Phil Scott DVM&S, DipECBHM, Cert CHP, DSHP, FRCVS offers advice ensuring the survial of newborn lambs Lamb deaths from birth to three day-old in the majority of UK flocks ranges from 10 to 25 per cent which represents 2 to 6 million dead lambs annually and is a great financial loss to farmers. In well-managed flocks the target perinatal lamb mortality figure should be less than 7 per cent; with 5 per cent achievable.

Factors affecting perinatal lamb mortality include:

  • Farm management especially nutrition has an effect on lamb birthweight and colostrum accumulation at lambing
  • Level of flock supervision
  • Infectious diseases

Optimum lamb birthweights for Suffolk ram used on Scottish Halfbred ewe are:

  • Single 5.5 to 7.0 kg
  • Twins 5.0 to 6.0 kg
  • Triplets greater than 4.0 kg

Lamb birthweights more than 1.0 kg lighter than those quoted above are strongly suggestive of chronic ewe undernutrition during late gestation. Hill breeds in the UK, will have birthweights 1 to 1.5 kg lighter than those stated above.

Lack of oxygen and trauma during the birth process can be a contributing factor to lamb losses. Typical are lambs with considerable swelling of the head after having been lodged within the maternal pelvis. Meconium staining of the fleece is an indication of a stressful birth and such lambs require special attention to ensure they suck quickly.

Ensuring the lamb’s best start in life: There are three critically important events which must happen to ensure that newborn lambs have the best chance of survival.

Lambs must be born into a clean environment to an attentive dam with a good colostrum supply. Poor hygiene standards can increase the prevalence of infections of lambs (watery mouth, joint ill, navel ill) and their dams (mastitis and metritis).

The lamb must ingest sufficient colostrum (200 mls/kg) during the first 24 hours of life, and 50 mls/kg within the first two hours.

Colostrum in the lamb’s abomasum immediately caudal to the costal arch can readily be detected by gentle palpation. This can be undertaken in the standing lamb or after the lamb has been held up by the front legs.

Abdominal distension does also occur in watery mouth disease but affected lambs are usually 24 hour-old. If the lamb has not sucked colostrum then some assistance is necessary and various methods are employed:

  • Restrain the ewe and gently put the ewe’s teat into the lamb’s mouth at the same time as gently expressing some colostrum onto the lamb’s tongue to encourage sucking.
  • Sit the ewe on to her hindquarters and lay the lamb on its side, then put the teat into the lamb’s mouth at the same time as gently expressing some colostrum onto the lamb’s tongue to encourage sucking.
  • Encourage the lamb to suck colostrum stripped from either the dam, another ewe, or bovine colostrum from a bottle and teat
  • Administer colostrum stripped from either the dam, another ewe, or bovine colostrum via a stomach tube. Colostrum is very viscous and it may prove necessary to dilute the colostrum with warm water so that it will easily flow through the stomach tube. Alternatively, a 50 to 60 mls syringe can be filled then discharged through the stomach tube.

Ingestion of colostrum is the single most important event in the lamb’s life. Antibodies in colostrum can give specific protection against clostridial and other diseases, as well as non-specific immunity. Colostrum is an essential source of energy, minerals and vitamins, as well as possessing laxative properties.

The navel must fully immersed in strong veterinary iodine BP within the first 15 minutes of life, and this procedure repeated at least once two to four hours later.

Treatment of comatose lambs less than six hour-old: Coma should not arise in lambs less than six hour-old unless the lambing flock has suffered adverse weather conditions.

These do not require intraperitoneal glucose injection because the lamb is born with considerable reserves which can be mobilised to produce glucose.

The lamb in a placed in a warming box with the thermostat set at 45C. Colostrum should be stomach-tubed at a rate of 50 mls/kg once the lamb has been warmed and can maintain sternal recumbency. If there is insufficient ewe colostrum, it is possible to use cow colostrum pooled in advance from more than four dairy cows previously vaccinated with a multi-component sheep clostridial vaccine preparation. Proprietary colostrum supplements are available but are costly.

Treatment of comatose lambs more than six hours-old: Diligent flock supervision should quickly detect all hungry lambs which can then be fed and should recover uneventfully long before becoming comatose. This crisis can be corrected by intraperitoneal injection of 25 mls of 20 per cent glucose solution followed by placing the lamb in a warming box with the thermostat set at 45C. It is essential that the intraperitoneal injection is administered before the lamb is placed in the warming box. The lamb must be regularly checked if the box does not have a thermostat to prevent overheating.

The lamb is suspended vertically by the front legs. The 19 gauge 25mm long needle is introduced through the body wall two to three cm to the side of the navel and two to three cm caudal. The needle point is directed towards the lamb’s tail head. The solution is slowly injected in to the body cavity once the needle has been introduced up to the hub. The recovery of hypothermic and hypoglycaemic lambs takes 30 to 60 minutes.