For inturned eyelashes, which I had on a lamb today, you must pinch the lower eyelid, and gently roll the eyelashes out of the lambs eyes with the thumb. However, once this has been done it is important to keep an eye on the lamb to ensure that the eyelashes do not return to their inturned position.
A lamb that I delivered today appeared to be dead, but on instruction from the Shepard I opened the lambs mouth and pulled the tongue forward. When I had done this I gave a sharp blow in the direction of the lambs mouth to stimulate the breathing-which in this case worked.
If a ewe has only a single lamb and plenty of milk, it is important to try to get another lamb onto her, from a ewe who may not have enough milk. This requires the lamb being given to the single ewe to be wet, both to remove the smell of its own mother, but also allow the fluid from the single ewe to stick, making her more likely to accept the lamb. The best way to ensure that the lamb is properly covered, is to place some sheeting underneath the ewes rear end to catch the fluid. The lamb can then be rubbed in this fluid ensuring that it is thoroughly covered. The Shepard told me that the two most important areas to ensure are well covered are the head and the rear end of the lamb, under the shoulders, where the ewe nuzzles the lamb. The head is thoroughly covered by pushing it back into the ewe. This makes her less likely to reject the lamb.
An interesting case today was a ewe who was clearly pushing on, but was having difficulty delivering the lambs. On an internal inspection the first lamb of the pair was in the right position but despite the ewe pushing was not coming. I therefore tried to pull both legs, but the ewe was extremely tight, meaning this was very hard. So I decided to construct a string pulley which I was able to tie around the lambs leg and this allowed enough leverage to deliver the lamb. The second lamb was delivered easily, but unfortunately they were both dead. The ewe had also delivered the lining of the womb, and so this was potentially dangerous for her, meaning that it was important to segregate her from the other ewes in the barn, so that she could be monitored as delivering the womb lining can often mean death for the ewe.
On my rounds around the lambing pens I noticed that a lamb was dead. The Shepard asked me to bring the lamb outside, where he carried out a postmortem. The right hand front shoulder was broken, to allow the ribs to be opened after being cut through. This allowed a clear view of the lambs insides. On inspection, it was clear that there was two potential causes of death. The large intestines were extremely green which led the Shepard to believe that an infection had been administered with an injection that may have penetrated too far into the lamb, piercing the intestines.
However it was also clear that the lamb had only one functioning lung, with only a flap of tissue were the other lung was supposed to be. This allowed me to have a real insight into the anatomy of the sheep, which I found really interesting.
Lambing has been a fantastic experience, and something that I will always remember. The amount that I was able to learn in my time with the shepard was amazing. Having not done any farmwork before, I have become much more confident around farm animals and can't wait to do more in the future.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Today at the farm began with castration of the young male lambs. This is done by attaching a rubber castration ring to the scrotum, ensuring that both testicles are in the area that will drop off. If one testicle remains the young lamb will be able to mate and cause problems, therefore it is essential that this is carried out carefully to ensure that it is performed effectively.
There are a few important reasons to castrate lambs. These include ensuring that they are not aggressive towards other lambs as they grow and mature, so that they grow more quickly and so that the meat quality is greater. This is due to the fact that there will be less testosterone interfering.
Tail docking is carried out in the same way, with the ring placed approximately 2/3 of the way up the tail. This helps to prevent the tail from being covered in faeces, which could have the potential to cause infection.
The lambs at this point were also given a live vaccine against Orf. This swells up the mouth and surrounding area in the summer, and prevents the lamb from eating, which can effectively result in death. Therefore I scratched the vaccine onto the lamb’s armpit, ensuring that the skin was just broken. This gives them the disease under their armpit, but allows the lamb to build up immunity against the disease, so that it will not contract the disease in the summer.
Before the ewes were taken back out into the field, I gave them a wormer. This is administered by squirting two 25ml amounts into the ewe’s mouth. This kills any worms that may be in the gut, and they pass out with the faeces.
Today I realised the importance of maintaining clean conditions within the small holding pens and indeed in the barn itself. If blood and fluid from a ewe, which is infected with a particular disease or ailment comes into contact with another ewe then there is the distinct chance of the spread of infection. We therefore remove any fluids, and regularly completely muck out the pens, ensuring that the straw and hay removed is responsibly burnt. The pen is then sprinkled with a cupful of disinfectant, making sure that the risk of the spread of infection is kept as low as is reasonably achievable.
