[OhLaLa]

This morning have revived a shivering limp newborn lamb, given colostrum. He has perked up and now standing (he will be out in a field shelter this evening with his mom who I hope will accept him).


BUT


Now reading mixed opinions about whether to bottle feed or not in first 24 hours.


Do I or don't I bottle feed lambs under 24 hours old?

[Backinwellies]

Don't see the issue .... a lamb that will suckle can be given a bottle if necessary .... or tubed if less able to suckle. Use milk from mum if possible.   Lambs must have colostrum in first 6 hours via whatever means works.

 

 I often use stomach tubing if intending to put lamb back with mum ... personally I find it easier to stomach tube than struggling with a weak lamb. 

[OhLaLa]

As said, had colostrum, issue (?) was whether to offer a bottle or not before reuniting with mom


Anyhow, he is back out now, I gave about 5ml more colostrum before he went out (so to clarify, he has had no milk replacement bottle at all).


Whether he will suckle - or if she lets him (first time mom) - is unknown at the moment. They gave each other lots of bleats upon him going back in there but she seems rather forceful with him, pushing at him with her head, sniffs, more nose pushing. He is very wobbly.


I've had to walk away and leave them to it as don't want to interfere too much. Will monitor them though.


Any constructive advice much welcomed. Thanks.

[Sbom]

If in any doubt at all they should be penned in a bonding pen, it gets pretty cold at nights still and without his mother he will die.
You'll need to stand and hold her for him to suckle a few times, as he'll soon stop trying if she keeps bunting him off.
An empty bellied lamb gets cold and weak quickly..

[Hellybee]

Echo Sbom x

[Backinwellies]

Personally  I would treat as a foster lamb .................Watch closely and see mums reaction ... if she sniffs and licks then great ............... if she ignores and buts away when lamb tries to suckle then get in there and hold mum whilst  encouraging  lamb to suckle. Do this every 1-2 hours. If she is particularly harsh with the 'imposter' then give it an escape ... an adjacent pen with room to go under hurdle. Keep up the handling until ewe accepts lamb.
If he is really weak and doesn't suckle then milk some off and stomach tube a few times to get his strength up. ... or a bottle ....  they wont reject mum after a couple of bottles. In fact the foster lamb I've just dealt with had a top up bottle several times a day for 5 days and never saw it as a source of food always having to be taken from empty teats and bottle teat gently forced into mouth before she would drink.

[OhLaLa]

Thanks for the replies. They are penned, I do that for all mums and lambs.


The young chap made it through the night. He seemed a bit cold around the ears this (frosty) morning but got up on his feet.


Mum seems very protective. Will be monitoring today and checking to see if I can catch him feeding - that's usually the most difficult part - if in any doubt I will probably give him a small feed as I do have some milk powder from the vet just in case.

[OhLaLa]

Ok, so here's where we are at: Lamb tucked up so mid morning given small feed, given another small feed lunchtime and 10ml colostrum just after lunch.


Have watched him periodically all morning, he doesn't appear know his way around his mum, often seems to look for milk at wrong end.


Before 2nd feed had tried to get him to latch on. He head butted her a couple of times but didn't really try to suck even when teat put in his mouth. Mum got totally fed up and starting just kicking him away (both sides). No heat to udders, and they stripped fine after he was born so at the moment think all is ok there.


She guards him well and appears to have bonded.


Our guess is just that neither of them know what to do as first time for both.

[harmony]

Tip the sheep up so you can keep her under control and put the lamb to the udder. How much are you feeding - there's some good recent threads on here about how much and how often. I had a lamb that wouldn't suck.


Have you taken any milk off the ewe? Did she not lamb yesterday morning?

[harmony]

Sorry seemed to lose some of my reply there. I had a lamb wouldn't suck and then would suck a bit but not enough. Just keep trying to latch on. Squirting milk into it's mouth so it knows mums milk tastes best. I had to top up and milked my ewe and gave that to the lamb. A day and a half and suddenly there was a magical moment and the lamb started sucking and never looked back.


Good luck 

[Marches Farmer]

I'd put the ewe in an adopter and hold the lamb to her teat every couple of hours.  If it's too difficult then bottle feed.  At this early stage whether or not it's bottle fed or suckles from Mama isn't really the issue, it's ensuring the lamb has enough energy to keep up its body temperature and stay alive.

[OhLaLa]

Don't have an adopter (wished I had though) but pleased to report he found the right end (with a bit of guidance) and is doing well.