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Newborn lambs sick

670 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  farmerDale
I have two lambs, 24 hrs old. Tubed with colostrum replacer shortly after birth. Held ewe for them to both nurse and get her colostrum for first ~12 hours. Ewe rejected lambs last year, did the same this year. Wouldn’t allow them to nurse unless forced. Lambs were constantly talking, starving, and ewe getting mean/dangerous so they stopped trying. Started on bottle colostrum replacer for first two bottles, switched to Premier Lamb and kid milk. Allowed lambs to eat too much from bottles, now have lambs that don’t want to eat and ewe lamb has diarrhea. Gave 4 cc Nutri Drench and 8 cc water to the ewe lamb, which is the worst (hadn’t eaten since 6 pm, it’s 2 am). After this she perked up and i managed to get the ewe to hold still for her to nurse a little bit (worried about dehydration). Ram lamb ate about 4 oz at 10 pm, but now has a rattle when breathing (can they burp and aspirate?) and looks uncomfortable (poo is normal colostrum yellow goo). Gave him Nutri Drench. Gave both colostrum paste because of the gut probiotics in it. Saw both pee. Plan was to remove them from the ewe today, she butts them if they try to nurse and you aren’t there to hold her. Now wondering if I should keep trying to get them to nurse on her to help tummies? The ewe (mother) also has diarrhea now, for some reason, possibly because she wants her adult friends and is stressed because she’s stuck with her lambs in a 12 x 12 horse stall in an attempt to make her be a mother. She bonded with them at birth, until they started trying to nurse from her. Afraid I’m going to lose both lambs because I allowed them to overeat on new food… Thinking I go get electrolyte liquid at Walmart in morning, call vet about rattle in boy? Only have Excede here as antibiotic, no penicillin. Don’t have much experience with sick lambs…
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Wow. You sure are having a bad day!

Okay, the lambs should settle down once they get the excess feed out of their systems.

If you can get that ewe to hold still, I'd go with that, at least until they've had real colostrum for 3 days.

I'd definitely switch from that milk replacer, and either source some goat milk, or get regular cow milk. WHOLE milk. You don't need to do anything to it, unless you feel the need to add a spoon of yogurt, or open a probiotic capsule and add that to the bottle.

As for the ewe's diarrhea, a dose of Pepto won't do her any harm.
Pony is right on in her recommendations.

Stop the Nutra Drench.

Sell or process that ewe.
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We have built a stanchion panel that you can lock the ewe in 24 7. It is never fun. Sometimes the stanchion works wonders, sometimes it doesn’t help a bit.

Do lambs try to suck from a bottle? Do you have a proper bottle nipple for lambs? Usually a bit of patience will get them bottle feeding. It’s tough those trouble animals, that’s for sure.

Good luck!
We have built a stanchion panel that you can lock the ewe in 24 7. It is never fun. Sometimes the stanchion works wonders, sometimes it doesn’t help a bit.

Do lambs try to suck from a bottle? Do you have a proper bottle nipple for lambs? Usually a bit of patience will get them bottle feeding. It’s tough those trouble animals, that’s for sure.

Good luck!
Babies are now fully bottle feeding, currently a 50/50 electrolyte/Premier lamb formula mix. They look much better, and are removed from ewe, with a heat lamb available (plenty of room to avoid the heat lamp if they don’t need it).
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