# Newbie baby lamb questions



## beanmcnulty (Jan 13, 2014)

Hello all! I just adopted a mom ewe and twin 1 week old lambs (I am new to sheep, have had goats for 2 years), they are katahdin/dorper cross. The farm they came from had them in a barn nursery with heat lamps, I have them in a bedded, tarped hoop house with open door to outside. I have been putting sweaters on the babies, I have taken them off today as it is not so cold today and it will rain later (dont want wet sweaters).

How long should keep up with putting sweaters on them? I thought of lanolinizing the sweaters like I do my baby diaper covers (it waterproofs the wool).

Also the female twin has had yellow scours (not sure if she still does, she came with them stuck on her), but from what I've been reading this is normal?

Do I do cocci prevention like with baby goats?

Also there seem to be a lot more websites dedicated to birthing baby goats as far as heathcare, can anyone point to one for sheep?

Anything really important to do for new babies? I gave mom probiotics and a wormer.

thanks in advance!


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 13, 2014)

Sounds like you are off to a good start! 

As long as you have a dry, draft free area for the babies, they should do just fine. Especially since there are two of them and they have mom. We rarely have to put coats on lambs (in VT and lambing February/March).

Yellow scours are pretty normal. It means that the lambs is getting plenty to eat.

Cocci prevention is a good idea. Last year we fed a creep feed that included cocci meds and we didn't have to treat anyone beyond that.

Pipestone is a good resource.....http://www.pipevet.com/content/Educational-Articles.asp


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## SheepGirl (Jan 14, 2014)

Here's what I do with newborn lambs...

1) Tag & dock them. (You don't have to dock since you have a hair breed and I'm not sure if you're interested in tagging them.)

2) Dip their umbilical cords in iodine. (Being that they're a week old, this has probably already been done.)

3. Check to see if they have full bellies every day. This is the easiest way to see if they are eating.

4. At 30 days old I vaccinate them with CD/T and at 60 days of age I give them a booster vaccination.

5. I weigh lambs every 10 days from birth to 60 days of age and every 30 days thereafter.

6. Lambs are weaned at 60 days of age.

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You can creep feed your lambs if you want.

I don't ever put sweaters on my sheep or lambs. I just give them access to a shelter that blocks any winds or drafts and I add extra bedding. They stay pretty warm that way.

I don't give coccidiostats to my lambs; I've never had an issue with it (knock on wood).


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## beanmcnulty (Jan 14, 2014)

Great replies thanks so much! yes they've had the iodine dip, I think I will be tattooing instead of tagging, I have it for the goats, or is the tag for the scrapie thing? I havent done much reading on the program yet.


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## beanmcnulty (Jan 14, 2014)




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## beanmcnulty (Jan 14, 2014)

my new sheep herd


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## SheepGirl (Jan 14, 2014)

Tags are for scrapie, but they should have been tagged before they left their farm of origin. Because they havent, go ahead get signed up for the program, get your own scrapie tags, and tag them, but keep a record of where you bought them, who you bought them from, date, new tag numbers, etc. You can find more info on eradicatescrapie.org.


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## beanmcnulty (Jan 14, 2014)

Thanks for the info...all the older ones have tags in their ears so I guess I just tag the babies myself and then write down the info for the older ones?


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## bonbean01 (Jan 14, 2014)

Was seeing double when I saw your photo...look at my avatar...same markings as the one twin!


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## beanmcnulty (Jan 15, 2014)

bonbean01 said:


> Was seeing double when I saw your photo...look at my avatar...same markings as the one twin!


 
lol thats the ram lamb not sure if we are going to name himhes 75% dorper 25% katahdin


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## bonbean01 (Jan 15, 2014)

Ours is a ram also...Mama Katahdin and Papa Dorper.  We're not naming ours as he's already spoken for and happy we don't have to band such a pretty guy.


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