Does anyone need any Sheep Help!!!!!!!!!?

[Davy]

if any of you have a few sheep and need advice about them just ask me as my dad farms sheep about 170 ewes and i have learnt a lot over the years about them.

[red]

thanks Davy - thats good to know.
I would be interested in your opinion on triplets.

Last year one of our ewes had triplets. Sadly two died in teh first week. I asked a lot of people what we should do if we have triplets - and am still asking as I know they often have them again, if they manage it once!
- see the most common advice is to take one of the lambs away and get another ewe to adopt it.. but we only ahve 3, and last time the other two did not lamb.. so that would nto have worked.

the other advice I have had a lot is to pick the weakest, bang it on the head, and let the others carry on.. I'm not so keen on this idea ...

So - the remaining options seem to be
remove one and rear it by hand
top all three up with extra bottle milk

what do you think is best?

[red]

thanks for the pm advice Davy

[Camile]

Hell,

I was wondering if you could pass on Davy advices on the forum ?

because one of my ewes just had triplets and want to make sure to do the best I can ..

Thanks,
Camile

[red]

Camile - i dont spose Davey will mind me quoting from his pm, no need for it to be in a pm anyways..

to be honest we have about 20 or so triplets born every year but only about five sets make it to the field together because often we put the strongest one on to a ewe with one lamb as the strongest will have the best chance of fighting for milk against the single. if i was you since you only have 3 ewes i would in the case of triplets let them all stay together if the ewe is a good mother with plenty of milk and if you see one looking a bit starved try it with a bottle. the lamb might not take to the bottle right away so come back 1 hour later and try it, if it dosen't suck after about 1 day providing it got it first milk already you may have to stomach feed it but only do this a maximum of 2-3 times. we have a ewe with only one tit working and every year successfully rares 2 very strong healthy lambs. don't forget if the three lambs survive with the one mothher when the get about 1.5 - 2 months old start feeding them meal to help them on their way. i'm not a fan of killing sheep either i would rather help them or let nature take its course. i hope this is helpful.

we were all ready this year, but she had twins this time round, and they are so much healthier than last years. I would personally aim to keep the lambs with the mother, but top up with extra milk, until they were eating grass at the very least. if you did take one away - some say yiou should take the strongest as it has th best chance of survivinv being bottle reared. I can also see the logic in leaving an even sized pair on the lamb.

[Camile]

Hi Red,

Thanks for the fast reply.

The advices I got locally leads to the same as yours there .. leave them with her and see how she gets on.

They were still wetish this afternon (13h30) when I went to check her .. and lucky for me the cattle farmer next door was there with me (he used to have plenty of sheep) so we made sure that the 3 of them got a good suck from the ewe.

She's a good mum (raised twins last year) and looks like she has a nice big udder.

They were still well tonight, we moved them in the cattle trailer tonight with plenty of straw to keep them nice and warm .. will check a bit later on tonight to bring a bit of food to the ewe again (rolled barley/wheat, whole oats and soya) .. plus some hay ..

s we will let her get on with them .. and keep an eye on them and complement their milk intake if needs be ..

and just one thought, does it have to be sheep milk to feed them ? or can I give them fresh unpasterised cow's milk ?

Thanks again,
Camile

[red]

you can buy replacement milk powder - you make up as per instructions.. thats the stuff i would use, unless they were very young when they would still need colostrum.. you can get replacer of that too - but its nothing like the real thing. I dont think they do too well with cows milk - there are recipes for making cows milk more like sheep, but buy the powdered milk if you can. or another shepherd might have some. I am fairly convinced now we lost the two last year because they were born so long after the first.. it was our and her first time, and we did not know there were more to come. That and the lamb that did survive was twice as big as the others.

I have had it explained to me since.. the ewe has two horns to her uterus, and in the case of twins you get one in each side. in the case of triplets you have one on one side and two in the other, so those smaller two are really like quads.. only getting a quarter of the blood supply etc.

The fact this is not your ewe's first year will help as her udder will be larger. i would be giving her extra rations too - high energy lick, molassed sugar beet feed, etc. but this is only an opinion.

Good luck and post a picture when you have time :)

[Camile]

Hello,

It's not all happy with lambs ..

my ewe had some triplets last wednesday and all was well, we made sure they all had a suck and all.

On thursday things were ok but 2 of them (the smallests) looked like they didn't have enough to drink, so I had to bottle feed them some colostrum replacements, and they had their shot of anti scour thingy.

