Lackluster Lamb

We have been anticipating Eweness' lamb for a while now. We moved Frank out of the large pen and adjusted her feed to include some alfalfa/bermuda pellets and a rye alfalfa hay blend. I made notes of her behavior changes at the first possible due date. We were able to see the lamb rolling around in her belly, so we knew it was active. She began some tail shaking, stamping, and panting. All of which could be attributed to the heat and flies. Her panting was done with her head level and it was hot enough to make her pant. The Thursday morning after her first possible due date, she started pawing at the hay bedding. I always have my phone ready to do quick searches on the internet for information, and found that this was a sign of impending labor...nesting. She also had "bagged" up finally.

As always when I have had to leave the ranch, I would drive down and do a quick peek on her. I left Thursday at 5:30 pm and she was standing and panting as normal, so I went on my way. About half way to pick up Emma, I realized that Eweness was panting, but with her head lowered. She had not done that and she definately looking less comfortable in this stance. I had watched numerous videos of ewe's in labor, and this stance was familiar. I began to worry that labor had begun and wanted to hurry back to the ranch.

By the time we got back, it was 8:00 pm and we drove down to the pen to find her licking a little spotted lamb. Emma and I jumped back into the car and drove to the house to get our lambing supplies. We wiped the lamb down some, she was very wet still and shaking as if she were chilled. We snipped and dipped the navel. Her momma was licking at her still, and we made sure her breathing was clear. We backed off to let momma do her job and sat and watched.

After some time, it became evident that the lamb was not getting up and seemed to be struggling to coordinate it's movements. She seemed to flop mostly and we decided we better get some colostrum in her to warm her up. This required milking Eweness; remember she is a miniature breed of sheep.

Emma got the job done. We strained the colostrum of the bedding that had fallen into the milking jar, and put it into the bottle with a lamb nipple. Emma was the one doing most of the "ground" work, she was much better at crawling around than I. The lamb appeared to have lost her sucking strength. We immediately grabbed a syringe and dribbled it into her her mouth for her to swallow. We were able to get several colostrum ounces in her and continued to do so every 2 hours. We attempted to stand her near mom to get her to latch on, but she just didn't have the coordination. She was definately "not right."

It was a very tiring night of milking, straining, bottling, syringing, cleaning and starting over. By dawn, the lamb seemed to be dry and warming, but still shaky and lacking coordination. Eweness was very hesitant about our assistance, but seemed to understand we were helping.

At this point, I was thinking that if the lamb didn't come around quickly, I would have to have her put down. If she was not able to suck, this was going to be a problem. We syringed an ounce or two into her and scooped her up and took her to the local vet that had experience with sheep. On the way Emma was doing a bit of research on the internet, and suggested that there was a copper deficiency in the ewe during gestation. I balked at that because I had been told several times to limit copper for sheep.

Upon arrival, the vet told us to drive home and get some more milk and he would do a blood draw and it would be done by the time we got back. So we zipped home, milked Eweness and zipped back to town.

The blood showed a problem with the liver function. He pulled out his sheep text and repeated what Emma had said in the car. I suppose Eweness could have been lacking, but it still seemed contradictory. I still find it hard to believe we have copperless hay! All the other blood readings were spot on!

He didn't give any real insight as to her future. I knew that if she didn't start sucking a bottle, the process of caring for this lamb was going to become very laborious. Emma was in the meantime preparing the bottle there at the vet's and squeaked, "she's sucking!" It was as if the lamb heard my thoughts...and she figured she had better try.

At home, Emma assisted the lamb as the vet had demonstrated, holding the tail up and giving some support to the front end to get her standing. I thought if the lamb doesn't have the strength to stand and walk, she would not survive. We both fell asleep between feedings and when Emma went out to give the next bottle, she returned to tell me that the lamb had gotten up and walked around several times.

I thought of the bottle feeding more of a therapy session to strengthen her sucking strength. She would start out well enough, but soon tire and we would switch to the syringe. But she was getting more with the nipple each time. We had been given a product called Lamb Lac Milk Replacer by a local sheep person. We began to supplement this and then would milk Eweness to keep the pressure off her and to avoid Mastitis.

As the lamb was getting a bit more from the nipple with a rather significant hole in the end, I decided to up the requirements for her and had a second nipple with a slightly smaller hole. I thought this would further strengthen her sucking. I would start with this one and switch to the less challenging and eventually eliminated the syringe.

I had forgotten how exhausting a newborn could be. I remembered the late feedings with my own girls and how similar it felt the next day when trying to function with a clear head. I had a couple down moments when I tried to be objective about what this lamb's future would be. She would not be used for breeding. I won't really ever know what the cause of this shaky, weak start is, and won't spend the money to analyse milk, blood, or whatever to determine it. On the other hand, she may have been breach and lying in fluid for a couple hours. Oxygen deprevation, hypothermia.....So to be safe, she will not be bred. I don't want to think about it, but she still may have to be put down. She wasn't latching on to the momma and this results in two maintenance programs; lamb feeding and ewe milking. That wasn't the plan. I decided I would put my best effort to get this lamb the best possible start and see where she took it.

And with that I went out and the lamb was nursing on her momma's teat. These markers were making me smile each time. I still don't know how much she is really getting from her momma, so I have developed a feeding schedule that remains conservative on my part, in order to encourage her to nurse from her mom. I have gradually increased the duration between feedings as literature suggests for "bummer lambs." However, I have not been increasing beyond an ounce at each feeding now. It seems to be working, as the lamb goes to her mom more and more. Of course, most literature regarding the quantity of milk is for a regular sized lamb, so I have been adjusting for her 4 lb birth weight.

I remembered reading about infants and something called "nipple confusion." I noticed that the tongue action of the lamb on the rubber nipple was more like what would be used on the teat. Because of the large hole in the rubber nipple, she was still getting plenty of flow, regardless of her tongue movements. I preferred her latching onto her momma, to being bottle-fed, so anything that supports that transition was fine with me.

I am now giving her an ounce every 6 hours and letting her nurse on momma in between. She is really effected by the heat of the day, leaving her panting and rather limp. I try to make sure she is getting the fluids, so that she does not dehydrate because of the heat. She is definately more perky in the cooler parts of the morning and evening.

I still haven't named her. I suppose I believe it would make it harder if she were to have to be put down. Of course the more time that passes, the more difficult that will be anyway. But I am trying to be objective. I have progressed from hour to hour status' to day to day status'. I will be neutral.