One Stormy Night

by Lauerl
(Eula ,Texas,Challan county)

On the day our lamb was born it had been raining all day. My son had called me at work telling me that one of my ewes was sick and could not stand up. I had told him to put her in the barn. I thought that she might have an infection from losing a lamb earlier in the month. It had been about 3 weeks ago and I did not have a lot of hope that she would make it.

When I got home I went to the barn, she could not stand and was very weak. I had told my husband that she would not make it through the night,so we put her down. I was getting ready to pick her up when I felt a large lump just under her ribs, so we cut her open to find a lamb inside. It was almost folded in half. We thought it was dead, but then I saw it twitch.

We ran to the house and grabbed some towels and rubbed her dry put. We then put her in a plastic bin with some dry towels by the wood stove. I did not have any colostrum and her mother did not have any milk in her udder. I had some kitten formula so I mad a cup of that with a tablespoon of honey, feed her that while I called our Tractor Supply Store. They were getting ready to close, so I called my other son who lived in town to go get it, called the store back and they kept the doors open for him to get the colostrum that we needed.

I really liked reading your advice. I would like to pass on a note that sometimes when we had weak lambs that spoonful of honey with a little warm water made a big difference.It can be a source of quick energy for the lamb while you get you formula ready.

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What a wonderful story with a happy ending. We hope that your lamb made it after all that.

And yes, your are right, honey is a wonderful additive and for a quick boost of energy.

Thank you very much for writing in and sharing your farming experience with us all.