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SHEEP-fed-barely-sprouting-fodders, page : 151
If this is your first lambing season you may not know what a lamb's normal feces should look like during the first few days of life. The following points might help you to catch the problem early on before it becomes serious.
1. The first day a lamb should pass a tarry substance that blocks the anus of a fetus, this is called Meconium. It usually passes quickly after a new born lamb nurses for the first time. However, there are times when it does not, and the outcome is constipation which has been discussed in a previous section of this chapter.
2. After this has been passed, the manure is yellow and pasty for about 2 days.
3. Thereafter it begins to take the color of regular sheep feces and begins to firm up. When a lamb reaches a week or 10 days it starts to pass pelleted manure.
Yellow scours:
One of the types of scours is what is called "yellow scours". It is the least serious type of diarrhea, but should not be left unchecked because it can have deadly consequences. Yellow scours can be confusing to a new shepherd, but remember a lamb's normal yellow feces are pasty and a pale yellow color and lasts for just the first day or two, whereas the identification of yellow scours feces is that it is runny having a greenish tinge.
Yellow scours is most likely to occur on account of overfeeding. It is a common problem with bottle-fed lambs, but can also occur in a strong lamb nursing from the plentiful supply of milk from its mother.
(If you are using a milk replacer for bottle feeding, be sure to purchase a good quality product that is made specifically for lambs and labeled as such. Its prime ingredient should be milk – many cheap milk replacers use soybeans etc, and these are a very poor substitute.)
If you are bottle-feeding, and have a problem, then substitute a day's feeding with oral electrolytes and no milk. You can make our own electrolyte solution as follows:
2 pints (1 liter) water
2 ounces (59.1 ml) dextrose (corn syrup)
Half teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
Quarter teaspoon (1.2 ml) bicarbonate of soda.
1. The first day a lamb should pass a tarry substance that blocks the anus of a fetus, this is called Meconium. It usually passes quickly after a new born lamb nurses for the first time. However, there are times when it does not, and the outcome is constipation which has been discussed in a previous section of this chapter.
2. After this has been passed, the manure is yellow and pasty for about 2 days.
3. Thereafter it begins to take the color of regular sheep feces and begins to firm up. When a lamb reaches a week or 10 days it starts to pass pelleted manure.
Yellow scours:
One of the types of scours is what is called "yellow scours". It is the least serious type of diarrhea, but should not be left unchecked because it can have deadly consequences. Yellow scours can be confusing to a new shepherd, but remember a lamb's normal yellow feces are pasty and a pale yellow color and lasts for just the first day or two, whereas the identification of yellow scours feces is that it is runny having a greenish tinge.
Yellow scours is most likely to occur on account of overfeeding. It is a common problem with bottle-fed lambs, but can also occur in a strong lamb nursing from the plentiful supply of milk from its mother.
(If you are using a milk replacer for bottle feeding, be sure to purchase a good quality product that is made specifically for lambs and labeled as such. Its prime ingredient should be milk – many cheap milk replacers use soybeans etc, and these are a very poor substitute.)
If you are bottle-feeding, and have a problem, then substitute a day's feeding with oral electrolytes and no milk. You can make our own electrolyte solution as follows:
2 pints (1 liter) water
2 ounces (59.1 ml) dextrose (corn syrup)
Half teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
Quarter teaspoon (1.2 ml) bicarbonate of soda.