[melholly]

Well, you certainly live and learn with this lambing... Feel compelled to share my woes in your good company! My 'special' sheep Hiltz lambed today. She's tiny - stunted growth, no one knows what she is really, we had her given to us by a farmer as an orphan he found in a field, abandoned overnight. He told us 'she's not likely to last' but we were new to game and fed her with our other 2 orphans and somehow she's survived these last 2 years. We think she's blind/partially blind, maybe deaf too. She has no flock instinct at all, always the loner and wasn't meant to be in field with our loaned Southdown ram. But she got in, and Alex the ram did his thing.


Anyway, I thought she was dead this afternoon. I'd been checking on her hourly and found her at 5pm shallow breathing, staring into space on her side having delivered a big ram lamb. I thought she was a goner at first - no interest or acknowledgment of her cracker of a lamb. Anyway after much prodding I persuaded her to get a bit of fight and stand up which she did. I somehow carried her to the barn, checked for another one and put some molasses down which she wolfed.


A farmer up the road came and looked at her too and reckons though there's no great bond, mum is at least not pushing lamb away and lamb has latched on. I left her alone to bond for an hour and came back to find her standing with lamb underneath. I presume she's just been traumatised along with her 'disabilities' Our farmer friend advised if we don't see him feeding , restrain mum 2/3 times a day so lamb can feed off her. He reckons after a few days or so, once out in field, lamb will be strong enough to make sure he gets the milk he needs even if mum doesn't know/see/hear him. She's not baa d once though.


Am knackered (pardon the baseness!) !! Anyone shared any similar experiences?!


Probably not!!


Mx

[Brucklay]

I guess it is a big change for her - with any luck they will both be perky in the morning - oh no nothing along those lines here - keeping    for both

[Pedwardine]

No experience here either but really hope they defie the odds 

[melholly]

Well this morning has brought little change sadly.


Mum either just stands and the little fella grabs around underneath or she lies down. She's still very unsteady on her back legs and is still totally unaware of this lamb.


I've seen her just walk off when he was trying to suckle and she thinks nothing of standing on him etc - but in a way that demonstrates she has no knowledge of him being there rather than in a 'rejection' type way.


Been holding her and letting fella have a good feed in the night and first thing this morning, will do the same around 11am ish unless I definitely see a change in her behaviour...


Mx

[SallyintNorth]

As the wee 'un gets stronger, he'll work out how and when to feed.  Meantime sounds like you'll have to support a few feeds during the day, and maybe pen them together - with somewhere he can escape from her clumsy feet - overnight so he doesn't have to chase her round a field for a drink.

One risk is that he'll work out that he can 'pinch' milk from any ewe that's distracted, and hence reduce the amount available to your other lambs from their own mothers.

He'll do better on mum's milk if you can manage it and it isn't making the mother too upset or depriving other lambs - but the alternative is of course to take him off and rear him on the bottle.

[melholly]

Hi Sally,


I hadn't thought that maybe once out he'll sneak milk from the others - other Mums are pretty chilled and have buckets of milk! I've been thinking about 'next step' options and seem to have come up with:


1: Remove and bottle feed. (But then he misses Mums milk which she is capable of giving even if needing holding.)
2. Creating a pen outdoors which would access them to grass but mean I can still keep an eye on him and help him get a feed. (But then he misses on the socialising with the other lambs - does this matter?)
3. Let both 'free' with the others, see if he grabs milk (he IS getting strong and does 'smash and grab' milk from Mum when he can - just never seen him prolonged feed without me holding Mum still) and if not top up with a bottle once or twice a day. (I don't even know if this is a feasible/practical idea?!!)


Thoughts welcome
Mx

[SallyintNorth]

3. is very feasible - get him on the bottle before you loose him, he'll pick up pretty quickly that you mean milk and become a complete pest! 

One other option, perhaps, would be to get mum and him into your field pen once or twice a day for a supported feed?  Depends how easy Hiltz is to lead/push, I guess.  Or if you are giving the ewes cake, and she comes for that, could you nab her and pen her when you feed them?

[FiB]

Very little experience - but Ive some weak twins I top up on field (they do get what they can from their mum but are eager for more) and its working really well.  nearly 2 weeks in and theyve stopped comming and are looking oK now so think they have worked it out.  I penned on field for a day and a night as she wasnt very interested in them, but not out and out rejection (very limited undercover space - for deaths door emergencies only).  Good luck 

[melholly]

Yes...I could easily nab her...she's only knee high (Southdown Ram = big lamb!!) and as she has 'some' hearing she often waits for Ollie the leader to give one of her ear splitting baa's and comes to her for a nut or 2!


I think my plan of attack will be tomorrow, move them into a pen outdoors for a day and night as mentioned above. Observe how both respond then take a view on whether to support Hiltz whilst little fella (called McQueen!!) get's what he needs. If that doesn't appear to be working, keep in pen for an extra day or 2 and introduce a bottle 'top up' before releasing.


I wouldn't want to get him exclusively used to milk on tap so want to leave him 'needing' Mum still to keep as much of his natural instinct as poss. 2 full bottles a day??? Or less...?? I have a willing and able 5 year old to do the bottle bonding! :-)


Mx

[SallyintNorth]

It's hard to say how much he'll need without knowing how much he can get from Hiltz - but as he's still very young he will need to get milk in between the twice-daily feeds. 

However, a whole bottle at his age is way too much in one go, I would say.  I'd be offering 200-250ml I think, and gauge from how round he gets!  I like them to be plumply round but not distended after each meal.

And you'll see if he's managing in between the bottle feeds by how hollow he is when you do feed him.  If completely concave, then he may need three top-ups a day, or a supported feed mid-day, until he's a couple of weeks old and/or gets better at pinching from mum (and any other ewes who aren't wise to his tricks  .)

[melholly]

Many thanks!
I'll see how we get on...!
Mx