This spring's lambing was unusually difficult. My "never have a problem" ewe had triplets early one morning before chores; one live, one dead but licked clean, and one left inside breech with its head tucked under the hooves. I have not developed any skill at pulling lambs and my self-confidence is zero. It has seemed to be my luck that the poor presentations in which I am required to assist are truly bizarre presentations that even boggle the vet when I can finally get him here to pull the lambs (that is another story). I was devastated to lose two perfect ram lambs at a time when the polled Barbados Blackbelly gene pool is critically short.
Yesterday at noon, my final ewe showed definite pre-labor behavior. Separated from flock; restless; pawing ground; getting up and lying back down a lot. This is my oldest ewe and she has had stillborn lambs the past three lambings; I KNEW she would be a problem and wondered if this should be her last lambing season. I took Laura Lawson's lambing book (http://tinyurl.com/ywuaw) out with me to the barn to read while I watched; that time is well spent refamiliaring oneself with the various birthing problems and looking at the drawings she provides of the various positions the lamb can be in that prevent a normal birth. She went into hard contractions at 1:00 p.m. without fully dilating. Called three vets; nothing they could do because she hadn't dilated. 2:00 contractions are 5 minutes apart, but she still hasn't fully dilated (I could not get my hand through her cervix, only four fingers up to the knuckles). 3:00 and although I still can't get more than 4 fingers inside, I can feel a hoof in the birth canal. Now I'm really panicked, knowing that she has had past problems, and make one more call to the closest vet who suggests that I wait 30 minutes and if she still hasn't dilated to come in and get some estradiol to induce dilation. I went back to the barn to watch and the ewe broke water and had her first lamb within 30 seconds; I was watching and still missed the water break. Within 30 minutes the water bag for the second lamb appeared but no lamb. I go back inside her (obviously she is fully dilated now) and feel a jumble of body parts, none of which seems connected to any other part in such a manner to help me envision the presentation. I worked inside her for almost an hour, giving up at least 4 times and calling a vet only to learn that no one is available to come help. At 5:30 a vet finally shows up and figures out that the lamb is breech, upside down, and has its head turned sideways (no wonder I couldn't figure that one out). He turns the lamb in the uterus, gets her back hooves untucked and pulled into the birth canal, and pulls her out backwards. To my utter astonishment, the lamb is still alive...barely.
The lamb was severely oxygen starved during delivery and really didn't want to live but she was sort of breathing. The vet had me constantly stimulate the lamb, jiggling it, stroking it, literally roughing it up some. The ewe helped a lot by wanting to lick her lamb, so she and I took turns. The vet taught me a new trick to help the lamb clear its nose and lungs of liquid; you take a blade of straw and stick it up each nostril a little ways, causing the lamb to snort and sneeze. He also said that sometimes it helps to stick your finger in the lamb's ear and tickle. Anything to annoy the lamb and get it breathing and up onto its legs.
Now began the urgent need to get energy and nutrition into the lamb. Since the lamb was still too weak to stand by itself, the vet had me milk the ewe and feed an ounce of milk to the lamb via tube feeding. (I recommend you always have a stomach tube and large 160 cc syringe handy at lambing; you can get both from Premier at http://tinyurl.com/29df2 and http://tinyurl.com/3yxt8 respectively.) This gets the critical colostrum into the lamb and gives it some nutrition. In addition, I always give each newborn lamb a couple squirts of a product called Nutri-Drench (http://tinyurl.com/2npcb) to give it a quick (but not long-lasting) shot of energy.
By 7:00 p.m. the lamb was able to stand by itself. The ewe was still encouraging the lamb to get up and nurse, often pawing the lamb rather brutally to get it on its feet. I was able to get another ounce of milk into the lamb via a bottle with a Pritchard teat attached (http://tinyurl.com/yq7bs). At the vet's suggestion, I put a heat lamp up, even though the night was not expected to drop below 45F.
This morning, the lamb is well and staggering around pretty good. Unfortunately, it looks like the ewe is fed up fussing with this lamb and has rejected her. I'm going out every couple of hours to force the ewe to stand while the lamb nurses. If necessary, I will supplement with some Merrick milk replacer (http://tinyurl.com/2cc87). If all else fails and I see the lamb beginning to go downhill, then I'll bring her in and make a bottle baby out of her.
I hope that my description of these lambing problems helps those of you who may find themselves in a similar spot one day. I have given URLs (shortened to prevent long URLs from wrapping on the page and not working when clicked) to the products that I highly recommend every shepherd keep on hand. Blackbellies rarely need help and you may not need these items for years, but when you DO need them, it is too late to shop around.
Carol Carol Elkins Critterhaven Estate Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep (no shear, no dock, no fuss) Pueblo, Colorado http://www.critterhaven.biz T-shirts, mugs, caps, and more at the Barbados Blackbelly Online Store http://www.cafepress.com/blackbellysheep
=============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
