Please some lambing help

ancient

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Hi. I'm new here. Anyhow I've been raising goats for a few years now, I my 3rd year kidding. Goats always seem to be relatively easy to care for and kidding goes easy, I sometimes have to help but it's a quick process. So to the sheep, this is my first year with sheep which I was hesitant to get in the first place as I heard they are way more problematic then goats. So this morning I go to the barn to see my 2 ewes due any day now. My one ewe refused her grain and wanted to be on her own. I separated her as I figured feo. What I know from goat behavior shes going to lamb. That was 7 hours ago. Shes been moaning softly to herself and just standing there. The hips are hollow like they are supposed to be but no water bag yet and I tried to milk her and she has nothing. Am I just being paranoid. Not sure what to do . My husband has been laid off with this covid 19 as well as other family which we just had to financially help and we cant afford a vet . Any help or advice? Shes eating hay
 

ancient

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Thank you for the quick reply. Yes , shes not dialated , no water bag, just miserable. I'm sure I'm just being a nervous Nellie. Shes just more of a pet to the family then livestock. We got her from a local sheep farmer as an orphan lamb
My daughter fell in love and since the goats were so mean to her , my daughter and her were inseparable. The lamb spent probably the first 6 months of her life coming into the house at night (with a diaper) and sleeping on my daughters bed. She eventually got to big and we got more sheep for her to have company. We would be devastated if something happened to her
 

Baymule

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Thank goodness. Thank you both so much. Guess I'm just too worried
You just care deeply about her. Take a deep breath, I think we all go through this. I have one due any moment.....since March 10!!!! She's 20 days over due and I saw her get bred and wrote it down. Since it's pouring rain and storming, she's probably giving birth right now (she's in the barn) but I doubt it. They will make you crazy!
 

YourRabbitGirl

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Hi. I'm new here. Anyhow I've been raising goats for a few years now, I my 3rd year kidding. Goats always seem to be relatively easy to care for and kidding goes easy, I sometimes have to help but it's a quick process. So to the sheep, this is my first year with sheep which I was hesitant to get in the first place as I heard they are way more problematic then goats. So this morning I go to the barn to see my 2 ewes due any day now. My one ewe refused her grain and wanted to be on her own. I separated her as I figured feo. What I know from goat behavior shes going to lamb. That was 7 hours ago. Shes been moaning softly to herself and just standing there. The hips are hollow like they are supposed to be but no water bag yet and I tried to milk her and she has nothing. Am I just being paranoid. Not sure what to do . My husband has been laid off with this covid 19 as well as other family which we just had to financially help and we cant afford a vet . Any help or advice? Shes eating hay
Here in the Philippines, we are under community quarantine, we cant really do that much. I hope this will end soon.
 

ancient

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Ok. So she had a single lamb last night sometime. I really dont want to interfere but I sat in the barn for a couple hours. The lamb was cleaned off but seemed like every time she went to get milk the mom moved away. I dont know if she got any colostrum yet. Should I milk some out and give it to her to be safe?
 

Sheepshape

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Get someone to hold the ewe and push the lamb in the direction of the teat....they usually latch on straight away.

I've had 3 do just this in the last 2 days....all are first timers and all were happy to nurse the lamb after they had had been 'shown the ropes'. It is quite common in first-timers and almost never recurs in subsequent pregnancies.

Some sheep are 'off ' for a good couple of days before they go into full-blown labour.

I hope hubby recovers soon from the virus.
 

Baymule

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I had 2 first fresheners last year that I had to tie up and sprawl out in the barn floor to put the lamb up to the teat to nurse. It took several hours of "interfering" to get them over the hump.
 

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