SHEEP EMERGENCY. Lamb wont feed

[boykin2010]

My 1 year old ewe delivered a little brown female this morning. The lamb will not feed and acts lethargic. She will stand up and i saw her running with the mom but i moved them to a lambing stall to make sure that the baby was nursing. I have yet to see the baby drink any milk or even act interested.
I decided to give mix some colostrum to give to her and she wouldnt suck on the nipple of the bottle. I had to get a syringe and squirt it in her mouth.
After she had the colostrum she is acting a little bit more energetic but still not right.
She still hasnt acted interested in drinking from the mom.

What should i do?

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

How does the belly feel on the lamb? We had a Boer kid that done something similar this year. Mama and kid bonded, but I did not witness the kid nurse until the next day. See if you stimulate it's nursing reflexes by holding the kid under her udder. If that doesn't help, keep a close eye on it. Sometimes it will get hungry enough and nature will finally take over and it will be fine.

Also, you may want to crush a vitamin b complex pill and give it to the lamb. Or Bo-Se, but you'll have to have a vet prescription for it.

You may want to post this on Backyardherds.com as well.

 

[boykin2010]

I did also post this on backyardherds. We held the lamb next to the mommas udder and she still didnt act interested.
What will the vitamin B do?
I dont know if we have any or not but if it will help i can get some.

 

[dewey]

Did the lamb get chilled at all? If the body temp is not right they will never eat. Hoping the best!

 

[dewey]

Just adding if it's been since this morning without nursing, the lamb is probably chilled now if it wasn't before. Is its mouth cold? They need to be warmed up before feeding it anything. Feeding a chilled newborn should never be done. Can you warm the lamb with a warm blow dryer? That's what we'd do with the goats.

 

[boykin2010]

Update:

We called a friend of ours who has sheep and she showed us how to tube feed her. It must have worked because we witnessed her nursing this morning. She still acts lethargic but a lot better than she was before. We felt of her mouth after she nursed and it was warm and wet which means she is getting milk. We also checked to make sure the mom had milk and she does. No the lamb did not get chilled. Yesterday it was about 75-80 degrees here when she was born. then she was put under a heat lamp that night.