Raising sheep is a difficult task even for an experienced farmer. Ruminants have a digestive system that is very sensitive to changes, so any little thing in feeding can lead to serious consequences. Often cattle ranchers don't know what to do if their lamb has a swollen belly. Do not delay in solving this problem, and then you can easily save the sheep from death.
Main reasons
Most often, a swollen belly of a lamb is a sign of rumen tympania. The rumen is one of the sections of the stomach of ruminants. It is in the rumen that the main processes of food digestion occur.This section contains many beneficial bacteria, which release small amounts of gases during the digestion of food. Normally, gases are eliminated naturally and do not cause harm to the animal.
Inappropriate food can cause excessive gas formation, which significantly stretches the organ in size. Pressure on the walls stimulates severe acute pain, so the animal is apathetic, lethargic, and refuses food and water. Characterized by a tense, unnatural posture with an arched back, excessive anxiety. The membranes of the nose and eyes may become congested with blood, and the gait becomes unsteady and unsteady.
The condition is usually caused by feeding large amounts of high protein feed such as alfalfa or clover. The same problem arises after giving tops of potatoes, beets or apples, cabbage, which easily ferment in the stomach with the formation of gas. Grass wetted by dew or rain also tends to ripen, so it is not recommended to graze sheep in the early morning, immediately after rain, or in marshy areas.
How does it manifest?
Bloating is easy to see with the naked eye. Both sides or the side on the left side are significantly increased in size. The animal is breathing heavily, refuses food and feed, may lie motionless or be reluctant to move.
A sharp refusal of food and a serious condition of the animal are caused by acute swelling of the rumen. Chronic bloating is only accompanied by a slight increase in the size of the flank, and is usually caused by minor violations in feeding technology.
What to do if your lamb has a swollen belly
Acute rumen tympany requires immediate treatment, otherwise the lamb can easily suffocate.To treat sheep, it is necessary to remove excess gas from the stomach as quickly as possible. You need to position the lamb so that the upper half of the body is higher than the lower half, and gently massage the left side. If the lamb can move, it makes sense to drive it up the mountain and down several times - active upward movement stimulates the release of gas.
In extreme cases, the veterinarian resorts to piercing the wall of the lamb's rumen using a trocar. The puncture must be made in a strictly defined place - the hungry hole, exactly in the middle between the maklok (hip joint) and the last rib of the lamb. This procedure cannot be performed by an untrained person, so it makes sense to call a veterinarian immediately after the onset of the disease. If everything went well, the tube is left at the puncture site for a while so that the gas has time to escape. In this case, the trocar is held with the thumb.
After removing the tube from the wound, the puncture site must be disinfected with iodine. The sheep is observed for several hours. If the condition is satisfactory, she can be released into the general box. But feeding concentrates and, in particular, lush green grass should be limited to a minimum, at least for a couple of weeks.
Prevention of the problem
To avoid gastric bloat in lambs, it is necessary to carefully select the diet for both young and adult sheep. Animals are not allowed to graze on swampy pastures or in areas with heavy dew formation.If it rains heavily, it is advisable to drive the herd indoors and only after the area has dried out, release it back onto the field.
In autumn and spring, sheep are gradually transferred to new food. At first, green grass is allowed to be given for 15-20 minutes a day, and then the time is gradually increased to several hours.
You should not feed lambs table scraps or scraps, including potato, eggplant, and beet scraps. It is necessary to regularly review the diet of sheep, calculating the content of dry and succulent feed. It is better if a certified livestock specialist does this.
