wash the
protruding uterus, sprinkle it with sugar to make it shrink, and
carefully replace it. The ewe should be treated with antibiotics
afterward. A partially expelled afterbirth looks much like the
inside of the uterus. Be careful not to confuse them.
-------------------------------
Subject: Medications
15. What medications do the ewe and lamb need after birth?
Ewes are susceptible to a rise in worms after lambing, and should
be given a dose of wormer the next day. If you had to intervene
to assist with the birth, the ewe may need an antibiotic series.
If the afterbirth isn't expelled within twelve hours, you may want
to give the ewe an injection of Oxytocsin.
Local conditions will determine what, if any, medication the lambs
need. If you didn't dip the navel in iodine immediately after
birth, you may want to give the lambs a precautionary injection of
Penicillin. If your pastures and feed are selenium-deficient, and
you've had lambs develop white-muscle disease, you may want to
inject lambs with BOSE (selenium & vitamin E supplement); the
minimum recommended dose of 2ml. may be too much for a newborn;
try 0.5ml. If you've had pneumonia problems with lambs, you may
want to administer PI-3, a nasal vaccine approved for cows, at
birth. If the ewes weren't vaccinated with CD/T before lambing,
you should vaccinate the lambs early; otherwise, wait until the
lambs are at least a month old before their first vaccination with
CD/T. The tetanus part of CD/T may only be necessary if you have
equines on your farm or other indications of tetanus.
Watch for entropion, a turned-in eyelash (usually the lower) that
irritates the lamb's eye and produces profuse tearing. Some
shepherds recommend injecting 0.5ml of Penicillin into the lower
eyelid to force the lash away from the eye. An less-intrusive
procedure is to manually roll the eyelash out several times a day
while the lambs are in the pens.
A few days after birth, and before the lambs are out of the
lambing pens, you will want to band or cut the tails, apply ear
tags or tattoos, and possibly castrate ram lambs that are not
going to be bred.
-------------------------------
Subject: Lambing Pens
15. How long should the lambs and mothers stay in the lambing pens?
A veteran with a strong single lamb could come out after
twenty-four hours. Rookies, and ewes with multiple lambs, should
stay in for two or three days, until the ewes have thoroughly
bonded with their lambs. Sometimes, if you let them out early,
the lambs can get lost, or ewes can forget their lambs in the rush
for feeders. You might have to put them back for another day or
two. If you have a large flock of rambunctious ewes, you may want
to move new mothers and lambs to a calm nursery area for a few
days before they rejoin the flock.
After the ewe and lambs leave the pen, clean it out as much as
possible, lime thoroughly with hydrated lime, and rebed with fresh
straw before the next tenants move in.
-------------------------------
Subject: Orphans
16. What do I do with orphans (bummers)?
Lambs without mothers, or whose mothers don't have enough milk for
them, can be raised on milk-replacer. For the first twelve hours,
the lambs should have only colostrum. Then, one option is to put
them in a pen with free-choice cold milk-replacer from a bucket
with nipples. The other choice is to feed warm milk-replacer from
a bottle, which will allow the lamb to stay with its mother, who
may have some milk. The lamb will probably learn to sneak milk
from other mothers too. For the first few days, the lamb
shouldn't get more than four ounces per feeding, six times a day.
You can then gradually increase the amount and decrease the number
of feedings per day. After two weeks, two or three bottles a day
is plenty. Baby bottles work best for little lambs. Later, beer
or soda bottles with lamb nipples are fine. More than 12-16
ounces in a feeding is likely to induce scours. Unless you like
chasing lambs all hours of the night with a bottle, encourage
bottle babies to eat grain and leafy alfalfa in the creep as young
as possible, so you can wean them early.
Some lambs need a little help but not a complete bottle regimen.
The runt of triplets, or even of twins, may need a bottle or two a
day to keep up. You can usually see when one lamb isn't getting a
fair share: hungry lambs are often hunched up; they cry; if
they're really hungry, their mouths will be cold. Sometimes a
bottle or two will get them going again, or they may need a bottle
or two a day to supplement the mother's milk production.
