lambing problems

[dfarms11]

I just watched one of my ewes lamb, and the lambs came out just about lifeless. They flung their heads around a couple of times and that was about it. I through a heat lamp on them but it didn't help. They were gone in less than an hour. Is it just still too cold in the barn for them? I never had this problem last year and it was even colder. Could there be some other problem that I am unaware of?

[cakadu]

I am so sorry to hear about your difficulties. It is always so hard when you loose babies.

To get a better idea of your situation, I'll ask a couple of questions and then we can see if we can come up with an answer for you.

Were they full term and normal size?
Was the mom eating and drinking okay prior to the delivery?
Is your area known to be selenium deficient?
Were there any lambing problems other than the ones you describe - did mom have difficulty - was she in labor for very long?

I hope we can be of some assistance to you. With a little more info, we might just be able to help. I've got a few sheep books around here that I can look in too, if need be.

[WoolyBear]

I have to agree with the other comments. A little more info would be nice.

I had a lamb once that had beem "a little too long in arriving" and was pretty sluggish too. We gave it a "wee dram" of wiskey, and that seemed to liven things up quickly. As a precaution this year, we started giving our ewe some liquid ADE in their water bucket (less than a $1.00) for 50 ewes once a week. We just held back their water for part of a day, and then watered them in the evening with the vitamin mix. When the lambs arrived they were generally up and sucking within 10 to 15 minutes. When it was cold, we would take the lambs into the porch, dried them off, Within an hour we would take them back to mom and it was off to the races.

[Muttley]

We only lamb a few and were done in mid December. This was our easiest lambing yet. All lambs were born healthy and only lost a couple from being born outside in the cold. This year we fed excellant hay and oats right into lanbing. One thing this year we did was made them walk lots to water and feed (lot's of exercise). We had no troubles, ewes cleaned fast, all lambs up on there own.
Next year we won't pamper our ewes again like in the past, I think it worked better.

[cakadu]

That is a very good point, Muttley. We have always tried to get the ewes to walk to their feed and water because it is good for them to get the exercise and at the same time not get too big.

There have only been 2 times in the last 10 years when we didn't do that and it was with our goats and not the sheep. The first time, we had does that were almost ready to kid and it was that winter that we had all that snow from about October on. Well, they couldn't get around so easy and there were about a dozen that we didnt' want to get toxemic on us.

The second time was to a single doe that we had carrying what turned out to be quads. The poor girl looked like she was carrying two bulldogs in a burlap sack and was right down on her pasterns when she walked. If she got laying down, it was just too tough for her to get back up again, so we took feed in to her. She delivered a healthy set of quads - each weighing 8 lbs or more, so no wonder the poor girl was in the shape she was in.

The closer the ewes get to lambing, the less room there is for lambs so the grain becomes more important because they just can't put enough hay in at one time.

dfarms, I hope that your difficulties are over and that we can be of some assistance in helping you to discover what caused this.

[dfarms11]

Well Thanks for replying. As far as I can tell all my ewes are in excellent shape. They get a crested wheatgrass/alfalfa blend hay which they have been fed every year since we got them. I would say yes to a selinium deficiency in our area just because everyone says that in all of central Ab. As near as I can tell they were full term, full size. I missed the first one but the second I watched and it was out in a matter of seconds which I thought was pretty amazing. I've seen a lot of calves born over the years, but this was my first lamb. I'm sure mom was eating well before, she didn't eat that mourning, but she knew she was going to lamb.

Anyway thanks for any advice and I hope this will be my last one like this!

[woolpuller]

You say you are in selenium deficient area, so do you give extra selenium, say in the sheep mineral?

[cakadu]

dfarms - do you have any idea how long she was in labor for? It sounds as though the lambs were very weak and it could have been the result of her trying to get them out.

Were there signs of lambing problems on the placentas or anything like that. Sometimes if there is any difficulty, there can be yellowish material on the placenta which can be a sign of dystocia or lambing trouble. If there is trouble, they can get fluid into the lungs and then it's pretty much game over.

Sadly, sometimes there is just no figuring out what went wrong, despite our having done everything that we could for them.

[dfarms11]

No I have not been giving extra Se which I am going to now. The lambs or the placenta was not yellow and I don't think she was in labour that long. I think I will be having another ewe lamb in less than a week so I will see how she does. If they turn out the same way, I think they will go to the vet. If good, chalk it up to a bad experience.