Down Mulberry Lane

Selenium Deficiency Pictures

Ok, I took some pictures of our problems that we encounter.  Some have been worse than these last two, but I did not get pictures of those. 

The first picture is of the thin hair... it is short and fine, and often not covering the entire body.  You see the pink skin on the ears.  Some we have seen pink skin through the back as well.

This second picture shows skinny lambs.  They have not an ounce of fat on them, just like most babies, we develop our fat in the last week or two of gestation... these never got their fat.  You can see the rolls of skin on the lamb laying down.

This one shows a lamb very wobbly on its feet.  If you look at the hooves, you can see they are not strong enough to support it's weight, so they stand on rocked back hooves.  This has been more pronounced in some lambs.  On the back legs, we have one that walked all the way up to that first main bend from the floor (walking on about 6 inches of leg).  Another picture is below of some back hooves.

From the bend where the tail ends on the legs, down to the hooves, that should be all straight.  You can see much better how the lamb is rocked back on its hooves. 

The two white lambs above were the ones born yesterday, both with their eyes closed, but Dh did get them open.  They just began to stand in the wee night hours to which we are excited to see.  I'm not sure you can exactly see how skinny they are compared to normal.  We didn't catch one of the good lambs to compare, but maybe we will if we get a chance. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Awwwwwwwww...

2:54 PM, March 23, 2007 .. Posted by JustaSEC

So sweet, but miserable looking at the same time! Hope there is improvement for them.

Aww.

11:43 AM, March 24, 2007 .. Posted by Pattisea

I am sorry your little ones are in such a situation. They are still so precious and very cute!

I read your post, but can't remember...will the selenium cure what ails them, or is it for the next generation of babies?

Patti