Ewe emergency post lambing

[jambi1214]

I have a ewe that lambed twins yesterday. Ate and drank well yesterday. VERY flighty ewe so almost unable to handle. Got her and lambs confined. She has a low BCS and barely has milk. Have supplemented lambs with colostrum. She has chaffaye alfalfa grain and won't eat. She is desperate from her herd so unsure if she is stressed. It was a surprise lambing so she was not adequately fed prior. Started grain yesterday and she has diarrhea. Unable to temp. No tremore. Laying down and will move.around some but is mainly just staining there as lambs try to nurse. They are not constantly crying and besides being small seem ok. Gave her some sheep drench had on hand....help afraid to loose her

 

[Mini Horses]

Can you put a couple ewes from the herd by her pen? May calm her. Milk usually comes in as nursing happens. Keep water in her pen. Keep forage in her pen. Reevaluate after company provided. Have milk ready for lambs.

 

[jambi1214]

Other Ewes are just a few feet away from her. It was so sudden her change in symptoms. @Mini Horses

 

[jambi1214]

Ewe died with 2 day old babies. Supper.worried around other ewes who may lamb soon and are similar to her. Babies are kinda panicking

 

[frustratedearthmother]

So sorry for your loss. Looks like you'll have bottle babies.

 

[Baymule]

Oh no, I’m so sorry. It hurts to lose one, no matter if flighty or a pet.
The lambs will soon call you Mommy. They will adjust to being bottle babies. Ewe or ram lambs?

What is the history of your flock, recently purchased, ram with ram and that was not disclosed? Get some sheep mineral for them. If you can’t find any locally, Premiere1 has mineral that you mix with 50 pounds of stock salt. Not the rock salt, but a finer grind so the miners will mix well with it.

 

[jambi1214]

Oh no, I’m so sorry. It hurts to lose one, no matter if flighty or a pet.
The lambs will soon call you Mommy. They will adjust to being bottle babies. Ewe or ram lambs?

What is the history of your flock, recently purchased, ram with ram and that was not disclosed? Get some sheep mineral for them. If you can’t find any locally, Premiere1 has mineral that you mix with 50 pounds of stock salt. Not the rock salt, but a finer grind so the miners will mix well with it.

Got them a few months back with no known history. Terrible feet and were in terrible shape. But have been struggling since. Worried about other ewes who will likely lamb soon too. Will get mineral today. They were on pasture but with nothing left started alfalfa and some grain. Worried to separate and confine them as I don't want to stress them more. They are still with ram. 2 ewes and ram together away from my original flock since they have had health concerns. Lambs are 1 ram 1 ewe. Taking bottle slowly. Crying alot but got some baby clothes for them and checking on them frequently.....just not sure if this was solely malnutrition and I feel very very guilty for this. Is loose mineral better than sheeplyX which has protein in it? @Baymule

 

[Baymule]

Yes loose mineral. Just make sure it’s for sheep, not goats as the copper is an issue. Don’t feel guilty about this. You were blindsided, now you know what to look for. You might want to get the ram out so you can gentle down the ewes. Best way to do that is feed in a small space, sit quietly inside. I find sitting on the ground puts them more at ease as I’m not towering over them. They will come up to sniff. Put a little feed in a small tub close to you, greed will get the better of them. LOL. Fastest place to scratch and become instant friends is between their front legs. It may take a few tries, but once successful, they will follow you begging for more.

Sounds like you got them out of a bad situation. Don’t beat up on yourself, you have 2 lambs out of the loss of the ewe. I’ve only had 2 bottle lambs, both were triplets, one too tiny to suck and the other was rejected. The formula I used was;

1 gallon whole milk from grocery store
1 cup cultured buttermilk
1 can evaporated milk

Pour out 3 cups out of gallon. Pour in buttermilk and evaporated milk, top off with reserved whole milk.

They did great on this formula and thrived. After a couple of weeks I mixed the homemade formula with lamb replacer to stretch out the homemade formula.

I put the lambs in a dog crate in the house with extra large potty pads, then found the big pads for incontinentance for people. Bigger package and cost less than puppy pads. At night I put baby diapers on them, secured with blue painters tape and let them loose in the house. It was February 2021, during the freak winter storm we had. We got 10” of snow, 3 ice storms and MINUS SIX degrees! After that passed and it warmed up, I transitioned them slowly to the barn so they wouldn’t grow up to be people. LOL

Good luck with your bottle babies, keep us informed on the other ewes, we will try to help all we can.

 

[jambi1214]

Thanks for the info. It's been 40degree lowest at night. I don't think I can bring them in now because of dog issues so hopefully can keep them in pen in barn. Getting heat lamp now. I already started milk replacer? Is that ok va homemade solution? Which u did use once before I could get to store. What about the other ewes nutrition? I worry I'm adding too much to them at once (starting alfalfa, grain and now mineral)

 

[Baymule]

I feed a grass hay, Bermuda or Bahia, free choice, all they want. Not familiar with alfalfa, don’t know if you have to measure it out or can free feed. I’m thinking measured out. Go easy on the grain to start with, too much too soon may cause stomach upset. You may want to offer baking soda to avert bloat.

Do you have access to a grass hay? If so you can free feed that, what they will clean up in a day.

If lambs are doing good on replacer, keep doing what you are doing. Don’t know much about bottle babies, only raised those two, in 8 years of having sheep. My 2 didn’t like the replacer, thrived on the homemade formula, so I mixed it a little less than half replacer and a little more half homemade formula. That is what worked for me.

@Mike CHS Can you add your experience with bottle lambs?