On Tuesday afternoon, we had another arrival. I had been checking on the sheep through the window and saw that several were laying down but didn't think much of it. A few minutes later, Jason looked out the window and saw a new lamb nursing! We completely missed the ewe in labor while we were in the house. The lamb looked to be doing well and the Mama seemed to be letting it nurse and taking care of it.
We had lambs in all our "jugs" so we had to do some rearranging. We moved 45 from the attached barn into the shed in the pen with Big Wooly and her two lambs and left Lanabelle with her one lamb in the smallest little pen in the big barn. Thankfully, Big Wooly, 45, and their three lambs got on well and we didn't have to worry about them hurting each other's babies. Jason worked to clean out the newborn jug near the house and I went down to check on the baby. I didn't want the other sheep to go near it and bother it and was afraid if I went over the fence, they would swarm me and I wouldn't really be able to help.
We gave the flock some extra hay to keep them occupied and I went in. Sadly, there was another lamb, laying dead in the hay. She may have gotten too cold. Perhaps 64 forgot her while giving birth to the other or just couldn't keep her warm enough. She was still in her amniotic sac. Maybe she couldn't breathe? We'll never know exactly what happened. I handed the dead lamb over the fence to Jay and he ran up to the barn to try to revive it - bless his heart. He tried rubbing it all over, hanging it upside down, clearing its nose, and even injected it with dextrose to give it some energy. But nothing worked. It was limp and non-responsive. If only we had been able to help it when it was first born! It's hard knowing that we were right in the house the whole time.
Meanwhile, the other lamb seemed to be doing great. I kept an eye on them in the field but of course they had to be moved too. Finally Jay gave up on the little lamb and wrapped the little body up and put it aside so we could focus on the the mama and her living ram lamb.
We brought them in the barn and we remarked at how well the little guy seemed to be doing. I think we jinxed ourselves. Within an hour of being in the barn, the little guy was obviously not well. He had no energy and didn't seem to want to eat. We didn't know what had happened. He had seemed so strong. But they say the bigger lambs sometimes have the hardest time once they run out of their initial fat reserve that they are born with which doesn't last long. He must have been out in the wind and cold a bit too long even for a strong little guy. We started worrying about him.
I went to check that 64 had milk flowing and was shocked that the milk that came out was BROWN! Milk is not supposed to be brown. Jason stayed with the sheep while I ran inside to seek the infinite wisdom of the googles. After more searching than expected, I finally found out that this can happen as a result of mastitis and that it is still OK for the lamb to nurse. Hopefully if he suckles enough, the infection will clear on its own but just in case Jay picked up some antibiotic. The ewe seems to be doing OK so we haven't given it to her yet.
But the lamb still wasn't doing well. We brought him in the house after he refused the bottle. We used some colostrum we had saved from another ewe and tubed him. We gave him four ounces or so and hoped that would give him the energy to get back to nursing.
He is surviving but has no energy. He is always curled up in a corner fast asleep. At least he can be roused. We go out every few hours and wake him up and literally force him to nurse. He just doesn't seem to have the energy to get up but once he is in the right spot, he'll suckle if we tickle his but with straw. (This induces his sucking reflex). He has newborn scours (diarrhea) so we tried giving him Pepto-Bismol as well as electrolytes. We couldn't get any of it into him so we just keep bringing him to the teat and hoping he'll get better. He has gained some weight but just doesn't ever want to get up to eat. It's like he doesn't have the will to live - poor little guy.
The poor ewe! She lost a lamb, her living lamb isn't eating much and she has mastitis. The poor thing. She yells at me most times when I go in the barn. I feel bad for her but we hope that he little guy will make it and they'll live happily ever after. But we're not there yet.
I am looking forward to warmer weather so we won't have to worry so much about newborns. I hope the other ewes wait for a few days so we can focus on 64 and her little guy. I have a feeling that either Giovanna, our black sheep or 54 will be next. I have a feeling about 54 but we'll see if I'm right.
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