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Colostrum intake in newborn lambs is vital for three main reasons. Firstly, lambs are born with a limited source of energy (stemming from brown adipose tissue) and colostrum provides an excellent energy and nutrient source. Secondly, it acts as a laxative that rapidly cleans the lamb of any toxins. And thirdly, it has a hugely important role in providing lambs with a source of immunoglobulins (passive immunity from their dam) which act as a barrier to diseases present on the farm.
Colostrum intake in newborn lambs is vital for three main reasons. Firstly, lambs are born with a limited source of energy (stemming from brown adipose tissue) and colostrum provides an excellent energy and nutrient source.
Secondly, it acts as a laxative that rapidly cleans the lamb of any toxins. And thirdly, it has a hugely important role in providing lambs with a source of immunoglobulins (passive immunity from their dam) which act as a barrier to diseases present on the farm.
Getting colostrum into lambs can be a challenge for numerous reasons, such as lambs born weak or delayed in suckling, lambs experiencing a hard lambing or ewes with large pendulous udders and teats that restrict suckling or blind teats, for example. This is where stomach-tubing really can deliver benefits and also save time at a very busy period.
For many sheep farmers, the ability to stomach-tube lambs has a number of advantages. At lambing time, a significant cause of lamb mortality is starvation, especially within the first 48 hours of a lamb’s life.
In many cases, this mortality factor can be reduced by feeding hungry or weak lambs via a stomach tube in a timely fashion. Often, these weaker lambs are unable to suckle in the first few hours of life.
By stomach-tubing, you can be sure the weak lamb receives an adequate amount of colostrum early on.
The best source of antibodies will come from the ewe’s milk. Ideally, ewes should be milked first and the lamb should be fed with this milk. It can be difficult to milk sufficient quantities of colostrum from some ewes with some hard to milk and others having insufficient supply to feed all her lambs.
The main equipment you need for stomach tubing is a 60ml plastic syringe, a lamb-feeding tube and a measuring container. You should aim to feed a newborn lamb 50ml per kilogramme of liveweight as soon as possible in the first four to six hours of life. Therefore, a 5kg lamb should receive approximately 250ml of colostrum.
Lambs should be fed every six hours in early life, amounting to 200ml/kg liveweight in the first 24 hours of life. As mentioned already, colostrum from the ewe that has lambed or another ewe with surplus supplies is the optimum source.
After this, alternative colostrum sources, such as powdered colostrum or cow colostrum (if imported to the farm, beware the risk of importing disease), can be used, but these should act as a top-up where at all possible.
For example, if a ewe has a limited volume of colostrum for multiple lambs, each lamb should receive some milked colostrum and a top-up from an alternative source. Administering oxytocin will stimulate milk let-down – that is provided the ewe has milk. When you come across a ewe with good quantities of colostrum, it might be worth freezing this for use again.
According to vet John Nugent, the main reason why some farmers do not use a stomach tube is a fear of drowning the lamb. John says the procedure for stomach tubing is quite simple after some practice.
For people new to the procedure, he says measuring the tube against the lamb can give you a good idea in advance of how far down the tube should go.
“Place the lamb on its side and measure the tube from the mouth to the last rib. This will give you a guide of how far the tube should go to reach the stomach,” explained John.
The stomach tube should be fed into the lamb’s mouth in a gentle and slow manner and ideally as the lamb swallows. Normally the tube will enter the oesophagus without any issues. If the lamb struggles or there is a big percentage of the tube still protruding from the lamb’s mouth after insertion, it may be a sign that it entered the trachea (wind pipe).
You should be able to physically feel the tube passing down into the oesophagus if you feel behind the trachea. If there is any uncertainty inserting the tube, it is best to start again. When you are confident the tube is in the correct position, feed the lamb by connecting the syringe of colostrum and pushing the plunger slowly. Some farmers prefer not to use a plunger and let the milk flow via gravity, which is perfectly fine too. When feeding is complete, John says to pull the tube out at a reasonable pace to prevent any milk entering the lungs. Do not remove the syringe from the tube before pulling out, as this will allow air to pass into the stomach.
Best practice
Remember the importance of hygiene around the feeding implements. Normally, the weakest lambs are fed via tubing utensils and they are the most susceptible to disease. All the utensils should be sterilised after each feeding. Some farmers even use a separate stomach tube for any sick lambs to further reduce the chances of disease spreading.
Tubes are not expensive and should be replaced often, especially if they are used frequently. As time goes on, they will wear and tiny grazes in the tube will create a home for bad bacteria.
There are a number of ways to hold a lamb during stomach tubing. Some farmers prefer to place a lamb on its side or sitting straight up on the ground, while others prefer to place the lamb between their legs. The latter option frees both your hands, which makes it easier to use the syringe for when working alone.
William Conlon recently attended a dry stone wall course run by CAFRE at the Greenmount hill farm in Co Antrim, where the focus on the day was building a single skinned wall
Matthew Halpin goes through the steps involved in completing an e-Profit Monitor and outlines the importance of evaluating your farm's financial performance.
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