This Is What We Start With...

I know it's not pretty but this is what we start with when I get them just born. I wait until mom has licked most of the sacks and birth fluids off. That's a very important part of the bonding process. You can see how they would chill quickly as they are soaking wet. I rub them off with a towel, clip the umbilical cord with scissors dipped in Betadine, then dip the stump in the Betadine which I've poured into a pill container. I hold the lamb up against my stomach, belly facing out, and lean the pill container up against the stump so the whole area is covered. The cord is a direct conduit for germs to get into the lamb. This ewe had the twins in a dirty area of the barn and they show it. Once I get them toweled off the sweaters go on. This mom was very sensitive about her nipples and I had to get Matt up to hold her while I nursed her out. She tried to put her back foot in the little pot I use to collect the colostrum several times but I hold it very tightly. Then I use a 3cc syringe barrel to pour colostrum into the lambs. 3 cc is about a teaspoon which is just right. When I am drawing up more the lamb has time to swallow and take some breaths. If I put the colostrum into a bottle with a nipple, most of it would coat the bottle, it's so thick. This way the lamb gets more. The colostrum lights a fire in the belly and warms the lamb so it can get up and nurse sooner - vital for survival. In the wild only the lambs who get up and nurse quickly survive. I help the process because I don't want to lose any. When the lambs get their first belly full of this gooey stuff they calm down and shake a little, they are absorbing the antibodies the mom gives them. They have receptors lining their stomachs that aborb the antibodies with decreasing efficiency over 24 hours. After that, colostrum doesn't do any good. I leave all three alone and watch from afar. This new mom doesn't like the lambs fooling with her teats. I watch frustrated as the lambs dance around under her trying to nurse...and she runs from them! I can only hope she calms down after enjoying the fresh hay I've given her. I have warm molasses water in her dish, which gives her calcium, magnesium and potassium to boost her strength for nursing. She will only drink it when she is finished giving birth, one way to tell if more are coming.