Subject: Lambing FAQ (draft)

From: [email-masked] (Ronald Florence)
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 21:28:13 GMT

This is a first try.  I'd welcome comments, suggestions, additions,
and corrections.

		Frequently Asked Questions About Lambing
			version 1.0 - 13 April 1993

1.  What equipment and supplies do I need for lambing?

If everything goes right, and it does most of the time, you need
nothing more than:

   - a pair of surgical scissors, available from a drug store or
     vet supply;

   - a wide-mouthed bottle of 7% iodine solution;

   - a clean, dry, bedded pen for the ewe and her lamb(s).  The
     dimensions can range from 4x4 feet for smaller breeds to 5x5 feet
     for larger breeds, with a water bucket and a hay feeder for each
     pen.  For a small flock, plan on one pen for every five ewes; a
     larger flock can get by with one pen for every seven ewes.

It's a good idea to have the following available, just in case:

   - a baby bottle (4 or 8 oz.); use a heated needle to expand the
     hole in the nipple;

   - a tube feeder; vet supply houses sell them, or you can buy a
     rubber catheter and large syringe from a drug store;

   - a hair-dryer and/or a heat lamb;

   - 60cc. syringes, 20ga. needles, and a solution of electrolytes
     with 5-10% glucose;

   - shoulder-length plastic examining gloves;

   - a rubber or plastic bowl and Ivory liquid soap or an
     obstetric/vaginal lubricant;

   - Penicillin & syringes, or antibiotic vaginal boluses;

   - frozen colostrum from an earlier birth, or from a goat or cow;

   - warm, dry towels.

2.  How do I know when a ewe is ready to lamb?

No two ewes manifest the same signs.  Some wander off to a far corner
of a pasture, or find a corner of the barn.  Some will go off food.
Most will `drop' as the position of the uterus shifts lower in their
bodies, and hollow areas appear in their flanks; this is sometimes
hard to see in older ewes, who are `dropped' most of the time.  Ewes
usually `bag out' as milk develops in the udder within a day or two of
lambing.  As the ewe goes into labor, she may paw the ground as if
digging a nest, and is often restless, getting up, circling or moving
to a new spot, lying down, and repeating the cycle.  As she moves
further into labor, you can see contractions, the water (amnion) will
often break, and she may grit her teeth in pain.

3.  What do I have to do for a `normal' birth?

Most ewes can handle things pretty well.  Within four hours of the
onset of labor, the ewe will deliver a lamb and set to cleaning and
mothering it.  The vigorous licking is important stimulation to the
lamb, and helps trigger hormones that accelerate the development of
milk, contractions for twins or triplets, and the afterbirth.  If
you're there when the lamb is born -- and you should try to be --
clear any mucus from the lamb's nose and make sure it is breathing.
If it isn't, tickle the nostrils with a piece of straw.  If that
doesn't work, grab the lamb by both back legs and gently swing it in a
vertical circle over your head; the up and down movement of the
diaphragm as the lamb swings is an efficient artificial respiration.
Some shepherds use oxygen or even mouth-to-nose respiration to start a
lamb. c but most need little help beyond a tickle with straw.  Then,
allow the mother a few minutes to mother her lamb, before you CLIP,
DIP, and STRIP.

  - CLIP the lamb's umbilical cord within an inch of the lamb's navel.
  - DIP the umbilical cord in the iodine solution, making sure it it
    thoroughly covered with iodine.  
  - STRIP the ewe's teats, to make sure the wax plug is gone from both
    and milk (actually colostrom) comes out.

You may want to weigh the lamb, and on a very cold night, a hair-dryer
on the lamb's ears, or a heat lamp, can help.  Be careful with heat
lamps: they are dangerous, and too much time under the heat lamp can
encourage pneumonia.  It's not a good idea to dry the lamb too much;
letting the ewe do the work stimulates the lamb and encourages bonding
between them.

When the ewe is finished lambing, which can take a while for twins or
triplets, gently drag the lambs into the lambing pen.  The ewe will
follow the trail of smells in the bedding.  She will want a bucket of
water (warm if possible, adding a few tablespoons of molasses will
encourage her to drink) and a nice tab of hay.  She won't need grain
for a day or two, but should have free choice hay and plenty of water.
When you spot the afterbirth, usually from an hour to eight hours
after birth, remove it.

4.  How do I know if the ewe is going to have twins or triplets?

Sometimes you can tell in advance from the size of the ewe.  If
another lamb is coming, the ewe may get restless again, walking away
from her lamb, or lying down with contractions.  The second (or third)
amnion may break with another flood of fluid.  If a bag of reddish
fluid and a white wormlike tissue appears, it probably means she is
NOT going to have any more lambs that year.  Sometimes the only way to
be sure whether there is another lamb is to physically examine the ewe
with a glove and lubricant.  Unless something seems to be awry, it's
best not to interfere.

