# Premature Lamb, What Now?



## AimeeDx (Sep 28, 2017)

Hi All,
Yesterday was an extremely hot day, 37 degrees Celsius in the shade, and 39 in the sun! (so in Fahrenheit, 98.6 in the shade and 102.2 in the sun) and my ewe, Mary gave birth to a very small baby.
 I heard baaing, and ran out, and the baby had the birthing sack covering its face, so i cleared its mouth and nose, and it luckily started to breath. But throughout the next 3 hours (before it got dark) it just lay there, spread out, we were sure it would not make the night, so we left it with the mum, who was very upset because her baby wasn't  standing up.
 Surprisingly, the lamb survived the night, and was stronger than before, being able to lift its head up (but no standing yet) and was able to suckle on fingers, so we attempted to milk our other ewe with a 2 week old as the mother's milk had not come in yet. We only got around 5 ml of milk.

We read online to mix cows milk with cream and egg, is this right for a lamb?
we have been feeding it around 10-20 ml every half an hour, is this a good amount, or should we give the lamb more, and should we wait longer than half an hour?
Is there anything more we can do for a better chance of survival?

Sorry for the questions, this is only our second lamb, and we have also never had a lamb (or calf) that has needed to be fed.
Thank you, Aimee


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## Latestarter (Sep 28, 2017)

typically a lamb or goat kid needs its mother's milk which is colostrum to start out with, within the first 4-6 hours (preferably as soon after birth as possible for highest/best results) after 24 hours the general consensus is that the lambs stomach will no longer garner the benefits. The colostrum passes the mother's antibodies and such to boost/start the babies immune system out and protect it for the first 30 or so days. Other than feeding it as it will take it and keeping it from overheating or chilling, I'm not sure what else you can do...  @Sheepshape @secuono @mysunwolf and there are many others... hopefully one or more will chime in. good luck!


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## Sheepshape (Sep 29, 2017)

Hi, Aimee, what a start to lambing! Difficult, but not impossible.

The mixture you are giving the lamb will keep it going, but you may be able to milk your mother ewe pretty soon. (Make sure there's no wax plug, 'bump' hand up onto the udder and pull gently with a slightly 'corkscrew motion' for best results). 

Let the lamb have as much of you mixture as it wants (at body temp.) and feed about hourly, then drop down to 2 hourly as she strengthens.Can you get ewes' milk replacer?

In the temps. you have , she shouldn't get cold, but use a little jacket, sweater etc if needed.

Keep the lamb in a cardboard box with straw and near to mum, with mum penned up  and with constant access to food and water.

My avatar is of LLeila....a lamb who was well under one pound in weight (a twin with a massive brother). She was born in a cold field with lashing rain in March 2016. She is now a huge, fat ewe. So just about anything is possible.

These little scraps weren't meant to survive, but sometimes they do.....so 'Good Luck' from across the pond.


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## babsbag (Sep 29, 2017)

I have a preemie buckling that couldn't stand for almost 2 weeks. I am using him as a breeder this year, very happy with how he turned out. My kitten helped keep him alive, washed his face after feeding and slept under the heat lamp with him. I have no doubt that it was her companionship that gave him the will to fight. Hope that your little one is doing well.


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