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Flooded pens in IL! Suggestions??

T

T.R.O.

Joined Apr 2009
139 Posts | 0+
Central Illinois
I am in IL and huge storm moved in today and flooded the pens. Of course with our luck we have a 2yr. old doe have her first birthing and she popped out triplets during the thunder storm flash flood!!! We busted a bale on the highest part of the pen and moved all the fawns onto that. They were shivering and wet and cold. Is there anything you guys would do? Or let nature run its course. Its supposed to rain for the next several days too. How bad is it on fawns being wet and cold right from birth? Thanks in advance.
 
Wet is BAD

Cold isn't too bad

WET AND COLD IS THE WORST

Your best bet may be to pull them.I pulled a doe fawn today she was born at 7am...

I pulled her at 10am she fell in a puddle and her mom wasn't cleaning her...

The buck is with the mom, she is in the house with me doing great.

I wish you all the best
 
We plan to pull the 2 does tomorrow night at 24 hours. Is that too late?? Planning to leave the buck on the mom. He is big and active then one doe is smaller and the other one is tiny. We are going to bottle feed them but we thought we should leave them with the mom to get the colostrum? Should we pull closer to 12 hours than 24?
 
I would pull them at 12. Them give them colostrum. It's not worth taking the risk of them not making it. Wet and cold not a good combo
 
If it's cold and wet i'd pull at 12 hours and get some of the powdered colostrum and mix it in their bottles....if they are tiny they are already behind the eight ball and that cold and wet will kill them for sure.....good luck!! Hopefully they get some of moms milk in the first 12 hours.
 
I would watch waiting for that magic hour of 12hrs...If they go hypothermic or drown it won't matter...If you have seen them nurse if you NEED to I would pull them early if you give Colostrum and BO-SE.... ect
 
You need to make a judgement call......I had triplets last year and it was wet and cold like you say ......the fawns were born early and I pulled them right away....I just gave them the powdered colostrum in their milk for the first week.......they are all fine and well today.....healthy and happy!! So you should be able to look at them and know if they need to help or not.....Good Luck!!
 
If it were me I wouldn't wait the 12 hours if conditions were not good for quick nursing from the doe . I'd make sure the fawns got somesort of colostrum within the first 6 hours of birth . Absorption of immine globulin decreases fast after the first 6 hours and is pretty much insignificant after 12 hours . Quality of colostrum is usually higher in older does than in first timers too . Remember the greater amounts of colostrum consumed the first 12 hours the greater the amount of absorption of immunne globulins too ! Colostum in my book is by far the most important feed your new fawn will ever ingest !! Just my opinion ...Good Luck to all !!
 
I would pull them now!!!!! Don't wait or you may find dead fawns in the morning. As already posted warm them up and start them on a bottle. Good luck. I undertand all too well what a flood can do. We had about 12 feet of water in the pens two years ago and we are NOT in a flood zone.
 
I pulled 2 saturday at 12 hours fed 4oz colostrum 4 times a day then went to red cap all they can eat 4 times a day. Now they are drinking 16oz per feeding. after 1 week going 2 3 times a day. They are eating dirt running playing doing really well even starting to pee on their own.
 
I would pull them as soon as mama fed them a couple of times then bottle feed with some goat milk with colostrum for the next 24 hours. Get them babies warm and dry. If your getting the rain,cold and wind were getting up here in central IL I would say the odds are against those fawns without a little intervention from you. Rick
 
We put plastic barrels with the ends cut off in our pens around the perimeter. Then we put straw inside the barrels and some over the top. These are GREAT for fawns. Since they often walk the edge of the pen they naturally lay inside these barrels. They stay dry and warm. If you take a newborn and put them in one of them they will usually stay there and go back to it. We have saved many fawns this way without having to bottle feed.
 
Drew, we are using Target Probiotics colostrum. I had to use some this morning on a 1.5 lb. monster. She is a triplet and momma just wasn't cutting it. They are out of BM Wildfire and Snipers mother so putting alot of effort into them.
 
At just about any feed store you will find it. You can also get fresh colostrum from diary farmers sometimes.
 
We had two buck fawns last year that were born early morning, in the evening we pulled them due to being weak. Kept them warm and fed powdered colostrum that night. The next day took them back out to the mother, They both are still alive today. On the other hand Ive heard that people have tried this same thing and the mother wouldn't accept them back.
 
For some reason we are lucky and someone is looking over us. It is partially sunny instead of raining and they looked to be doing fine this morning before work and now Im on lunch and they look ever better just soaking up the sun. Its not near as cold as it was last night with the rain so I think they are going to be fine. I cant wait for 3:30 to get here and get them out of there. Thanks for all the replys!!! It is great hearing everyones opinions.



Another question I have and maybe some people can relate to this. We have a 6 yr. old doe that had trips last year and she starting really looking like she was going to pop about a week ago. She cant get any bigger and her milk is bagging down like crazy. We think she will have them anytime and the doe that just had trips wasnt showing at all. her milk doesnt look big or anything. Could the babys possibly be stuck in there? She is fully alert and eats out or your hand and looks physically fine but just how big she is is starting to scare us.
 
I had a weak fawn a couple of years ago that I bottled for a couple of weeks in a wire pen inside of the doe pens. Mama could nose and lick the fawn if she wanted and when it was getting along better , I turned it out and mama took it right back and fed it. If you allow access like this, maybe they will still take them back. Jim
 
I had the same thing going on. A 6 year old doe that was showing signs of labor on Saturday and delivered twins last night in the storm. The old **** had them tucked up against her late last night when I checked them and all is good this morning. Also, had a set of trips. this morning. One is less then 1.5 lbs but doing well so far.
 

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