Tatiana was last to lamb, a month later than everyone else, last year as well, because she also runs from the ram. She had pretty twin ewe lambs this year, born small as Romanovs are (these are half Blue Faced Leicester), but the lambs were not growing as well as they should have been. Tatiana also weaned them quite early, which is unusual. I needed to catch her and try to discover if there was anything going on.
But it was too late. She went down in the pasture and could not get up. There were two young fellows here helping me tag the lambs and check the sheep, so we got the wheelbarrow and brought her in. Her eyes were white, which meant that she had a severe case of barber pole worms and was too anemic to stand. That is why she weaned her babies! Or she just stopped producing milk.
Poor Tatiana. Now she must struggle for her life. She is skin and bones and cannot stand. It has been 6 days for her. She is eating and drinking well, so as long as she does there is hope. Today I tied her in the standing position by putting a lead rope twice around her belly and pulling her up then tying the rope to the fence rail. I left her for 2 hours and she seemed to want to use her legs, but as soon as she was untied, she went down. I turn her several times a day with her legs to the side to keep the circulation going. She has been dewormed twice, once with Eqvalen which is ivermectin and praziquantel .
I wormed her a second time with injectible ivermectin. She is not responding. I have given her a shot every day of Nucells, which is a complex of vitamins and minerals that help build blood. I will continue the therapy until she gives up.
On the good side, her lambs are penned with her and two baby goats are in there too and the lambs are becoming used to me. I can pet the black one but the white one jumps when I touch her. Tatiana, in her barely alive state, allows me to anything and I am hoping that when she recovers, we will be friends instead of her moving away from me all the time. She came from a ranch where the only time the sheep saw the shepherd was twice a year for routine care.
Please send a prayer out for Tatiana. She is not doing well and needs all the love we can offer her at this time. Thank ewe.