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Author Topic: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!  (Read 5999 times)

andywalt

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • kent
  • observe react administer enjoy !!
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Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« on: April 03, 2011, 09:39:16 pm »
I have a first timer suffolk, lambed last night, ive put her in her pen and she is looking very strangly at her lamb as if she is shocked !!! its defiantly her lamb, watchin her i noticed that the ewe skipped off everytime the lamb went to feed, Ive trimmed the ewe around her udder and legs so its a bit easier for the lamb to feed, but I have had to hold the ewe to stop her running off and let the lamb feed.

other than repeating this several times a day over the next 3 -4 days are there any more tips to help them bond and with your experiance is the ewe likely to take to her lamb?

views appreciated
Suffolk x romneys and Texel X with Romney Tup, Shetlands and Southdown Tup

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2011, 02:08:52 am »
Yes this is common in inexperienced sheep particularly some breeds it seems.  I don't have experience of Suffolks myself but I have certainly seen this with first-time Swaledales and Texels.  You've done the right thing, pen her with the lamb and go in and support the lamb to get a feed.  She'll get used to it very quickly and you'll soon find the lamb isn't hungry when you go in to help it.  If the ewe is a bit udder-shy the lamb will quickly learn to pop in the back door when mum is busy eating. 

With some sheep you do have to watch for baby-battering.  I lost a really nice lamb to a Swaledale shearling a few years back; she literally beat it to death when we weren't watching - and having penned them so well, the poor mite had nowhere to escape.  After that I have always tried, where the ewe shows any aggression at all, to pen them in a pen where there is a ledge or something that the lamb can use to get away from the ewe if necessary.  Very occasionally a ewe is still too aggressive to risk leaving, in which case I don't leave the lamb with her unattended until I am sure the situation is safe.  Oh, and that lambicidal Swaley got given a big strong orphan lamb who was plenty big and strong enough to take care of himself.  After a week she gave in and became his devoted slave - and she knew her job the next year.

I'm sure your Suffolk won't be lambicidal - but I thought I'd better share that story as a cautionary tale just in case!

Oh, and I suppose I should have said, with any udder-shy ewe, it's worth just checking that there's nothing wrong down there making it sore for her when the lamb sucks.  Sometimes it's just that the lamb is too greedy for her milk supply and is tugging and pulling at an empty teat.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2011, 09:54:15 am »
One of my Ryelands looked abit surprised by her lamb but once it started bleating, she knew what it was. I've been told that a strange dog's presence can stimulate the mothering instinct.

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2011, 01:11:52 pm »
Keep doing what your doing and she will be ok in a day or two ,common thing with gimmers

VSS

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Pen Llyn
    • Viable Self Sufficiency.co.uk
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2011, 03:38:18 pm »
If she is able to "run off" your pen is too big.
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andywalt

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • kent
  • observe react administer enjoy !!
    • photos
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2011, 05:14:19 pm »
she is now letting the lamb suck, but she is very scatty, she doesnt make that purring noise towards the lamblike the others, she kind od just tollerates it, I will keep them penned for a week I think, give them extra time, im a bit concerned if I turn them out, the ewe will be gone over the hill, leaving the lamb... still we will see eh!!

And tomorrow I will bring my dog into the barn and get him to lay down a few meters away from the pen!!
Suffolk x romneys and Texel X with Romney Tup, Shetlands and Southdown Tup

VSS

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Pen Llyn
    • Viable Self Sufficiency.co.uk
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2011, 05:33:53 pm »
Don't turn them out until you are sure they are ok.
The SHEEP Book for Smallholders
Available from the Good Life Press

www.viableselfsufficiency.co.uk

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2011, 09:27:21 pm »
Quote
Don't turn them out until you are sure they are ok.
Good advice. I let a silly Herdwick shearling out, when she wasn't sure about her lamb and the daft thing kept running off without it, poor lamb bleating hungrily in tow. Had to catch them and pen them again, til she got used the the idea  ::)

MrsJ

  • Joined Jan 2009
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2011, 10:04:18 pm »
Never had this with our mules - they are very good mums.  If you try to get too close, they stamp their feet and hide the lambs behind them. 

andywalt

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • kent
  • observe react administer enjoy !!
    • photos
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2011, 10:22:05 pm »
yes all my others are like that, but this one seems very strange, ill keep you all posted, well see what happens
Suffolk x romneys and Texel X with Romney Tup, Shetlands and Southdown Tup

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2011, 12:32:18 am »
And tomorrow I will bring my dog into the barn and get him to lay down a few meters away from the pen!!

Me with one of my cautionary tales again ... Just take care doing the dog thing.  Sometimes the dog makes the ewe so angry and scared she beats up on anything nearby.  Which can be her own lamb.  I've even had good motherly ewes do this.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

VSS

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Pen Llyn
    • Viable Self Sufficiency.co.uk
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2011, 10:06:14 am »
Shearlings can be wary of their lambs sometimes - I would hestitate to use a dog on a young ewe. Just remember that they don't get to go to ante natal classes like first time mothers of the human type. They have to learn to go along.

She just needs some time I should think. So long as she is not actively pushing the lamb away she will probably be ok once she gets used to it all.
The SHEEP Book for Smallholders
Available from the Good Life Press

www.viableselfsufficiency.co.uk

andywalt

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • kent
  • observe react administer enjoy !!
    • photos
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2011, 07:12:12 pm »
she seems a bit calmer today, I sat my dog next to the pen for jut 5 mins today, she di have a stamp but didnt shield t lmb at all, but she is letting it suckle, she just hasnt bonded, but I will have ewes lambing for the next two weeks so I will eep hr in, and we are downto the last ewe I will put her in the bigger pen and see how sheis then and hopefully she will bond before turnin out in a few weeks. Thanks for all your comments its very encouraging
Suffolk x romneys and Texel X with Romney Tup, Shetlands and Southdown Tup

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2011, 07:35:06 pm »
Sounds like a good plan  :)

andywalt

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • kent
  • observe react administer enjoy !!
    • photos
Re: Gimmer that is unsure of its lamb!!
« Reply #14 on: April 05, 2011, 07:39:34 pm »
 ;D ;D
Suffolk x romneys and Texel X with Romney Tup, Shetlands and Southdown Tup

 

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