Oh no! Are you certain she broke her neck? Could it have been milk fever? It's caused by insufficient calcium, and could manifest itself 2 weeks after lambing. Abrupt changes in feed, a period without feed, or a drastic change in the weather at the end of pregnancy seem to increase the likelihood. Onset is sudden... the first signs of milk fever are excitability, muscle tremors, and a stilted gait. These signs are followed by staggering, rapid breathing, staring eyes, and dullness. The ewe then lies down and is unable to rise. In the final stages she slips into a coma and dies.

Since she had poor nutrition before she came to your place, and then probably a sudden change to good food, it could have triggered it. Once a ewe is comatose, I don't think she can be saved, but if you can help her before that point, she can be saved with calcium supplementation. Good luck with bottle raising that lamb, you might look around and see if anyone in your area has unpasteurized goat milk for sale, since it's better than the powdered milk replacer.

Julian

At 11:41 AM 3/10/2005, you wrote:
Well the first night with mama and baby in the coral
went very wrong.  In mamas attempts to escape she
(must have) run head first into the fence and broke
her neck.  I had to out put her down this AM.


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