5.  What do I do if the ewe rejects her lamb?

Some rookie mothers don't know what to do; they drop a lamb and walk
away as if they had just pooped.  Putting the lamb in front of their
noses, or putting them into a pen with the lamb is usually enough.
You may have to help the lamb nurse the first time.  It usually works
better to nudge the lamb from behind, the way a ewe does, than to drag
it to a teat.  Tickling the lamb's bottom when it has the teat in its
mouth is usually enough to get it sucking.  A wagging tail on the
lamb, or the belly going in and out, is a sure sign the lamb is
getting milk (colostrum).

Some mothers will reject a lamb, often one of twins or triplets.  If
you hold the ewe so the lamb can nurse, either manually or by putting
her in a stanchion, after several days the ewe will usually begin to
accept the lamb.  The key for the ewe is the smell of the back end of
the lamb; after a few days, the ewe will detect her own milk.  Another
trick is to bring a dog into the barn.  Often, the instinct to protect
the lamb from the dog is strong enough to reestablish the bond of ewe
and lamb.  If the mother bashes the lamb as well as not allowing it to
nurse, you may have to take it away and bottle feed it.

Grafting a lamb to another mother, because the first mother lacks milk
or has too many lambs, is tricky.  There are many techniques: bathing
the graftee in amniotic fluids from the new mother, stanchions, tying
the feet of an older lamb so it won't seem too active.  It takes
patience and luck.  Ewes are smart, and even if they initially allow
the lamb to nurse, they often figure out that it isn't their lamb and
reject it.

6.  What if the lamb can't or won't nurse?

Make sure the ewe has colostrum by milking each teat.  If the ewe
wasn't shorn before lambing, or crutched, you may need to use hand
shears to clear some of the dung locks away so the lambs can find the
teats.  Lambs aren't the brightest little creatures, and will often
suck away on a tag of wet fleece instead of the teat.

The lamb may be too small, too cold, or too weak to nurse.  Put your
finger in the lamb's mouth to see if it is strong enough to suck.  If
it is, milk 2-4 ounces of colostrum from the mother into a baby
bottle.  Then, using a nipple that has had the hole widened with a hot
needle, feed the lamb two ounces at a time.  One or two feedings of
colostrum may be enough to jump start the lamb.

If the lamb is too weak to suck on your finger, tube feed two ounces
of colostrum.  You can buy ready-made tube feeders from vet supply
houses, or make your own from a surgical catheter and a large syringe.
Lubricate the tube with oil or warm water, measure how much tube it
takes to reach the lamb's rumen, and slide it down gently.  Stop
frequently and hold a wet finger over the other end of the tube; if
you feel air coming out, you're in the trachaea or lungs; pull out and
start again.

A really weak lamb may be dehydrated.  You can inject 30-50 ml. of
5-10% dextrose solution subcutaneously, in three or four spots (10 ml.
each) along the back and sides to rehydrate the lamb.

Whatever procedure or combination of procedures you follow, the lamb
should get only colostrum for the first eight to twelve hours.  If the
mother doesn't have any, use frozen colostrum saved from a ewe with a
single lamb, or colostrum from goats or cows.  

7.  How can I tell if a birth isn't going right?

If a ewe has been in labor for four hours without dilating enough to
deliver a lamb, if the lamb appears in an unbroken amnion, or if you
see indications of a presentation other than the normal two front feet
and the nose of the lamb together, the ewe may need help.

If the cervix of the ewe remains tight after prolonged labor, careful
manual massage may help, or she may need an injection of Oxytocsin to
induce contractions and to relax the cervix.

If a lamb appears in an unbroken amnion, use a fingernail to gently
break the the sack AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.  The danger is that the
lamb will take a breath inside the sack and drown.

If the presentation of the lamb is wrong, you will need to help.  Make
sure your fingernails are cut short, put on one or two long obstetric
examining gloves, and lubricate your gloved hand and arm in warm water
with dissolved Ivory soap, or with an obstetric lubricant.  The ewe
should be on her back or her side, with an assistant holding her back
legs.  Even ewes who are normally shy are often cooperative when
you're helping them with lambing, but you want to hold her still.
Ease up when she has a contraction, so you aren't fighting her; the
contractions are strong enough to clamp hard on your arm.  You will be
working by feel, so try to imagine what is connected with what as you
_gently_ work your fingers up the vaginal canal.

Some situations are relatively easy.  If one leg and the head present,
you can usually turn the lamb slightly and ease one shoulder out.  If
the lamb is in breech position (fanny first), hurry it out so it
doesn't drown in amniotic fluids when the cord breaks.  If the
presentation is head first without the front legs, gently push the
head back in and sort out the hooves so they come out the canal with
the head.  Sometimes twins are tangled.  Gently and sort out the twin
closest to the cervix into a proper presentation.  It's a good idea
for a person with a relatively small hand to do the job.  Above all,
be _gentle_.  Some presentations, like a transverse lamb at the
cervix, are jobs for an experienced vet.

