# Second ewe gives birth, but can't seem to get the lamb on the teat...



## soarwitheagles (Jan 29, 2016)

Another of our pregnant American Blackbelly ewes began to separate herself from the flock today.  By evening time, she was on her side, in birthing position.  I slowly approached her, but she got up and walked off.  I went inside to inform my wife.  She checked the ewe, and told me she too thinks the ewe is preparing to have the lamb.

Only five minutes later, I go outside.  No joke, there is a much larger lamb than the earlier one this week.  Only this lamb appears like a red lamb, doesn't even look like a AB, and is significantly larger and stronger and more active than the first lamb.  This lamb actually goes after and head butts two other sheep.  Never seen anything like it...and it is only 5 minutes old.

We jump the gate, and the ewe is so much more tame and nice.  My wife checks the teats, and rich in milk she says.  But we cannot get the lamb to suck on the teat, no matter how hard we try.  We back off, hoping the new lamb will figure it out.  Still no success.  Now it is 5 hours later, still see no sign of the lamb sucking the milk.  Next, the male ram comes over and tries to hump the ewe that just gave birth and then head butts the newly born lamb twice!  I wanted to shoot the darn ram or kick its butt good!  What a selfish jerk!

We immediately placed both mother and baby lamb in a small pen together with fresh hay and water.  The lamb keeps crying and sucking everywhere it can, searching diligently, but still cannot seem to latch onto a teat and drink.

Now it is 11 pm.  Lamb is beginning to shake violently at times.  I think it is getting cold [hypothermia?].  Still no sign of drinking mama's milk.

What really bugs me is I read a number of articles that clearly state the new born lamb should be drinking milk within the first hour to make the most of the colostrum.  I am kinda freaking out right now.  Never done the tube feeding, in fact, I do not even have a tube.  Not even sure how to get the milk out of the mama into a bottle.

Looking for some help and ideas.

Thanks,

Soar

PS See placenta coming out, 6.5 hours after the live birth...update: placenta is now on the ground.

Posting pics.  This lamb looks more like an Irish setter than an AB!


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## norseofcourse (Jan 29, 2016)

Congrats on the birth - but that lamb needs colostrum asap!  Have you checked it's mouth?  If it's cold, you'll need to get the lamb warm before feeding it.  If you can't get the lamb to latch on and nurse, you'll need to bottle or tube feed.  You'll need to milk mom out into some kind of container (this may take two of you, one to hold her).  Hope you have some kind of bottle, I have never tube fed so I'll let someone else help you with that.  Please let us know how things go.

Edited to add: Penning them was a good move, I pen each ewe and newborn lamb(s) for a day or three, to give them time to bond without interference from the other sheep.  You may want to have a pen or two ready and waiting if you have more sheep close to lambing.


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## promiseacres (Jan 29, 2016)

Hopefully the baby figured it out...


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 29, 2016)

Woke up this morning and ran out to the pen.  Still can't see the lamb drinking the milk, but checked the mouth and the lamb's mouth is warm.

Can anyone tell me how to milk a sheep?  Do I squeeze the udder, and then the teat?  So sorry, never had a nursing pet ever before.  Please help me out if you can.  If I can't see the lamb drinking by mid morning, try to milk the ewe, then bottle feed the lamb.  If still no success, then I will head to Tractor Supply and pick up some lamb starter...well, at least that's the plan for now.

Thanks again everyone!


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## BlessedWithGoats (Jan 29, 2016)

Put your hand around the teat, and then squeeze with your fingers that are near the top of her teat. While still squeezing with that finger, squeeze with the next finger down, then the next, etc., keeping pressure on the top fingers so the milk doesn't just go back up into her udder. 
Hope this helps!


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 29, 2016)

norseofcourse said:


> Congrats on the birth - but that lamb needs colostrum asap!  Have you checked it's mouth?  If it's cold, you'll need to get the lamb warm before feeding it.  If you can't get the lamb to latch on and nurse, you'll need to bottle or tube feed.  You'll need to milk mom out into some kind of container (this may take two of you, one to hold her).  Hope you have some kind of bottle, I have never tube fed so I'll let someone else help you with that.  Please let us know how things go.
> 
> Edited to add: Penning them was a good move, I pen each ewe and newborn lamb(s) for a day or three, to give them time to bond without interference from the other sheep.  You may want to have a pen or two ready and waiting if you have more sheep close to lambing.



Thanks Norse.  Ok, I will make 3-4 pens out of pallets.  I saw a demo online and it is super easy.

I will carefully monitor the mama and lamb today [I took the day off].  

Yes, we have a bottle for lambs.  Just hoping we do not need to use it.  The red lamb appears much better now, so perhaps it began to nurse last night and maybe all this stress for nothing.  I will watch it on security cam feeds all day.



promiseacres said:


> Hopefully the baby figured it out...


  Thanks and I hope so too!



BlessedWithGoats said:


> Put your hand around the teat, and then squeeze with your fingers that are near the top of her teat. While still squeezing with that finger, squeeze with the next finger down, then the next, etc., keeping pressure on the top fingers so the milk doesn't just go back up into her udder.
> Hope this helps!



BWG, thank you for sharing how to milk.  I had no clue how to do it.  I will give it a try when my wife returns home from work today.

Have a wonderful day everyone!  I will post results as soon as I see if there is any progress.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 29, 2016)

SPECIAL UPDATE:  This red lamb is now drinking deeply from the mama, so we believe all is well.  I must confess, maybe I am letting myself become too anxious about the first few minutes/hours after the birth, and perhaps I simply need to trust that the mama and the baby know what they are doing?

