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Sheep / Re: struggling triplet - rearing a single bottle lamb?
« Last post by Fleecewife on Today at 12:01:59 am »I've only had to bottle feed one lamb in my years of keeping sheep, but I was determined she should stay with her family. We kept them in our polytunnel at first, with ventilation, in a double pen. Both lambs could go from one half to the other but the dam was restricted to one part only. Initially the dam ignored the lamb she had rejected (violently) but the twin would spend much of her time with her sister, popping back under the hurdle for a feed from mum (can you tell I grew up on a pig farm with farrowing pens?). I felt this was important as ultimately sibling relations are more important to sheep than parent/offspring.
Eventually the dam stopped shoving the rejected lamb but she never suckled her. We put them all out in the field together once I was sure the lamb would reliably come to the bottle. I was delighted to see that the dam kept as much of an eye on the rejected lamb as on the accepted one, and would seek out the rejected lamb if she was in the wrong field. They also all snuggled up together at night. The only strange thing was that the lamb was bottle fed. Her twin would always come with her and stare in amazement at feeding time.
We still have this little family group a couple of years later and I'm so glad I kept them all together.
Eventually the dam stopped shoving the rejected lamb but she never suckled her. We put them all out in the field together once I was sure the lamb would reliably come to the bottle. I was delighted to see that the dam kept as much of an eye on the rejected lamb as on the accepted one, and would seek out the rejected lamb if she was in the wrong field. They also all snuggled up together at night. The only strange thing was that the lamb was bottle fed. Her twin would always come with her and stare in amazement at feeding time.
We still have this little family group a couple of years later and I'm so glad I kept them all together.
