Tube Feeding A Newborn Lamb

www.theclublamb.com for tips on raising a good lamb. How to tube feed a newborn lamb. Hi, my name is Kent Gwilliam. Today I want to demonstrate how to tube feed a lamb. When you have a lamb that is weak or lethargic one of the first things you do is just put your finger in it's mouth to check. If the lamb is eager and ready to go, it will suck on your finger. But if the mouth is cold or the lamb does not really suck, you want to get some nourishment into the lamb as soon as possible. But if the lamb won't suck, then tube feeding is a quick and easy alternative. So what I usually do is when I have a ewe that has just lambed I milk some of the colostrum into a bottle and put it in the freezer. So what I have done is thawed out the colostrum and warmed it up to body temperature like you would for a baby. Then what you need is a catheter for a tube. You can find these at your feed store or medical supply outlet, it's just a rubber urethral catheter. And then you need a 60 cc syringe. I just take the plunger out because we won't be force feeding the milk into the lamb, just letting it gravity feed. I usually run some hot water through the syringe to make it as soft and pliable as possible because we do not want to injure the little lamb when we are putting the catheter in. I take the milk - you only really need to give a couple of onces. Pour the milk into the syringe. Keep the tip of the catheter above the level of the milk. Then slide the catheter into the lamb's mount. When you get to the back of the throat you will feel the catheter stop. Just wait for the lamb to swallow. You may need to slide the catheter back and forth a bit. Don't force it. But you will feel the lamb swallow and this will allow you to slide the tube on into the stomach. Then just raise the syringe and allow the milk to flow by gravity. You see how it is going down. It only takes a few seconds. That's really all there is to it. As long as you don't force it you won't get the tube into the lungs. For more tips on raising lambs go to www.theclublamb.com