I'm so sorry the lamb didn't make it OhLaLa. There will be a little gap in your flock this year
. It does sound as if the ewe lambed early, so the lambs would have been weaker than normal. Some lambs just can't survive so don't be too upset about it. Your next lambs will be bouncing and everything will go ok.
For the future, when the lambs are born, keep a distant eye on them to make sure that they feed in the first few hours. If they don't feed then they get colder and colder and less likely to feed unassisted. (Cold ears are the first sign, then cold mouth) Although you can try warming them up with a hotwater bottle (wrap both lamb and the bottle in an old towel and hold them on your lap), on a radiator (in a towel again), in the bottom oven of the aga or under a heat lamp, they will only be truly warm once they have sucked and have a full belly. However, if they get too cold and you then get milk into them, they can't digest it and can die of that. So that is why warmed glucose is worth a try, orally. Injecting it into the abdomen is not something you should try unless you know how to do it, as obviously you could puncture the bowel. Glucose powder is very cheap from the agric store.
You could need to intervene in a lambing, for which you need the ewe on her side, so you do need to learn how to tip her (whilst not squashing the lamb) - there is a knack to it which makes it fairly easy. Once she is on her side, a foot or knee under her shoulder will keep her there.
I am wondering whether that overlarge teat you described may have been the problem initially with this lamb. Sometimes too the lamb can't get the wax plug from the teat if its sucking reflex is not strong, and runs out of energy before it can get any milk. Milking the ewe would have dislodged the wax and also emptied the udder a bit and reduced the size of the teat, as well as getting her used to something at her teats.
Whilst keeping an eye on her postpartum, you could practice both tipping her and milking her.
As I said before, and others agree, trying to attach a cold lamb to an unwilling teat can be SO frustrating - it makes me furious
Once a lamb has fed it will curl up happily and sleep for ages - if it's warm and sleeping soundly, even if you don't see it feed, then it is ok. If you pick it up it will feel heavier than it did at birth. An unfed lamb will stand up looking hunched and cold, with a sucked-in belly, or lie flopped out on the straw.
So, put this behind you but learn from it - we are all learning all the time, and I think most of us have been where you just have.