-------------------------------
Subject: Care of Lactating Ewes
17. What care do lactating ewes need?
A good ewe pours so much of the nutrition she consumes into
producing milk that it is difficult for her to maintain her
weight. You want to give her energy-rich grain, a pound a day for
ewes with singles, as much as two pounds per day for ewes with
twins and triplets, along with free-choice of the highest protein
hay you have, such as good leafy alfalfa or early-cut timothy, and
plenty of clean fresh water. If you're lambing in late spring,
the ewes may do fine on fresh pasture. Try to check the udders of
the ewes daily, watching for signs of mastitis. A hot red bag, or
a cold blue bag, are bad signs. If you detect mastitis, treat as
soon as possible with antibiotics, both systemic and applied
directly by teat infusion. It may help to milk out a bad teat.
-------------------------------
Subject: Human Health Concerns
18. Are there any human health concerns related to lambing?
Pregnant ewes fed on silage are susceptible to listeriosis, also
called `circling disease,' which can cause abortions. The
organism which causes listeriosis is transmissible to humans. The
UK Department of Health recommends that pregnant women avoid
contact with pregnant ewes, lambing, newborn lambs, milking, and
afterbirths in sheep flocks susceptible to listeriosis.
Toxoplasmosis, a coccidial organism carried by domestic cats, can
cause late abortion in ewes or result in dead or weak lambs. The
coccidia can cause encephalitis in pre-natal children. Pregnant
women should avoid contact with the aborted lambs and with cats
that might carry toxoplasmosis.
There is also risk for pregnant women from Chlamydia psittaci,
an abortive agent for ewes which has an affinity for the human
placenta and can prompt abortion or stillbirths. Pregnant women
should avoid any contact with an aborted lamb fetus.
Salmonella typyhimurium (Salmonellosis), cryptosporidia, a
protozoan disease which affects lambs and humans, and orf (sore
mouth) are potential health dangers from sheep. Appropriate
hygiene -- keeping children away from lamb feces and sore mouth
lesions -- is generally sufficient to prevent any problems.
-------------------------------
Subject: Pasture Lambing
19. Do I need a barn for lambing? What about lambing in the pasture?
Pasture lambing, with the potential savings of equipment and
labor, is more and more popular, now that the demise of the Wool
Incentive Act has lowered the margins for sheep farming. A
pasture is a clean environment, and except in the most extreme
weather, a well-fed ewe can take care of her lambs on a pasture.
You should check on newborn lambs to make sure they're nursing,
and perhaps to dip their navels in iodine. You may want to erect
a temporary lambing pen for the ewe and lamb(s), or bring the ewe
and lambs into a shelter for the first few days. Other ewes who
have not yet lambed may try to `adopt' the new lambs, and fighting
marauders off can exhaust a ewe who has just delivered. Newborn
lambs are also prime prey for coyotes. A temporary shelter or pen
also gives you a chance to watch for nursing problems, scours or
other neonatal concerns, and keeps the lambs nearby for
injections, tail docking, castration, and ear tagging.
-------------------------------
Subject: Are Sheep Wild Animals
20. Why do ewes need help lambing? Wild animals do it without help.
Sheep aren't wild animals anymore. The sheep we raise have been
bred to produce multiple-births and big, fast-growing lambs.
Usually, they can give birth without help, and do a marvelous job
of taking care of their lambs. When the lambs are too big, or if
there are more lambs than the mother's milk can support, we help
out. In return, we get the pleasure of watching the miracle of
birth and one of the strongest and loveliest bonds in nature.
-------------------------------
Subject: Credits
21. Who wrote this FAQ?
The author is Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com>, who raises
Cotswold sheep in Stonington, Connecticut. Additional material
was contributed by Warner Granade <jwg2y@virginia.edu> and Paul
Isaac <paul@terminus.ericsson.se>.
-------------------------------
Subject: Copyright
22. May I use this FAQ in my homepage, book, talk, or article?
This document is copyright 1994-96 by Ronald Florence. Permission
is granted to copy this document in electronic form, or to print
it for personal use, provided that this copyright notice is not
removed or altered. No portion of this work may be sold, by
itself or as part of a larger work, without the express written
permission of the author; this restriction includes but is not
limited to print, digital media, and electronic transmission.
If the date in the headers of the document you're reading
is more than 60 days old, you should retrieve a current copy.
The latest version of this document is available via ftp or WWW:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/rural/
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/rural/
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/rural/
or by email to <mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu> with the line
send usenet/news.answers/rural/lambing-faq
in the body of the message.
--
Ronald Florence