If you have intervened, even with a sterile glove, you probably want
to give the ewe either a uterine antibiotic bolus or an injection of
Penicillin afterwards.

8.  What medications do the ewe and lamb need after birth?

Ewes are susceptible to worms after lambing, and should be given a
dose of wormer the next day.  If you had to intervene to assist the
birth, the ewe may need an antibiotic series.  If the afterbirth isn't
expelled within twelve hours, you may want to give the ewe an injection
of Oxytocsin.

Local conditions will determine what, if any, medication the lambs
need.  If you didn't dip the navel in iodine immediately after birth,
you may want to give the lambs a precautionary injection of
Penicillin.  If your pastures and feed are selenium-deficient, and
you've had lambs develop white-muscle disease, you may want to inject
lambs with BOSE (Selenium & vitamin E supplement).  If you've had
pneumonia problems with lambs, you may want to administer PI-3, a
nasal vaccine approved for cows, at birth.  If the ewes weren't
vaccinated with CD/T before lambing, you should vaccinate the lambs
early; otherwise, wait until the lambs are at least a month old before
their first vaccination with CD/T.  The tetanus part of CD/T may only
be necessary if you have equines on your farm or other indications of
tetanus.

A few days after birth, and before the lambs are out of the lambing
pens, you will want to do the tails, ear tags or tatoos, and possibly
castrate ram lambs that are not going to be bred.

9.  How long should the lambs and mothers stay in the lambing pens?

A veteran with a strong single lamb could come out after twenty-four
hours.  Rookies, and ewes with multiple lambs, should stay in for two
or three days, until the ewes have thoroughly bonded with their lambs.
Sometimes, if you let them out early, the lambs can get lost, or ewes
can forget their lambs in the rush for feeders.  You might have to put
them back for another day or two.

After the ewe and lambs leave the pen, clean it out as much as
possible, lime thoroughly with hydrated lime, and rebed with fresh
straw before the next tenants move in.

10.  What do I do with orphans?

Lambs without mothers, or whose mothers don't have enough milk for
them, can be raised on milk-replacer.  For the first twelve hours, the
lambs should have only colostrum.  Then, one option is to put them in
a pen with free-choice cold milk-replacer from a bucket with nipples.
The other choice is to feed warm milk-replacer from a bottle, which
will allow the lamb to stay with its mother, who may have some milk.
The lamb may learn to sneak milk from other mothers too.  For the
first few days, the lamb shouldn't get more than four ounces per
feeding, six times a day.  You can then gradually increase the amount
and decrease the number of feedings per day.  After two weeks, two or
three bottles a day is plenty.  Baby bottles work best for little
lambs.  Later, beer or soda bottles with lamb nipples are fine.  More
than 12-16 ounces in a feeding is likely to induce scours.  Unless you
like chasing lambs all hours of the night with a bottle, encourage
bottle babies to eat grain and leafy alfalfa in the creep as young as
possible, so you can wean them early.

Some lambs need a little help but not a complete bottle regimen.  The
runt of triplets, or even of twins, may need a bottle or two a day to
keep up.  You can usually see when one lamb isn't getting a fair
share; hungry lambs are often hunched up, they cry; if they're really
hungry, their mouths will be cold.  Sometimes a bottle or two will get
them going again, or they may need a bottle or two a day.

11.  What care do lactating ewes need?

A good ewe pours so much of the nutrition she consumes into milk that
it is difficult for her to maintain her weight.  You want to give her
energy-rich grain, a pound a day for ewes with singles, as much as two
pounds per day for ewes with twins and triplets, the highest protein
hay you have, such as good leafy alfalfa or early-cut timothy, and
plenty of clean fresh water.  If you're lambing in late spring, the
ewes may do fine on fresh pasture.  You should also check the udders
of the ewes daily, watching for signs of mastitis.  A hot red bag, or
a cold blue bag, are bad signs.  If you detect mastitis, treat as soon
as possible with antibiotics, both systemic and applied directly by
teat infusion.  It may help to milk out a bad teat.

12.  Why do ewes need help lambing?  Wild animals do it without help.

Sheep aren't wild animals anymore.  The sheep we raise have been bred
to produce multiple-births and big, fast-growing lambs.  Most of the
time, they can give birth without help, and do a marvelous job of
taking care of their lambs.  When the lambs are too big, or if there
are more lambs than the mother's milk can support, we help out.  In
return, we get the pleasure of watching the miracle of birth and one
of the strongest and loveliest bonds in nature.
-- 

				Ronald Florence
				[email-masked]