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« Last post by vegpatch on Today at 11:18:12 am »
Hello, looking for some advice please. We've finished lambing - 4 sets of twins and a set of triplets. Triplets are 5 days old and the smallest is now struggling (his siblings are normal size at birth, he was much smaller). He did have colostrum and produced lots of sticky orange droppings so I'm hopeful he has some capacity to survive with care. I had hoped to bottle feed but keep him with his mother - but he's refusing the bottle and she's no longer encouraging him to feed, or standing for him, so clearly I need to remove him before things get worse.
Do I bring him into a cool part of the house for the next few days so that he can't hear his mother and I can spend more time trying to get him to feed, or do I leave him in a pen in the stable on his own - the other sheep and lambs have access to the stable and use it quite often. My inclination is to make him go 'cold turkey' to encourage him to focus on us as his source of food for now but ...perhaps that's a daft idea.
I'm aware it's not ideal to have one on their own but there was no capacity to try and adopt him onto another ewe, and I don't want to risk exposing him to new pathogens by looking for another lamb to keep him company. My hope is I'll be able to get him feeding well enough that he can cope being out in the field with the others during the day, and will come to us for regular feeds. I could then pen him at night to make sure he's safe from foxes etc., and perhaps give him access to creep over night as well.
Any advice very welcome. I haven't had to hand rear a lamb previously so am feeling out of my depth here.
Thanks.
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