# Raising a bummer lamb



## Ridgetop (May 21, 2015)

I have returned from my aunt's place in Yelm, WA.  Only 2 acres but all lush green grass, 1 large 100 year old barn, 1 partially open huge pole barn (with usable loft space), several old outbuildings, I m jealous of the barns and green grass.  Sadly the city is creeping up around her place, but it is very nicely secluded by the giant firs and blackberry bushes.  Across the road is the Chehalis canal.  And the most coveted thing of all - it is all flat!  That might not seem like a big deal but when you live on a semi-arid acreage that is too steep for anyone except goats and sheep, flat acreage that you can drive the tractor on is the bomb!  Using a tractor gets more important as I get older! LOL

Anyway, while I was out of town another lamb arrived unexpectedly.  I just bought this 10 month old eweling last month and we suspected she was bred since she had been in a pen with the young ram we bought.  The breeder thought she had just been bred a month or so and I checked her 3 weeks ago when we unloaded them and no udder tissue - but surprise!  When my son went out to open the pasture gate and bring the sheep into the barn the ewe had just dropped him.  While trying to nose him to his feet she knocked him over the edge of the hill and he rolled down about 5 feet!  He can move his rear legs, kicks out and squirms, but can't get to his feet or stand when we put him up on them.  This little guy is big and strong but has possibly suffered a birth injury to his back. So he hasn't gotten any colostrum, was born around 48 hours ago, hadn't eaten and my prognosis for his life wasn't too good when i got home last night around 10pm.  I had told my boys to restrain the ewe (wild as sin) and milk her for the baby, but her teats were so tiny since she is a first freshener that they couldn't get anything.  Anyway, when I came home last night he was very vigorous and loud so I decided to see what could be done to save him.  I couldn't find the lamb nipples - I think we used them for the preemie foal 5 years ago and they got chewed up.  I used one of my grandkid's baby bottles and found a couple quarts of goat milk I had canned several years ago.  I heated it up and put it through the blender since the milk solids separate when you can milk.  He had a hard time with the niple but got about 2 ounces into him.  Today we finally found a feed dealer that actually had some lamb nipples as well as some artificial colostrum so I can feed him till the vet comes tomorrow to give the final word on his chances.  He scarfed down about 4 ounces before I took the bottle away because I didn't want him to overeat.  The vet said he had seen a case like I described where the lamb's spine was injured during birthing but recovered after a month.  I'm hoping this will be something like a sprain or something and he will recover.  I hate putting down a lamb that is so feisty and ready to live.  Hopefully, the lamb will recover enough so my grandkids will have a bummer lamb to raise for the summer and the ewe will rebreed in a month or 2.  

I think we can rule out floppy lamb selenium deficiency since he is very lively.  Our hay has sufficient selenium.  The breeder I bought this 10 months old ewe from usually gives a Bo-Se shot a month before lambing, but that would not have been given to this eweling since they didn't realize how close to lambing she was.  Her mother would have had the shot last June.  This eweling was a July  born lamb so she bred early - around 6 months of age.

Anyway, I have never raised a bummer lamb - I've been lucky.  I _have _raised a lot of goat kids though since we mostly did dairy for almost 20 years.  I have read that you have to feed lambs every 4 hours, while we used to only feed our newborn goat kids 3 times a day until they were 3 weeks old, then they each had a quart in the am and a quart in the pm in a communmal bucket feeder (I added an extra quart to the bucket in case of slow eaters).  So I need to know if lambs are that different from kids in their requirements.  I will order some lamb replacer _after_ I get the go ahead from the vet. If it's a no go on the lamb I'll put him down.

Sheep milk is higher in fat content than goat's milk or cow's milk.  Protein levels are about the same as goat's milk.  I just need to know if I can put this fellow on a 3x a day feeding schedule or if I have to follow a more frequent feeding schedule.  Any ideas?


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