Lamb Husbandry Flashcards
What can be useful during lambing?
Lambing ropes
Dystocia
Obstructed labour, usually 20 minutes
When to intervene
More than 30 minutes, if you can only see head or tail
How to care for a newborn lamb?
Dip naval in iodine to reduce tracking of bacteria into the abdomen and ensure the lamb is up and suckling within 30 minutes
Hungry lambs
Look gaunt, and quickly become weak, important for them to consume colostrum to help with the immune system
Lambs and hypothermia
Very susceptible to the cold as birthing coat has low insulation compared to the adult fleece, large SA to volume, increased heat loss- newborns are wet so high heat loss rate
Normal temp for a lamb
39 to 40 degrees, severe hypothermia under 37, need to get the lamb warm, dry and fed
What do you do in cases of hypothermia, less than 5 hours
Dry lamb and put in warming box, feed colostrum using stomach tube
What do you do in cases of hypothermia, more than 5 hours and holding head up
Feed colostrum using stomach tube
What do you do in cases of hypothermia, more than 5 hours and unable to swallow
Glucose injections into the stomach
Where are the injection sites on lambs?
Subcutaneous, scruff of the neck and behind/ in front of the shoulder or intramuscular front of the upper leg- quadriceps
Orphaned lambs
Generally triplets, if left on the ewe they are likely to die, can be hand reared or fostered onto another ewe,
Fostering orphaned lambs
Can babe big welfare implications, transferring of foetal fluids at time of lambing, can skin dead lambs and place skin on foster lambs or use foster crates
Tail docking
The surgical or non surgical removal of a large proportion of the tail
Why do we tail dock
Prevent accumulation of matted faeces, which could increase flystrike, also facilitates shearing
How do we tail dock
Rubber rings/ bands, cuts of blood supply so it drops off
Why is it not ideal to tail dock on the first day
Causes pain, may prevent bonding with mothers
Considerations of tail docking
Need enough tail to cover anis and vulva, rubber rings only applied within first 7 days, not all breeds need to be docked
Castratiom
Re,oval or alteration of the testes to render the male infertile
Why do we castrate
Avoid unnecessary breeding, hormones can effect testosterone levels
When and how do we castrate
Must be done under 7 days, how- rubber rings around the testes, tight band around the neck of the scrotum to cut off blood supply,
Welfare considerations
After 7 days, anaesthetic must be used, only done if necessary
Entropion
Presence of in turned eyelids, may effect one or both eyes causing the eye to weep can cause damage to the cornea, if untreated can cause ulceration or blindness
Selecting lambs for slaughter
Rib coverage- individual ribs are soft, detection of ribs means not enough fat cover
Dock coverage- individual vertebrae bones are easy to detect- light touch means there isn’t enough fat cover
