Now that we are well into lambing, I thought perhaps we should discuss some of the products we have developed and used to keep lambs and kids alive and healthy. The main cause of death is starvation once they are born alive.
The first area of concern would be iodine and selenium in selenium deficient areas. We have products to be mixed with loose salt and if near a Big Gain dealer they have a similar product that is already mixed with the salt. Goiter is a real possibility if iodine needs haven't been met. Organic iodine can create a quick turnaround if one's in trouble.
Baby Lamb Strength (Product #5481) is the original energy and Vitamin E product that can be given at birth. research has shown that our product provides more than adequate levels of E. There is me to product out there that provides more E, but the additional E has no value.
Then there are the NurseMate products. One is new this year called NurseMate All Species (Product # 4860) which is strictly dried cow colostrum. The original product NurseMate (Product #4346) is a combination of dried cow colostrum and lamb and kid milk replacer to give it more energy and closer resemble sheep or goat colostrum.
We feel our lamb milk replacer is second to none, competitively priced, and the only one on the market that is acidified and has skim milk as its major ingredient.
Lamb and Kid Quick Start (Product #1134) developed in '08 is very handy to provide instant energy to starved out lambs and boost questionable ones. This can be used separately or with milk replacer and contains fat, colostrum, plasma proteins and electrolytes to give an immediate energy boost.
Then there is the lamb saver tube (Product #4361), a syringe is to be used as a funnel and the tube is the correct size. NurseMate, Quick Start, and milk replacer should all be administered via a lamb saver with one exception, and that would be milk replacer when starting artificially raised lambs.
Be sure you are providing adequate amounts of these products and often enough. People have a tendency to underfeed.
By: Dr. G.F. Kennedy
