[firefrog]

Hello. So I bought a couple of sheep to graze on my lower field about 4 weeks ago.
then yesterday morning I found my flock had grown from 2 to 4 with the arrival of 2 Lambs. So my life has been turned upside down by the arrival of 2 extremely cute fluffy things and I can feel my hair turning greyer than it already is.
so one lamb is quite a bit smaller than the other, and when I found her she was hardly moving which is when the panic started. I picked her up to see if she was alive which she was, so I put her back down and bid a hasty retreat and watched for a while, the second (a male, who looked fine and was walking around mum.
After about 30 mins the little one got up and went over to mum so I let out a big sigh of relief and thought my troubles were over and I left them them to it. Mum is 7 years old and it's not her first rodeo so I figured she knows what's she's doing.
I checked in regularly throughout the morning from a distance. but by midday I noticed that neither of the lambs had actually found the milk bar, and mum kept walking off just when it looked like they might latch on, panic mode took over again
That's when I called the guy I bought them off who said he would come over.
 I should mention my family and I now live in the Auvergne, France. Not only do I know very little about Sheep I also now very little French!
So the guy comes over with a friend, they watch the sheep for a while and mumble some things to me, most of which I don't understand but the general gist was that the udders where too full so the lambs couldn't feed. They jumped into the small pen grabbed  mum, milked her and helped the lambs to latch on which they did. happy days! They then put the colostrum in a bottle and fed them. Leaving me with 1 full bottle of colostrum with instructions to feed it to them in the evening which I did.
They only drank half the bottle so I fed the rest of it to them this morning.
Throughout the morning I continued to watch to see if they were latching on, but still no success. Then at about 3pm my wife and I tried to milk mum again and latch the lambs on.
We really struggled to hold onto mum and only managed to get about half a bottle of milk and had zero success getting the lambs onto her.
when we eventually left the lambs followed us all the way to the edge of the field much to the annoyance of mum who slowly followed behind trying to tell her lambs not to go off with strangers!
I continued to watch from a distance but still no luck. So tonight I fed them the half bottle.
so that's where I am now.
my concern is that they think I am their food source and when they see me they come directly to me bleating their little hearts out. the female who is the smaller one is defiantly more persistent and continues to try to feed from mum but the male seems to have given up and doesn't even hang with mum who defiantly hasn't rejected them.
im scared they are going to latch onto me as their food supply so I really don't want to feed them any more but I also can't physically help them latch on because mum just wants to run away from me.
So they have had their colostrum and they both seem healthy, the nights are about 10 degrees at the moment and they are just in a shelter at nights.
what should I do now heading into day 3?
any advice greatly appreciated

[SallyintNorth]

You need to stop feeding them from a bottle now they've had their colostrum and got through the first day.  If you keep feeding them, they will quickly stop trying to use the udder.

Get them penned with mum.  If mum is not avoiding them latching on, they'll almost certainly sort themselves out in a confined space.  If she's still avoidant, you may need to go into the pen and hold her steady every 4-6 hours so the lambs can feed.  You won't need to do it for long, she'll settle down after a few feeds and you'll start to find the lambs not hungry when you go in. 

(As you only have 2 adults, you will probably need to pen the other sheep next to the family, or it'll be distressed on its own.)

Do *not* give in and bottle feed. 

If they don't seem to be finding the udder even when you hold the ewe steady, you will have to help them maybe a few times. Concentrate first on the one that's trying; once one is feeding the other will copy, and if not, once one is flying solo you can help the other.

To hold the ewe steady for the lambs to do their own thing. I find it easiest to hold her gently but firmly against the side of the pen, using my legs and bodyweight to press her, one leg in front of her hips and the other next to her shoulder.  If you can get her nose in the corner, that helps stop her trying to exit forwards; otherwise gently hold her head horizontal with the flat of your hand under her jaw.

If you need to help the lambs on, if you have a helper, one of you can hold the ewe steady while the other gets down to help the lambs.  It's harder on your own but the principle would be the same, get the ewe with her nose into a corner the use your bodyweight to press her (firmly but gently; she needs to know she's held but not be squashed so much it's uncomfortable for her) into the wall. 

To get a lamb onto the teat.  Get the teat operational (ewe dropping the milk) and get some milk on your fingers, let the lamb suck the milk off your finger so that it's making suckling moves and it has the taste of the milk.  Now try leading it to the teat using your finger.  Don't pull its head, it'll just fight, and once it's fighting, it won't be interested in feeding.  So keep it calm, give it reassurance, don't bully it or make it feel manhandled.  If you feel yourself getting frustrated, take a pause and let everyone relax again.  If necessary, hold the lamb roughly in position by using your body behind it, to give it nowhere else to be - but gently, don't make it feel imprisoned or it'll just fight you.  Keep leading the teat into its mouth and if you can, squirt some milk into its mouth. 

Do *not* give in and bottle feed. 

Even if you are unsuccessful, do *not* give in and bottle feed.  Come back and try again in an hour or two.  Keep your cool, you'll get there! 

[SallyintNorth]

To pen the ewe, make the pen then walk the lambs into it, making sure Mum can see them all the time.  Mum will follow the lambs.  Take it steady, don't rush.  If you can't manage with them walking, pick them up and carry them, but keep them near to the ground and make sure Mum can see them at all times.  If she circles away, wait, or even reverse a bit to get her following again.

[firefrog]

Hi Sally.
Thank you for your very informative reply.
Im very happy to report that today, day 4 they finally managed to feed from Mum!
Yesterday I didn't feed them all day and the last feed they had had was the night before. I noticed that mums teats were very big and swollen again and the lambs still were unable to find the teat. So at 5pm I called a couple of friends and asked them to come and help me. it took 3 of us to hold her still, while my wife milked her a bit so her udders were not so full and then she got the lambs and for the first time we were able to physically put them onto the teat to drink. They filled their little bellies and by the end they were latching on by them selves.
Then today I saw the lambs feeding on their own with their little tails wagging and it was a sight that filled me with joy.
I will sleep much better tonight

[SallyintNorth]

That's great to hear, thanks so much for letting us know.