|
"The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. The world and those who dwell therein." Psalm 24:1
MeatSheep.org newsletter View Our Newsletter Archives:
December '03 Newsletter -- Famacha Works!/Zinc/Show Lambs |
||
|
In December we lambed out almost 100 mature ewes. This lamb crop was really something! The lambs out of our St. Croix ram "Sterling" were easy lambing and yet had good size. He gave us 75% ewe lambs and the lambs were vigorous and up and nursing quickly. At 60 days old the weaning weights averaged 42 pounds.
The hardest part about lambing are the late nights. We
keep the ewes One of our ewes was in labor for several hours with a small "bubble" sticking out the back end. She strained and struggled and we got her in the barn to take a look. During palpation we discovered two legs, upside down, and a tail. This means (obviously) that the lamb is coming backwards, also known as a "breech birth." We like to get a breech lamb out right away because the umbilical cord breaks while the lamb's head is still inside. When the cord breaks the lamb may try to gasp for air, and instead breathe in fluid. We pulled the lamb quickly and held him upside down for a couple of minutes, immediately removed mucous and fluid from around his nose and mouth and allowed the ewe to lick his face. After clearing the mucous, opening the mouth enables the lamb to breathe more easily than through the nose. When the lamb was breathing well we laid him down and palpated again to see what was going on with the next lamb. Sure enough -- there was a tail and hind legs. The second lamb came out very fast when pulled, but just the same, we held him upside down, quickly wiped his nose and mouth and made sure he was breathing well before we laid him down. We milked the ewe and fed the lambs12cc of colostrum right away and gave Survive! from Hunter Nutrition. We watched over them until they were up and nursing. This care was well worth the effort because these ram lambs grew into fine market lambs.
After lambing, a few of the
ewes had a temperature over 102
We have groups of ewes lambing most of the year, so by the time Feeding Bottle Lambs One of the most distressing events in the life of a shepherd is a lamb without enough to eat. The shepherd, ever watchful, will be standing at the gate looking over the flock thinking what lovely things sheep are and here comes a humped up lamb looking sickly. Most of the time this is a sign of starvation which means the lamb has been rejected or the ewe is short on milk. The shepherd will have the following items ready for such an event: 1. Merrick's Super Lamb 2. Pritchard Nipples 3. plastic Coke bottles 4. Vet RX nasal drops (Jeffers) 5. heating pad 6. tube feeder 7. Survive! (Hunter). When spotted right away starved lambs will bounce back quickly with supplemental feeding. The hardest part with these lambs is getting them to nurse from the bottle. A stupid lamb who would rather starve than eat from a rubber nipple can drive a shepherd to drink, but be patient and keep trying. You may need to confine the ewe and lamb so you can get your hands on the lamb several times per day. If you find a lamb in a weakened condition unable to stand, get him to the barn quickly. We use a finger in the mouth as an indicator of the temperature of the lamb. The temperature should be a little warmer than your finger. (A normal lamb temperature is 101 to 102.) A cool mouth is an indication of starvation and means the lamb must be wrapped in the heating pad immediately. Feed the lamb milk replacer with a feeding tube or a 3cc syringe (without needle). Many shepherds use feeding tubes with great success but we prefer the syringe method of feeding. With the syringe the lamb has to swallow the milk, ensuring that the milk ends up in the stomach and not the lungs. Squirt a small amount of warm milk replacer in the mouth. Feed 6cc right away. (Some advocate not feeding the lamb until it is warmed. We have not had a problem with feeding while the lamb is chilled.) If the lamb can't swallow then use the tube feeder. Give the recommended amount of Survive!. If you hear a rattle in the chest put a few drops of Vet RX in each nostril. (It's like the "Vicks Vapo-Rub" our Moms used at the first sign of a runny nose or chest rattle. My Mom rubbed that stuff on my chest and back, and stuck some under my nose for extra added protection.) If the chest rattle persists you may want to give LA200. Here are a few tips in raising bottle lambs: A milk replacer made specifically for lambs is an expensive product but will pay off in pounds gained. We've used the milk replacer for goats but the lambs don't do well on it. If possible, it's best to leave the lamb out in the field and care for it there. Sometimes the ewe needs a little time to get her milk production up and the lamb will help her do that by continuing to nurse. If and when the ewe is able to care for the lamb, the bond will not be broken. The weak lambs should be returned to the pasture and cared for there as soon as they are active and healthy. In a short period of time your bottle lambs will be your best buddies, like it or not. You can wean the lambs at six weeks but they must be well started on grain or have some good pasture. At eight weeks you can cut the lambs down to one feeding for a week or so, and then it's cold turkey. Don't fall for the sobbing and plaintiff little cries when you show up empty handed. They'll pull that for months and you'll be spending more money than needed. Years ago we had a ewe with quadruplets who died. We had no nursing ewes for grafting so we raised the four lambs. Two were ewes and they are currently in the flock. "Frosty" has triplets at lambing and "Frosty Look-a-Like" has twins every lambing. Bottle lambs can become productive members of the flock, making up for the extra time and money spent in caring for them. You can always count on them to come running when they see you, with the entire flock following behind. This always impresses our city friends but drives us crazy if we're trying to get out the gate with the tractor.
