[Madcow]

the triplets are 2 weeks old on Tuesday, all has seemed good, but I've been noticing for the last 2 days that 1 always seems to be getting a feed, shes not the smallest, either the mum dosent stand still for long or its feed time and she dosent want to be having the lamb feed from her will she eats. As I already had milk I gave her a bottle of feed which she gobbled up, so do you think I should carry on as perhaps at 2 weeks the 3 lambs demand is too high for the ewe ( Mimi) she is getting over 1kg of nuts a day, in 3 lots now, or should I just up the ewes feed and hope she can cope, last year she had triplets and I top-up bottled 2 of them. Dont want to wade in if its not needed  although I do love feeding them they are soo cute.

[SallyintNorth]

Well, I am not the most experienced, but I did give myself a fright one year when the conditions were not best for the ewes (wet and cold) and the triplet mums nearly all got orf and/or mastitis as a result of the wee ones tugging and tugging trying to get more milk.  The ewes - all of which were in good condition at lambing or there was no question of them rearing triplets - had free access to grass, more-or-less ad lib hard feed and ad-lib hay, they just simply couldn't make enough milk.

So since then I always always always offer top-up feeds to triplets - and if I think mum's short of milk but the lambs won't take a bottle (or the ewe won't let them) then I take a lamb off and hand-rear or foster it. 

IMHO it's better to have a healthy mum with two good lambs, and a "pet", than a worn-down ewe with one good lamb and two weaker.  In the latter case the outcome is often worse in terms of lambs produced and much worse for the ewe.

[Freddiesfarm]

I normally only leave triplets on mum for 2 weeks.  After that the demand on the ewe can be too much and the lambs start to suffer.  It is ok if you have a small flock and can give special treatment without too much issue but I tend to find better all round to take one away and feed it.

[Madcow]

ok so top-up feeds it is, I will try with the other 2 lambs as well, the mum is in a 5 acre field with 2 other new mums and they have access to ad lib hay, so perhaps shes just not making quite enough, she was in good condition when she lambed would hate to let her down now. Thanks for your input