Well 12.30 and just got up to check on Lambey. She took the rest of her bottle and baa’ed at me when she heard me open the door. Time will tell.
We thought she looked a bit wobbly this morning and popped her in the barn whilst we took the remaining three outside. I made an appointment to take her to the vet which was good as she did seem to have gone down hill a bit when I got home. I thought it also might have given me a clue as to why No Name died. Lambey has a temperature and is very underweight. Her stomach is distended. Could be one of a number of things so she was given antibiotics and some pain killers and we need to worm her. She is more bright than No Name who could barely stand when we found her. I’ve put Lambey back onto milk to feed her up as we know that this should be full of nutrients that she should get quickly. She and No Name were by far the smaller of the five – could it be they weren’t getting their share of food – or does it mean they were more succeptable to illness?
It’s terribly sad when these little ones get ill and die, they seem very vunerable and it happens so quickly. With No Name she stood there hanging her head and just looked so very weak and ill. We know how quick it happens though, and we also know from watching Debbies sheep in our field that it happens quite a lot. However it is such a worry not to know whether what ever it is is going to go through the other lambs?
Of course I know that these are farm animals and not pets, and that in another life they would be getting fattened up for the table. And of course we were going to sell these and this was going to be our first income from our livestock, so we do need healthy lambs to be able to sell on.
Bob is still subdued but took him for a walk tonight and he kept up and enjoyed it, but came back and flopped again (by Lambey it was quite cute). I’m going to take him for a walk twice a day as he is not running around with the others and this isn’t helping his weight. Hopefully this will kick start his energy levels too. He’s sleeping downstairs tonight as he has been fidgeting and we need a good night’s sleep. Don’t think he is terribly happy about that!
We’re at the craft fare tomorrow (correct day this time!). Early start so hope for a good day.