Injured Lamb

The other day we had an incident with one of the new lambs.  Ivy was herding the flock in from the far end of the pasture.  She was doing a great job and listening remarkably well and keeping a nice distance from the sheep.  But the sheep seemed more flighty then usual.  Our boarding dogs have started to make it a habit of visiting the pasture and getting pleasure out of chasing the flock around.  I hadn't realized how often they had done this or how bad things had got until I noticed the sheep flocking for a mad dash to the pasture gate.  Sadly, the pasture gate fails at keeping the sheep contained.  And when you have 13 sheep trying to squeeze through a small opening in the gate, a stampeded is created.  There's a lot of "out for yourselves" mentality going on in the flock at this point.  They carelessly barge through the small opening not caring who they run over.  Even a tiny little lamb.

From the distance I could see something small lying on the ground after the way had cleared and new instantly it was one of my lambs.  I ran as fast as I could to get to it's side and found it on it's back, kicking frantically to stand up.  I scooped it up and discovered it was Stilts's sister.  She's my favourite ewe lamb simply because she was the first to welcome Stilts back to the flock.  She had recognized him immediately and instantly the bond between them had been restored.  So I am devastated to find it is her who has been stampeded by the flock.  But she was still alive so I rushed her to a stall with her bleating mother behind us.

She was unable to stand properly and when she attempted to she would fall over.  There was blood in her nose and she was shaking uncontrollably.  I truly thought she would be dead within a couple hours.  But I left her and mom alone in the stall, crossed my fingers she wouldn't move much and hoped time would heal her.  After a couple hours I checked in on her and the shaking had finally stopped but she still had trouble keeping on her feet and keeping her balance.  I determined that she had suffered from some brain injury.  She peed a clear urine stream which indicated no internal injuries and she didn't drag or lift any limbs to indicate anything was broken there.  I did worry she had suffered from a spine injury but since she appeared more drunk then anything else, I figured it was head and probably got kicked several times making the brain bang around in her little head.  I truly hoped that keeping her still would help it settle and heal.

Ears pinned back and standing unsteadily on her feet shortly after the accident.

I left her and mom alone for several hours then went back into the barn.

I was relieved to find the lamb sitting quietly in the straw bed rather than lying there dead.  Her breathing was normal and she stopped moving her head as if it were sitting on a spintop toy.  However when she got up, she still was unsteady on her feet.  So I kept her indoors again today and I am happy to report she is recovery very well.  She can almost walk normal again, tho at times when turning to quickly looses her balance.  I think a couple more days of stall rest and she will be her old self again.