We use the clear plastic jackets on thin-skinned lambs, especially if the weather is wet.
I've written up how to use them before, but to save searching I'll repeat.
I have had ewes attack lambs when I've used the orange ones, so we only buy the clear ones now.
I jacket the lamb slowly and carefully, while the ewe watches, and I make sure she's okay with it before leaving it, and/or jacketing her second lamb.
If the jacket is a little large for the lamb, it's best to cut an inch off the rear end. The ewe checks it's her lamb by sniffing its head and its bum, so make sure she can smell its anus.
Do not take the lamb out of sight of the ewe, jacket it and return it. There's a much higher likelihood of her rejecting it if you do this. She needs to be watching the lamb all the time. If the ewe will stay nearby, so much the better - if she'll stand close by, I let her keep sniffing the lamb as I slowly jacket it.
Needless to say, don't jacket the lamb until the ewe has licked it and bonded with it, unless you really have no choice. (Outdoor lambing, foul weather, no possibility of bringing the family indoors until dried and bonded.) If you have to jacket it within minutes of birth, it's better to dry it off as it won't dry underneath the jacket. I'd then rub some of the fluids over the top of the jacket, and be sure that the lamb's head and bum smell of birth fluids.
Even with this procedure, I still get the odd ewe won't take the lamb once it's jacketed. So don't leave until you are sure all is well. If she becomes aggressive with the lamb, you'll have to take the jacket off - bring them indoors until the weather improves, or you may have better luck with the jacket once she's had a bit more time with the lamb.
It's generally the more primitive or hill type that are more likely to have issues with jacketing their lambs.
I wrote a couple of years ago about my poor confused Manx ewe Dot Cotton, whose wee white (crossbred) boy I jacketed. It came towards her, she ran away from it. Then she'd say, "That's my lamb!" and run after it. But when it turned towards her, and rustled, she'd back away again. They kept this up for about half an hour, but eventually she let it suckle, and all was well.
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