Recently we docked the tail of one of our lambs. When we put the elastrator band on the tail she lifted one leg and now will not put it down. We have never seen this before and wonder what to do about it. Has anyone ever heard of or experienced this before and if so what can we do about it?

-- Diane Seaver (dmseaver@yahoo.com), March 11, 2001

Answers

How far from the body did you put the band on? ( I usually band them where the web of skin meets the tail and when the tail is done, enough will be there to cover the vulva and rectum. Protects them from insect bites and doesn't predispose the sheep to prolapses. That said, I think maybe you pinched a nerve. DON'T REMOVE THE ORIGINAL BAND as the blood beyond it has already coagulated and you could cause a clot to break loose into the blood vessals. Put another tailband on closer to the body and right next to the first band, but only if you have not put the first one too close to the body. We had this happen once and after the 2nd band was applied the lamb was okay. Some people like to cut the tail right off after a few days and dip stump in iodine. I have had to do that when the tail became partially detatched and looked like a very vulnerable spot for infection, but otherwise prefer to let them fall off, usually in 10 days. I vaccinate my ewes about a month before lambing with C&D and Tetanus. Otherwise the lambs should get a tetanus antitoxin when you band or castrate. Just a side note, once we had a ewe that upon giving birth chewed the tail off her lamb causing a lot of bleeding. I ran to get the tail bander and when I returned, she had chewed the tail off the other twin as well! I applied the bands just above where she took the tails off and it stopped the bleeding.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), March 11, 2001.

How long as the lamb done this? This Dec. I had 3 lambs that I thought I must have done something really (permanantly) bad to and was mortified. They would hold up their legs to. One stiffened his legs hard. They all fell over as if they could not stand and they all freaked out terribly. Being that I was unsure what to do next, I waited a bit. After a while (about an hour?)they each came out of it, as the area became numb I guess. Anyway they are perfectly normal now.

-- Novina in ND (lamb@stellarnet.com), March 12, 2001.

Well the lamb isn't used to it so it was a big shock for the lamb to go through. It may be ok in a couple of weeks time. It has happened to one of our lambs at our farm when we done to it.

-- Teri Newman (teri_newman41@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

How old was the lamb. I get that because I band at a week. If you band earlier it doesn't seem to hurt them as much. I use baby aspirin to help with the pain. The reason I band late is because I don't want to mess up their nursing and if E-Coli is in existence which is in the first week of life, stop nursing for just a dab will bring that killer on. Of course I don't band like a show sheep should be. When kids buy my sheep to show they have to take them to a vet to have the whole tail removed. I feel if the lamb is to be used as a breeding ewe someday you want part of the tail to cover the vulva, also I have never had some of the prolapsing show sheep have and my sheep are of the same genentics.

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), March 14, 2002.