Test-tube Baby

Thistle is our problematic mother. Two of her three lambs have died at 4 days old, after desperate attempts to keep them alive. We don't know why. They simply do not take to their mother's milk, gradually get sleepier and eventually doze out of the world.

So when she gave birth on Tuesday we became hyper-active. Pep the wonderful vet came up and gave the new lamb a shot of vitamins. I gave him a shot of Thermovite Plus. He had the same dozy approach to milking, approaching Thistle's flank, vaguely looking for an udder and then wandering past to lie down. "Walk-Past Disease."

So I intubated the new lamb. This time I did it within 4 hours of birth - 150ml of his mother's milk, laboriously squeezed from her teats. Then 4 hours later a further 150ml, and again, by now at 23:00 with the lamb still not having fed naturally, a third batch of 150ml.

Tube of life

And this was the result; the next morning he was feeding himself, and now he is growing fast.

Now 100% natural

Thanks to Pep and his vitamins, and above all thanks to the stomach tube, the new lamb lives. We called him, naturally, Pep.