Jefferslivestock.com.
is a good place to go to get sheep meds and supplies. Dr.
Jeffers makes himself available and has experience with sheep.
If you have questions call him at 1-800-533-3377.
Show Lambs and the Meat Sheep Breeder Beyond question the best junior show project for beginners is the market lamb. However there are serious problems inherent in growing and preparing lambs for the showring. These problems can only be overcome by careful and knowledgeable management. Perhaps the greatest problem is properly feeding the lamb. In Florida, youth programs usually require that the student take ownership and begin feeding and caring for the lamb during the month of December about 90 days before the youth fair in late February or early March. Therefore, coldest months of the year are the key months for growing and fitting the lamb. If the lamb breeder has done his job, the lamb will be in excellent growing condition with just a little fat covering over the back, but little fat over the ribs. Because there is little fat, the lamb must be fed enough to keep warm and to grow. This requires more feed than during the warm season. Not only must the lamb be fed more due to weather conditions, but it must be fed enough high quality, fresh feed to continue its growth pattern toward the frame size and weight of the breed type. Finally, it must be fed enough to develop a fat layer over the back and ribs so that it is in market condition. This requires a financial outlay. Fortunately it is much less of a financial burden than a pig or steer. However, the lamb will eat up to 350 pounds of concentrate at a cost of perhaps 15 cents per pound. Weather conditions sometimes require that extra feed be available to the lamb for a few days. When the temperature falls below 40 degrees the animal may require up to 1/3 more feed. The lamb also needs more water in these conditions. Add an ounce of salt to the feed to stimulate the lamb's appetite for water. Consider a wind break behind which the lamb can lie to avoid the wind chill factor. Keep the animal growing in weight and frame size until it reaches 90% of the desired weight. Then decrease the feed to a maintenance level and hold the lamb at its ideal weight. You should consult with the breeder of the lamb as to the ideal breed weight when at market degree of fatness. Some youth exhibitors have mistakenly deprived the lamb of feed for the first 60 of the 90 days during which the lamb was being fitted for show. Because the breeder had sold them a lamb that was within 20 pounds of its ideal show weight on the first of December, the lamb was allowed to grow only 5 pounds before February 1. The youth planned to add the additional 15 pounds prior to the late February show date. Unfortunately, the lamb was in a stunted and unthrifty condition on February 1. The lamb's nutritional needs to live had been met. However the added calories needed to grow and fatten were withheld. When the time came to add more feed the lamb was sickened and unable to stand the increased calories. Having been starved for two months the lamb was now metabolically unable to resume the growth curve and fatten in the four weeks remaining. Eventually the lamb would make compensatory gains. But not in time for the youth fair. The moral of the story is, first, make the 90% of desired weight, then reduce the calories and hold the lamb at the proper degree of fatness. The best way to measure progress in lamb growing and fitting is a bathroom scale. One clever Central Florida youth mom came up with this idea: Place a two foot by three foot piece of half inch plywood over a bathroom scale and cut an oval hole in the plywood where the weight indicator is located. Stand the lamb on the plywood and read the weight when the lamb settles down. Remember to deduct the weight of the plywood. If you are preparing lambs to weigh 90 pounds at the show, they should reach that weight at least a week before the show date. Happy Shepherding!
|
|
|
