2nd pic definitely looks like orf.
My calcs say 10% of 6.5kgs is 650ml, is that what they are each getting over the course of the day? Are you still feeding 6 times a day? So that would be just over 100ml per lamb per feed?
I am not familiar with multi-milk replacers but have always used either ewe milk replacer (preferably one made from actual ewe's milk, which the Downland one is), or plain raw (unpasteurised, unhomogenised) milk from my own cow. (Goats milk is also suitable, many say more suitable.) With ewe milk replacers, one either feeds up to 1L or 1.5L per lamb per day (depending on the product, some say 1L a day and some 1.5L) for commercial-type lambs. By 3 weeks I would be going down from 4 to 3 feeds a day. I always stop each feed when the lamb has had enough, which I tell by looking down at its sides as it drinks. Once the hollow in front of the hips has filled out and before they start to look convex, they've had enough, and I take the bottle away. Some lambs do take the whole 1L or 1.5L over the course of the day, but some need less.
The farmer's story sounds off to me. Farmers will be checking new families at least twice a day, so the lambs could not have been separated much longer than overnight, and their mother would have been delighted to have taken them back unless they'd been away *much* longer than that. So either the farmer plays fast and loose with the truth, and / or is a poor shepherd and doesn't check their lambed ewes very often or very thoroughly. If the farmer is truthful then it's the last, and a plausible story could be the ewe wasn't being a good mother and wasn't feeding them enough nor looking after them well, and hungry they wandered off desperate for food, getting themselves behind the fence. With the mother not bothered and not looking for them, and not being an assiduous shepherd, the farmer didn't know which ewe to return them to, and/or realised that they were being neglected, so took them off for the bottle.
Either way, I think it has to be very possible they didn't have sufficient colostrum.
I would definitely get a proper ewe's milk for them, preferably one which is made from actual ewe's milk. Introduce it slowly, adding just a little to the first couple of feeds then increasing proportions over a couple of days, to give their systems time to adapt to it.
How are you holding them when you feed? By now they should be standing with the bottle held in front of them, held just above the horizontal to stop them drinking air but not held so high or so upright that their heads are lifted skywards. Their heads should be just above the horizontal. All this matters because the milk has to arrive in the correct stomach. There is a groove down the front of the oesophagus which directs the milk into the abomasum, and in a healthy lamb with a fully developed milk reflex, this groove closes over as it settles to feed, so the milk cannot go anywhere else. But with orphans they don't always develop that reflex, so it can sometimes not close over, so then getting the angles right helps ensure the milk goes into the correct stomach. Symptoms of milk arriving in the wrong stomach can include gurgling, bloating, and scour.
Topic: New to rearing lambs and requiring help. (Read 5417 times)
