LIfe on the farm...
So far this season.
We have 16 lambs
We should have 24
(8 died)
Which is a significant amount
(Last year we had over 30 lambs, and only 2 died)
Some years are on years, some years are off.
But not only are the lambs dying this year, the ewes(mommy sheep) are dying too!
One just.....died, and we have absolutely no idea why. I just found her in the pen. She was pregnant.
The other one(Mitsubishi. She was abandoned by her mom as a lamb, so she was a house lamb for a large amount of time. She would lead on the leash like a dog, and knew tricks) got really sick right after she had twins(she lost both)... she stopped eating completely for 5 days. She stopped getting up. Dad and I's theory was that she hadn't cleaned out after her twins(all the ewwy gooey stuff!). All we could do was make her comfy and hope she'd get over it. We were giving her Penicillin shots daily to help out.
On Friday she was so sick, and we didn't think she was going to make it through the night. Saturday, I found her flat out and thought she was dead. She was barely alive. Dad carried her outside the pen(she'd lost a substantial amount of weight, and was really skinny at this time).
Dad had to do something about it. We couldn't leave her like that anymore.
So he did.
It was very upsetting.
I went down to the barn to do barn chores tonight, carrying my pail of hot water to thaw out the tap. I put down my pail of water and go to check on all the lambs(make sure no one's dead/in trouble)
BACK TRACK
Yesterday there was the CUTEST set of twins born. They both have crazy patterns of black and white on them. One's a girl and one's a boy. The boy is 1/2 the size of the girl, but he was the most ambitious one.
Back To The First Paragraph
I went over to the pen to see how the twins were doing, and the tiny lamb was flat out in it's side and not moving, but then I saw his little tummy move, so I picked it up, and carried it to the garage. I told dad I was taking him to the house(he did not look good at all.) The first thing out of dad's mouth was "He's not going to make it" (But if you don't know me, I'm a stubborn bitch)
That was at 7. It's now 9:59. I gave him a shot of Penicillin when I brought him inside. I slipped and stabbed myself in the hand with the needle as well.(Apparently I'm not the brightest crayon in the box around needles, heh.)
When I bring a sick lamb into the house, it's cold. Ears/nose/mouth/body...cold. Lots of rubbing/heat(from the heating pad and the electric stove) and warm milk(generally force fed for the first little bit, until their warmer and will drink on their own) usually gets them nice and warm. NOT THIS LAMB. He'll get nice and warm. I'll leave for 5 minutes. When I come back he's Freezing.
I've never had this happen before, and I have no idea other than continuous heat(without excessive heat and cooking him) and touch to keep him warm. He's still not drinking by himself(it's been 3 hours) and I've gotten next to nothing in him anyway.
There's been no change.
He's not dead, nor is he really alive.
I AM SO FRUSTRATED.
Dear lamby,
Please get better so I can go to bed and check on you in a few hours.
Thanks,
Lisa.
We have 16 lambs
We should have 24
(8 died)
Which is a significant amount
(Last year we had over 30 lambs, and only 2 died)
Some years are on years, some years are off.
But not only are the lambs dying this year, the ewes(mommy sheep) are dying too!
One just.....died, and we have absolutely no idea why. I just found her in the pen. She was pregnant.
The other one(Mitsubishi. She was abandoned by her mom as a lamb, so she was a house lamb for a large amount of time. She would lead on the leash like a dog, and knew tricks) got really sick right after she had twins(she lost both)... she stopped eating completely for 5 days. She stopped getting up. Dad and I's theory was that she hadn't cleaned out after her twins(all the ewwy gooey stuff!). All we could do was make her comfy and hope she'd get over it. We were giving her Penicillin shots daily to help out.
On Friday she was so sick, and we didn't think she was going to make it through the night. Saturday, I found her flat out and thought she was dead. She was barely alive. Dad carried her outside the pen(she'd lost a substantial amount of weight, and was really skinny at this time).
Dad had to do something about it. We couldn't leave her like that anymore.
So he did.
It was very upsetting.
I went down to the barn to do barn chores tonight, carrying my pail of hot water to thaw out the tap. I put down my pail of water and go to check on all the lambs(make sure no one's dead/in trouble)
BACK TRACK
Yesterday there was the CUTEST set of twins born. They both have crazy patterns of black and white on them. One's a girl and one's a boy. The boy is 1/2 the size of the girl, but he was the most ambitious one.
Back To The First Paragraph
I went over to the pen to see how the twins were doing, and the tiny lamb was flat out in it's side and not moving, but then I saw his little tummy move, so I picked it up, and carried it to the garage. I told dad I was taking him to the house(he did not look good at all.) The first thing out of dad's mouth was "He's not going to make it" (But if you don't know me, I'm a stubborn bitch)
That was at 7. It's now 9:59. I gave him a shot of Penicillin when I brought him inside. I slipped and stabbed myself in the hand with the needle as well.(Apparently I'm not the brightest crayon in the box around needles, heh.)
When I bring a sick lamb into the house, it's cold. Ears/nose/mouth/body...cold. Lots of rubbing/heat(from the heating pad and the electric stove) and warm milk(generally force fed for the first little bit, until their warmer and will drink on their own) usually gets them nice and warm. NOT THIS LAMB. He'll get nice and warm. I'll leave for 5 minutes. When I come back he's Freezing.
I've never had this happen before, and I have no idea other than continuous heat(without excessive heat and cooking him) and touch to keep him warm. He's still not drinking by himself(it's been 3 hours) and I've gotten next to nothing in him anyway.
There's been no change.
He's not dead, nor is he really alive.
I AM SO FRUSTRATED.
Dear lamby,
Please get better so I can go to bed and check on you in a few hours.
Thanks,
Lisa.