After the birth of a lamb, one of the jobs that I had to perform was taking a bottle of iodine, and placing the end of the umbilical cord into the bottle, tipping the bottle back, so that the entire umbilical cord and the area surrounding it was covered, this is essential to prevent any naval infections which may become a problem if this was not performed.
Also, one squirt of Spectam Scour Halt is given to each lamb, which is administered orally. This is for the prevention of bacterial neonatal disease (Watery mouth disease) in lambs at risk of colostrum deprivation.
Today I was able to deliver 6 lambs. One in particular, a single, was extremely large, and required, large amounts of lubricant to allow the front legs and head to have enough leverage for the lamb to become free of the uterus.
Since this was only a single, a free knocked off lamb was rubbed on, as the ewe had plenty of milk. To do this it is important to ensure that the lamb is covered completely in the scent of the other lamb, so that the ewe will not reject it and recognise it as its own. A rubbed on lamb must be kept an eye on to ensure that the mother does not knock it off. So regular checks must be carried out, to ensure that the lamb is getting enough milk.
Another delivery that I dealt with today was a ewe that appeared to be delivering normally, however on an internal inspection, although two legs could be felt, there appeared to be no head! However on a second inspection the head had been turned round completely over the lambs shoulder, so it was important, that before the legs were pulled any further that the lamb was pushed back, so that the head could be turned into its normal frontal position and pulled forward along with the front feet. This allowed the delivery to take place normally without any further complications.
However, one of the most important things that I have learnt whilst lambing recently is that patience is one of the most important qualities- not rushing the ewes is very important and will only succeed in worrying them.
There are a few important reasons to castrate lambs. These include ensuring that they are not aggressive towards other lambs as they grow and mature, so that they grow more quickly and so that the meat quality is greater. This is due to the fact that there will be less testosterone interfering.
Tail docking is carried out in the same way, with the ring placed approximately 2/3 of the way up the tail. This helps to prevent the tail from being covered in faeces, which could have the potential to cause infection.
The lambs at this point were also given a live vaccine against Orf. This swells up the mouth and surrounding area in the summer, and prevents the lamb from eating, which can effectively result in death. Therefore I scratched the vaccine onto the lamb’s armpit, ensuring that the skin was just broken. This gives them the disease under their armpit, but allows the lamb to build up immunity against the disease, so that it will not contract the disease in the summer.
Before the ewes were taken back out into the field, I gave them a wormer. This is administered by squirting two 25ml amounts into the ewe’s mouth. This kills any worms that may be in the gut, and they pass out with the faeces.
Today I realised the importance of maintaining clean conditions within the small holding pens and indeed in the barn itself. If blood and fluid from a ewe, which is infected with a particular disease or ailment comes into contact with another ewe then there is the distinct chance of the spread of infection. We therefore remove any fluids, and regularly completely muck out the pens, ensuring that the straw and hay removed is responsibly burnt. The pen is then sprinkled with a cupful of disinfectant, making sure that the risk of the spread of infection is kept as low as is reasonably achievable.
After the birth of a lamb, one of the jobs that I had to perform was taking a bottle of iodine, and placing the end of the umbilical cord into the bottle, tipping the bottle back, so that the entire umbilical cord and the area surrounding it was covered, this is essential to prevent any naval infections which may become a problem if this was not performed.
Also, one squirt of Spectam Scour Halt is given to each lamb, which is administered orally. This is for the prevention of bacterial neonatal disease (Watery mouth disease) in lambs at risk of colostrum deprivation.
Today I was able to deliver 6 lambs. One in particular, a single, was extremely large, and required, large amounts of lubricant to allow the front legs and head to have enough leverage for the lamb to become free of the uterus.
Since this was only a single, a free knocked off lamb was rubbed on, as the ewe had plenty of milk. To do this it is important to ensure that the lamb is covered completely in the scent of the other lamb, so that the ewe will not reject it and recognise it as its own. A rubbed on lamb must be kept an eye on to ensure that the mother does not knock it off. So regular checks must be carried out, to ensure that the lamb is getting enough milk.
Another delivery that I dealt with today was a ewe that appeared to be delivering normally, however on an internal inspection, although two legs could be felt, there appeared to be no head! However on a second inspection the head had been turned round completely over the lambs shoulder, so it was important, that before the legs were pulled any further that the lamb was pushed back, so that the head could be turned into its normal frontal position and pulled forward along with the front feet. This allowed the delivery to take place normally without any further complications.
However, one of the most important things that I have learnt whilst lambing recently is that patience is one of the most important qualities- not rushing the ewes is very important and will only succeed in worrying them.
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