The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: dennd1906 on April 18, 2011, 01:54:12 pm
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I have a newly orphaned 4 week old lamb, orphaned on Saturday evening. She's fit and healthy and hungry but is, understandably, refusing to bottle feed. She is in a shelter and grassed pen with another ewe for company within the field of 3 ewes and another lamb. I am trying to feed with Lamlac 3 times a day but since Saturday night she has barely had 150ml and creep feed is too new to touch. Does anyone have any suggestions or will perserverence win?
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Perseverance does help. Also, get the milk AND the teat body-warm - I've found this really helps with lambs/kids who've fed from a real mum.
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Just keep going some take few days some alot longer ,they tend to drink in stops and starts
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Not really - its really hard to get them going on a bottle when they have lost mum that late on.
All you can do is keep trying, offer creep (keep it fresh, if it doesn't get eaten, replace it rather than let it go stale), fine hay, and fresh water.
Good luck - you will need it.
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It is tricky with older lambs, unfortunately. Do you have other lambs you are bottle-feeding? They do copy each other, so if you can have it penned with other lamb(s) while you feed it/them, this one may get inquisitive and start trying to copy its mate(s)
I have one such at the moment. Strangebod has teatphobia I think, he's interested and wants to copy Snotter his mate (came in with pneumonia, all well now apart from the projectile snotting as he finishes his bottle - eeeyewwww) but as soon as the teat touches his lips he seems frightened and runs backwards. I am now feeding him with the teat concealed in my hand while I get it into his mouth. We finish each feed with a few moments of 'facing the fear' but progress is very slow...
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Thank you for your replies. We are not much further on but I have spent time 'bonding', have changed to a teat with a smaller hole and made sure it is warm. Athough she only managed 50ml at lunchtime she didn't object quite so much, so there may be hope. I don't have another lamb on the bottle to copy, but she is copying the ewe she is in with and is nibbling grass and hay. I have a problem with the creep feed though because the ewe scoffs it all. I will perservere.
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If you have an old metal hay rack put it upside down over a seed tray with creep in and fasten it to the wall securely the ewe cant get in but the lamb can. I think you can buy hanging basket types that look like hayracks that would do.
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Just to let you know, my lamb has started to take the bottle, thank goodness. She's not taking a whole bottle just yet but she has improved so much that she is back in the field with the other ewes and will run over to feed when she sees me. I feel I can breathe a sigh of relief for now, until the next one. One more late lamb to go.