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Cold snaps can be challenging for newborn lambs.
Cold snaps can be challenging for newborn lambs, but an injection of dextrose can be a lifesaver for cold or weak lambs.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s senior advisor biosecurity and animal welfare, Will Halliday, says lambs born during a cold snap will exhaust all their energy reserves just trying to keep warm and won’t have the strength to feed. He says they are then in danger of starving to death.
A 20% dextrose mix (ideally warmed) injected straight into the lamb’s abdomen will give it the energy boost it needs to survive but should only be used as a last resort.
Halliday says it is important the dextrose is given before warming the lamb up.
“If you warm the lamb up before administrating the dextrose, it can hasten its death.”
He adds that the ideal candidates for this treatment are lambs that are four or five hours old that have not fed off their mothers. Newborn lambs will typically respond to just being warmed up without the injection, although a dextrose injection won’t hurt them.
Halliday advises that farmers can buy 40% dextrose off their vets and use sterile water (cooled boiled water) or saline to dilute it themselves. He stresses that table sugar is not a suitable substitute for dextrose and should not be used.
Source: B+LNZ
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