Follow these 6 points for newborn lamb care and you will have a high survival rate!

Newborn lambs have poor immunity and are very fragile. If care and management methods are improper, it is very easy for lamb deaths to occur. In fact, doing the following points well is enough. Follow these 6 points for newborn lamb care and you will have a high survival rate!

1. Umbilical cord disinfection

For many years, some lambs have contracted tetanus mainly because sheep raisers lack disease prevention knowledge. When assisting with lambing, they use unsterilized scissors to cut the umbilical cord or unclean thread to tie it off, and some even do not disinfect or tie the umbilical cord at all, allowing Clostridium tetani to infect the navel and cause disease. Therefore, after a lamb is born, the umbilical wound should be cleaned with 3% hydrogen peroxide, then the umbilical cord should be cut with sterilized scissors, tied tightly with sterilized thread 5 cm from the umbilical cord, and the umbilical end should be coated with 3% iodine tincture to kill pathogens. A lamb may also be given a subcutaneous injection of 1500 units of tetanus antitoxin to give the body automatic immunity.

2. Dehumidification and warmth

After the lamb is delivered, immediately use a clean cloth to remove and wipe dry the mucus from the mouth, nose, eyes and ears, and let the ewe lick the lamb dry all over. If the ewe is unwilling to lick it, sprinkle some bran on the lamb, or smear the mucus from the lamb onto the ewe's mouth to entice her to lick the lamb, and light a fire to warm the area, quickly drying the lamb's wool to keep it warm.

3. Rescue

When a lamb appears to be stillborn, immediately use a clean white cloth to wipe away dirt from its mouth and nostrils. If the lamb has inhaled mucus and has difficulty breathing, you can hold its hind legs and hang it up and pat its chest to make it spit out the mucus. If this is ineffective, place a rubber catheter into its throat and suction out the mucus. In cold weather, when a lamb is frozen stiff and cannot stand, while lighting a fire to warm the area, quickly bathe it in warm water at 38°C, gradually adding hot water to bring it to 40-42°C, soak for 20-30 minutes, then pull it out, quickly wipe it dry and place it in a warm place with a fire.

4. Nurse early

After a lamb is born, let it drink colostrum early to obtain higher maternal antibodies. The milk secreted by the ewe within 1 week after giving birth is called colostrum, and it is a very ideal natural food for newborn lambs. Colostrum is thick, high in nutrients, and contains a large amount of antibody globulin and rich mineral elements, which can increase the lamb's disease resistance and promote healthy growth.

5. Cold prevention and warmth

A lamb has just left the mother's body, and its thermoregulatory center is not yet fully developed. Spring weather is changeable, and if attention is not paid to cold prevention and warmth, it is very easy for the lamb to catch a chill and become ill. The lamb shed should be built in a place sheltered from the wind and facing the sun“”. Inside the shed, manure and urine should be removed frequently, dry soil bedding should be changed frequently, and it should be kept clean. More dry grass and dry soil should be spread where the lambs rest. In snowy and rainy cold weather, thick straw curtains should be added over the doors and windows of the lamb shed, and a fire should be lit for warmth. Also prevent rain from wetting the lambs, let the sheep spend more time outdoors during the day to receive fresh air and sunlight, and get more sun exposure to increase the content of vitamin D and cholesterol in the body, promote lamb bone development, enhance resistance, and create a clean and warm living environment for the lambs.

6. Timely supplementary feeding

In the first month, lambs mainly rely on breast milk for nutrition, but as age in days increases and stomach capacity expands, breast milk alone can no longer meet the nutritional needs of lamb growth and development, so supplementary feed must be provided in time. Starting at 15 days of age, provide supplementary feed, mainly high-quality fresh forage, hang fresh dry green grass in the air or let them feed freely. From 20 days of age, train them to eat feed: grind roasted beans, add several drops of sheep milk, mix with warm water into a paste, put it into the feed trough, and let the lambs sniff and eat freely, about 20 grams per day. In this way, they can learn to eat in 2-4 days, and afterward the starter feed can gradually be replaced with compound feed.

The above is Tuliu.com's introduction to lamb care and management, for everyone's reference only.