It is beginning to seem that I am stressing out over nothing...

Thank you everyone for your help and encouragement.  

Special note: this lamb was nearly twice the weight/size of the first lamb with the other ewe.  Also, this newest lamb has no resemblance to an American Blackbelly at all.  I called the rancher from who we purchased all these pregnant ewes.  He suspects that one of his California Red rams jumped a fence and impregnated this AB ewe.

Did some reading on the California Red Sheep and found this:

Dr. Glenn Spurlock of Davis, California crossed Tunis sheep and Barbados Blackbelly sheep, and the California Red is consequently a dual–purpose breed with many of the qualities of its forebears, the out-of season breeding qualities and fleece of the Tunis and the heat tolerance and carcase quality of the Blackbelly.

So I suppose this new lamb is 75% Barbados Blackbelly and 25% Tunis sheep.  Strange combo, but the lamb is much stronger and much more energetic than the first lamb that is suppose to be a full Amercian Blackbelly sheep.


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## luvmypets (Jan 29, 2016)

Very interesting and glad it had a happy ending!

About getting anxious I am the same and this is my third lambing season


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## BlessedWithGoats (Jan 29, 2016)

Aww! Glad all is well!!


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## promiseacres (Jan 29, 2016)

I wandered about the background, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a good cross.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 29, 2016)

*Correction:* so sorry, I think I posted wrong percentages about this lamb.

I did a little more reading and discovered some more facts...

The American Blackbelly was created by crossing a Mouflon and Barbados Blackbelly sheep.
The California Red Sheep was created by crossing a Tunis and Barbados Blackbelly sheep.

So I am not so sure about the percentages now, especially when considering all the back crossing done during the breeding.

I suppose it is safe to say our new red lamb is part Mouflon, part Barbados Blackbelly, and part Tunis.  I have no clue how to figure out the percentages...


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## norseofcourse (Jan 29, 2016)

soarwitheagles said:


> SPECIAL UPDATE:  This red lamb is now drinking deeply from the mama, so we believe all is well.  I must confess, maybe I am letting myself become too anxious about the first few minutes/hours after the birth, and perhaps I simply need to trust that the mama and the baby know what they are doing?
> 
> It is beginning to seem that I am stressing out over nothing...


Welcome to having sheep and lambing time   

Stressing out is very common, in fact I think it's expected.  And the sheep and lambs seem to do their best to make sure of it! lol

Watching and worrying is not a bad thing, since sometimes things do go wrong and you do need to step in.  Right now everything is new, but as you gain experience and get to know your sheep, you will learn what is in their range of 'normal', and when something to truly worry about may be happening.  In a few years you will be smiling at beginning shepherds, and telling them "In my first lambing season..." stories  

A good book, if you haven't seen it yet, is "Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep".  Make sure it's the newer, 2009 edition.  And continue what you are doing - reading, asking questions, learning all you can, paying attention to your sheep.  So glad the new little one is doing well!


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## alsea1 (Jan 29, 2016)

Wow. Sounds like you are going to have a really cool lamb.


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## Latestarter (Jan 29, 2016)

alsea1 said:


> Wow. Sounds like you are going to have a really cool lamb.


Was thinking the same thing... Sure looks very strong and healthy.


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 30, 2016)

soarwitheagles said:


> *Correction:* so sorry, I think I posted wrong percentages about this lamb.
> 
> I did a little more reading and discovered some more facts...
> 
> ...



It's just as accurate (and acceptable) to say that your lamb is half American BB and half California Red. 

New breeds are created by crossing other breeds to get the desired traits and then breeding to lock those traits in over several generations so that you can accurately predict what the offspring will look like. Katahdins and Coopworths are 2 of the more modern examples of this.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 30, 2016)

norseofcourse said:


> Welcome to having sheep and lambing time
> 
> Stressing out is very common, in fact I think it's expected.  And the sheep and lambs seem to do their best to make sure of it! lol
> 
> ...



Thanks again Norse! Yes, I purchased the electronic copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep.  What an incredible gold mine of information!  I believe that I will need to read, re-read, and re-read over and over again.  There have been times when I couldn't put it down.  Lots of great info for newbies like me!

Regarding the stress levels...I never realized I would be up at night or taking days off to take care of our sheep.  Well, now I realize it goes with the territory!



purplequeenvt said:


> It's just as accurate (and acceptable) to say that your lamb is half American BB and half California Red.
> 
> New breeds are created by crossing other breeds to get the desired traits and then breeding to lock those traits in over several generations so that you can accurately predict what the offspring will look like. Katahdins and Coopworths are 2 of the more modern examples of this.



Thank you for sharing!  Now I will know how to answer people when they ask me!


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 30, 2016)

We just wanted to give A BIG THANK YOU to everyone that replied and helped us through this new birth.

Sure is nice to have a place to come and ask questions and learn and to be helped toward a successful sheep raising experience!

We have received massive encouragement at BYH.

We appreciate each and everyone of you!

Thanks again,

Soar and family

PS Thought I'd post a pic of Big Red, our new California Red/American Blackbelly lamb!

PSS Big Red asked me to thank you too!


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## Latestarter (Jan 30, 2016)

That is one handsome lamb! Love that red coloring!


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## BlessedWithGoats (Jan 30, 2016)

I agree with @Latestarter... Big Red is a handsome lamb!  Congratulations Soar!!


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 30, 2016)

I agree!  Thanks again for your words of encouragement and now we are preparing for more births soon to come. 

Thank you for helping us understand more of the basics of lambing everyone!

Have a great weekend!


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