# SHEEP EMERGENCY.   Lamb wont feed



## boykin2010 (Mar 19, 2011)

My 1 year old ewe delivered a little brown female this morning. The lamb will not feed and acts lethargic. She will stand up and i saw her running with the mom but i moved them to a lambing stall to make sure that the baby was nursing. I have yet to see the baby drink any milk or even act interested. 
I decided to give mix some colostrum to give to her and she wouldnt suck on the nipple of the bottle. I had to get a syringe and squirt it in her mouth.
After she had the colostrum she is acting a little bit more energetic but still not right.
She still hasnt acted interested in drinking from the mom. 

What should i do?


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 19, 2011)

I have goats, but I think the information will apply, A small lamb may not need a lot of milk to satisfy its hunger, and may have nursed and is now full.

With that said, if you aren't sure, I use a mixture of Corn syrup and mother's milk and squirt it in their mouth with a 3cc syringe, maybe a lamb would be better with a 6cc syringe. Prabably around a tablespoon of corn syrup just thinned with the milk. I try to give them 15 cc, but in your case you would try to do around 30cc.

The corn syrup gives them fast energy.

With goats Bo-Se injectable(selenium-vit E) is often given to help the kids energy level and sucking reflex. This is vet RX. I know sheep farmers use this, since the farmer we buy our show lambs from recommended I use it on my show goats for weak pasturns.

With all that said, The lamb very likely already nursed and is just not hungry. I had a kid this year that I didn't see nurse for the first 3 days, was driving me crazy, was just a tiny thing. but seemed like it could stand fine.

I would check on the lamb every 3 hours or so through the night. So if it makes a turn for the worst you will be able to notice soon enough and feed it. 

Congratulations on the sets of twins you have had so far.


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## kabri (Mar 21, 2011)

Yep, keep watching as much as you can! We had a lamb last year that was similar. He was born with not much "will", DH had to give mouth to mouth to get the little guy to even breath at first. Then, he just stood there, did not cry or even try to find nipple. I though maybe brain damage, so gave him some milk from another ewe who had just lambed, stripped out mother's teats, and isolated them together. I spent hours watching them, hoping to see him nurse, but never did. Ended up giving him more milk for several feedings just to make sure. Every day, he was alert standing and started hopping. So I quit feeding him and watched his condition carefully. He figured it out, but on the sly, he must have been 3-4 days old before I ever saw him nurse!


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