The smallest ewe lamb took it fairly well and perked up fine, but the other one (ram lamb a tad bigger but weak) didn't.

Next morning, the ram was almost dead ... and the ewe lamb had scour, the 3rd one was a healthy as can be, and twice the size of the ewe.

Tried to warm up the ram with the hair dryer and all but he didn't make it. They also got a shot of antibiotics.

I had been adviced to bottle feed the ewe lamb and to keep her warm, so I did giving her 40ml every 3 hours. Fresh unpasterised cow milk, with a know of butter and an egg.

Next day we tried bringing her back to the ewe but the ewe is rejecting her !

we tried rubbing the lamb and myself on the ewe to try to get her scent on it, attached wool on the tail of the lamb, rubbed her against the other lamb, rubbed barley on the lambs ass, got the dog in with them to kick the maternal instincts .. with no luck ..

so I basically have to hold the ewe in the cattle trailer so that the ewe lamb can have a god feed on her, usually until the lamb looses interests and usually within 5/10 mn the lamb goes to sleep.

So far I feed her at 6am, 10ish am, 2ishpm, 7h30pm and last feed at 11pm.

Every now and then she has a tiny bit of scour, especially morning I think.

It's hard enough work, but the lamb is picking up well I think,although she is not as plumped and filled like the other lamb, she was getting a bit bouncy yesterday, and starting to nibble on things a bit, and is definitely lively enough when she is hungry.

Now is there anything else I should be doing ? should I top up her food or so ?

any ideas how long I will have to do that for ?

Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Camile

[JulieSherris]

Camile,

As you know very well, I can't help you with tips or advice - because it's you I come to for that!!

However, if you need any help 'doing' anything - at any time, day or night, give me a shout ok? You know how to get me & I'll make sure to check my messages - and I don't mean just the sheep - if you need any work done elsewhere whilst you're busy, then I don't mind getting my puny muscles out around your place while things are still fairly quiet here.

Good luck with everything though - chat soon
Julie & Andy

[red]

Camile - sorry its not going so well - triplets are not ideal - we lost two out of the three last year.

Sounds like you will just have to bottle feed the lamb and accept it - i still recommend buying lamb lac etc. it wont be long befreo the lmab is eating grass too and then you wont have as much work on your hands.

Good news that the ewe is looking after the one ok.

[Camile]

Hi REd,

I just came back from feeding her with a bottle this feed .. using the milk replacer .. and gave her 150 ml because she's tiny .. next one in 3 hours time .. and so on .. being the same rhytme I was feeder her with the ewe.

does that sound about right ? she's a week old now ..

I don't have any trouble giving her the bottle ... but at least she got mostly her mums milk for the first week .. so she should be off to a good start .

Thanks again everyone for you help.
Camile

PS Julie: thanks for the offer, I'll manage I'm sure .. but give us a shout if you want to come and see them .. next feed in 2h30 ..

Camile

[Annpan]

Just my totally un-qualified opinion but....

150ml sounds like very little, and every 3 hours sounds very often..... I don't know about sheep but a bottle fed 2 week old baby (human) would get about that every 4 hours... But I would have thought a sheep would need a lot more.

Is there guidance on the replacement milk pack?

From my bottle feeding experience, I would make up more (about 200 -250ml) and begin to extend the time between feeds a little - if only to give you a little more freedom to get other chores done. I'd imagine they are somewhat like humans and will take what they need, I would be inclined to offer more that you think they need and she will stop when she has had enough.


I repeat again this is totally unqualified, but I know how much 150ml is and I know how bouncy a week old lamb is.... it just doesn't sound enough...



Good luck.

[red]

I'm afraid im not really sure how much to give the lamb, or how often - I'm sure there are some guides on the web - and on the milk replacer. But I would make up some and see how it goes - really depends on the lamb - dont force feed it though.. as you can run into the risk of bloat with over feeding. little and often is the way forward.

Given she is a week old now - and as you say had mums milk to start, she stands a good chance.

[JulieSherris]

PS Julie: thanks for the offer, I'll manage I'm sure .. but give us a shout if you want to come and see them .. next feed in 2h30 ..

Camile

I'll see you just after 4 then....if you need anything bringing, let me know - I'd best chop some wood now then & save myself a job later on!

[JulieSherris]

And how cute is this little fella then?



Camile - link to all 5 pix.....
http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t62/ ... my%20Lamb/

Make sure you take some pix of the little girl as well - see you soon