[Pedwardine]

I have a little ram lamb that I'm bottle feeding. He's living out on the paddock with the ewes and other lambs. His mum and two brothers are there. Mum has rejected him however. He was oober tiny when he was born but healthy and eager enough. His mouth was too small and he was a bit weak on the suckling action to feed from mum so I milked her and fed him that essential colostrum for the first day as well as trying to help him get the hang of the floppity thing his mum had to offer with me getting him to suckle on my finger and replacing my finger with mum's teat which he would just hold in his mouth and do nothing with. Second day she wouldn't allow me to milk her so he got the powdered stuff. His suckling improved, then mum got poorly for a while with dreadful runs and when she did recover and his rear didn't smell 'right' she pushed him away. Now, out in the paddock, she'll rarely let him settle down with her and definately won't let him suckle. I've reluctantly become mum (well maybe not that reluctantly  ). Gabriel (the ram lamb) knows my voice, spots me from a distance and comes tearing towards me. It's not always for milk. I started feeding him with him sat on my lap so sometimes he wants to sit there and snuggle and snooze a little. I guess he's just wanting some kind of contact with some warm caring thing. He nibbles my zips and buttons and my chin and nose and glasses. He's a darling little thing. I check on the flock throughout the day and at night. Gabriel is always there at my feet 'Mmmpping' at me to pick him up or feed him. When it comes to leaving him it's really hard to shake him off. I've literally run away only to find he kept up with me all the way. I've observed him tonight as I kept pushing him to the sheep in the shelter going from one family group to the next trying to settle down only to be pushed away by the mum. He tries his own mum several times. I have to feed him ( he gets around a half dozen feeds a day/night) as no-one else is but he's associating so strongly with me it breaks my heart to leave him. He has a few lamby friends but he's essentially a lonely little fella. I can't give too much leaway or else he'd follow me around like a little dog and I want him to know he's a sheep. I confess I'd sit and cuddle him all day if I could  . He's obviously a keeper as I've named him    He is castrated though!
Anyone else had this much attention from a wee lambie? What did you do?

[sabrina]

I have always had at least 2 lambs being fed together which makes things easier. Single lamb being fed should be OK if the others keep it safe. As it grows and gets stronger it will still look to you for food that is when they become less cuddly .

[Bionic]

He sounds soo sweet.  I can't really help but can only say that as my lambs are getting older they tend to spend more time together rather than with mum. They seem to be happy to sleep together whilst the mums do their own thing. Perhaps Gabriel will do the same given a bit more time.

[in the hills]

Oooooo ...... Never had one but I would feel exactly the same as you and it would have to stay ..... too soft here I'm afraid.


May get more independent as it gets older I guess.


I can only say .... enjoy your cuddles .... why not?  You've already said that lamb can stay so enjoy while lambs little.

[Marches Farmer]

You'll probably find he'll "drift" and become a sheep rather than a voluntary human as he gets towards weaning.  Very tame lambs are one thing, very tame fully grown sheep that think they can try to push you down the pecking order quite another!

[Pedwardine]

First time this morning he didn't follow but stayed with his friends. So relieved. Stayed again this avo. He did go to sleep on a friend's lap though and was deposited still sleepy on the straw in the sunshine 

[Remy]

You sound like a mum when her child first starts nursery school Amanda!     I have one bottle fed lamb like you, she wasn't rejected but was a triplet who wasn't thriving and would have perished if I hadn't put her onto the bottle as mum didn't have loads of milk.  Took her a week of fighting the bottle till she accepted it, then wouldn't take much, but eventually was swigging a full bottle in about 30 secs lol.  She was with another two ewes who butted her away - the worst thing is to watch them it's heartbreaking!  But the lambs did play with her.  Every time she heard my door go she came rushing over bleating.


They are all out in the big field now with the others, she still comes running over when she sees me - her belly is full and she doesn't take much milk, but they obviously have the need to suckle.


I have another Gotland wether who is soooooo friendly - they make it so hard!  He's very handsome too (and I have named him ... Sam the lamb).  I might have to see if someone wants a pet at weaning 

[MelRice]

I was worried by my little bottle fed boy getting tooo clingy....esp as he is still a full boy (I was goion to do the castrating but my little shop didn't have the ring putting-on gadget and my friend had lost hers somewhere) ((Ive only has girls before and the lambies are ALL destined for the freezer))
My boy plays wee and cuddles up to his brother and I try to only feed over a gate/fence to stop him being to pushy...as was said a lamb all over you is cute...a ram is another matter

[Buffy the eggs layer]

My lambs are all raised by their mums and spend lots of time playing together and sleeping with each other they are 4 and a half weeks now and all the boys come to their names for a scratch. I let them follow me about and I dont think it confuses them. They know when they want to be with me and with their own kind. Im sure that being his mum when he needs it wont stop him becoming an independent sheep in his own time.

[zarzar]

we got one at min like it, we was given him after 3 weeks as had had joint ill and woman had to go back to work i cant shake him off lol you can run off and he follows and has the most horrid screechy voice when he shouts at you, have him with 2 other orphans and 2 ewes and lambs its taken him a week to realise they wont kill him lol  he finally learns to stay with the others and not follow me. and to top it off they named him winston which he answers to 

[Pedwardine]

Ha! That's fabulous  . We've got a Winston too    He's the big daddy, our head ram.
Some lambs really do sound like they're screaming don't they! Almost makes your ears bleed.
Gabriel kept nipping under the wire to follow me about today. He's so small he can do it with ease. He met two neighbours. People are starting to think it's normal 

[Alicenz]

He will be fine, all my 27 are pets and were orphans, they are all very tame, some raised alone others in groups.  They love the attention, but are also happy to just hang out with each other.  just watch that if he is very small that the bigger one dont butt him.  He needs some sort of mother for cuddles and it sounds like your it.  I have found when they reach 1 year they go off in a gang and are not so interested in me, like teenagers, then they get over that and are really friendly again.  Some of my boys were not castrated properly, and I had the vet desex them as older sheep (about 8- 12months) under anesthetic, quite full on for them, but they came through fine. They need pain relief while recovering. Not expensive.  Its good to know this as some are not desexed properly with rings, and loved pets can become aggressive, so this is a way they can be kept.  I had two stray rams turn up in my flock from the forest here, and they were scarey, but I got them desexed and they very quickly chilled out, they are huge but so gentle.  Enjoy it, he will!

[Pedwardine]

Your flock sound lovely Alicenz. We haven't ended up with a rig yet though our day will come I'm sure. Gabriel's brother's balls are so small we haven't yet been able to 'catch' them so may need the vet to do the deed when he/they are bigger 

[zarzar]

we got winston(already named when got him) and laurel and hardy lol

[Pedwardine]

Our Winston came with his moniker too. He was named to appeal to the American market alongside Bentley and Rolls Royce! All were AI 'producers' for export.