We had our very first kid crop this year!! It was an exciting and exhausting time. We learned SO much and we love our little babies to the moon and back!
It was fun (and scary) to watch our first-time mommas figure out how to care for their babies. It was so sweet to watch them sniff other babies and then to finally see their reaction when they smelled their own baby. Unfortunately, some of our mommas weren't quite sure what to do and just walked off and left them wet and cold. We did lose a few babies due to this. We don't live on the farm, so we drove over about every two hours to check on them, but we still missed a few of the births. They like to have their privacy!
One of our bottle babies we found lying lifeless on the barn floor. Her brother had already passed away, but Dusty noticed just a slight breath left in her. We scooped her up, dried her off and took her to the house to give her a warm bath to reverse her hypothermia. She slowly started to take a bottle and become more lively. She had almost a month of watery, pale diarrhea before we got it stopped. First we tried to adjust her milk and give electrolytes. Next, we tried Corid (amprolium) for possible coccidiosis infection. Then after no improvement we tried LA200 (oxytetracycline) x 5 days for possible bacterial intestinal infection, and then after that we went to our local vet to see what her suggestions would be after those initial treatments. She suggested Bactrim (trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole) tablets, and that is what cured her! In the future, we would also probably try spectinomycin if our initial treatments didn't work. We are also working to strengthen our microscopic fecal exam skills to help diagnose and treat illness faster. Don't forget: we aren't veterinarians and we aren't suggesting anyone try the above treatments. We just want to document our experience!
We would love to connect with you! Send us a message at riebel.farms@yahoo.com and follow us on facebook (@RiebelFarms) and instagram (@riebelfarms)!
Look at these sweet faces!
