We had a baby lamb Thursday night begin convulsing and throwing her head backwards, she lost the use of her legs within 20 minutes, and her breathing was labored. Did I mention she was only three days old? We began flipping through books looking for what could be causing this. Listeriosis came up again and again. We called dad to see what he thought and within minutes he came down with medication for us to use. We gave her a shot, but didn’t have a lot of hope for the little girl’s survival. Randy checked on her before bed and she seemed to settle down a bit, but it still was not looking good.
The next morning Randy went out to check on everyone and do chores. When he came back in he told me the lamb was up walking, no head tossing, and looked perfectly fine. Huh? I went out to have a look. Her breathing was still a little labored, so we gave her one more shot. She seems to be back to normal now. What a miracle! We never thought she would make it through the night. I stayed home (partially due to icy roads) and kept a close eye on her for an entire day just to make sure. Every hour I bundled up and headed to the barn to check on her and all our expectant mothers.
You can read about Enterotoxemia (Overeating Disease). Our lamb had Type C Enterotoxemia. It typically takes less than two hours to strike the lamb dead and most sheep owners just find a dead lamb and never know the cause of death. Scary stuff.
I went out late last night to take pictures and my batteries were dead. Surprise, surprise! Does anyone else struggle with rechargeable batteries not staying charged very long? I love to be environmentally friendly, but these batteries are testing my patience.
Hope you all have a wonderful day!
A Simple Prairie Life 