The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: lottie2225 on March 29, 2025, 04:10:41 am
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Hi, i hope i’m posting this in the right place for some advice on my new bottle lambs. I collected a set of 12 day old orphan weathers that had been with their mum before she died. They were in the field with her dead overnight at least before being chased by the farmer (for quite a while) to catch them. I have had them 5 days and one is super friendly drinking great and generally very happy but the other seems very reserved and almost a bit depressed? he wasn’t interested in the bottle or us at all until today when he did try to drink a little but took a very long time to not get very much down. he isn’t mega skinny as i have been forcing a little down him regularly so he doesn’t starve and is starting to show a little more interest in us but i am just worried i’m missing something. He is pretty happy eating grass in the garden with his brother but he is so young i can’t imagine that would sustain him. I don’t know what his mum died of but the farmer didn’t seem to think the lambs would be affected medically any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou
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You’d be better bringing him in with his friend and get him feeding properly. Be warned this will take time; I pulled a 3 week old lamb off a ewe this year and it took a full week of tube feeding, hunger and a lot of swearing, until on the 8th day it decided to drink a full bottle. It nearly broke me but we got there in the end 😂
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I managed to tube feed a lamb this year for the first time, it's not as difficult as I was dreading! Good luck with your lambs :)
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Read the other (https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=120198.msg787126) thread, more suggestions and links to similar threads