[Pony-n-trap]

Last year we got 7 'orphan' lambs from the mart, one died of rattle belly, one got eaten!! (by a badger I think) but think he had died first, another died of ........ something I cant spell this early in the morning, let me try Coccidiosis??? Well we think it was that. And the other four have grown into stonking great VERY tame hoggs.  Two are wetherers so their destination this morning is the slaughterhouse and will return to the freezer, the two ewe lambs, we have decided to sell at the mart, they will have to go as feeding ewes today apparently but, well, thats the 'learning curve' for the year over.  They were bordering on dangerous because as soon as they saw me (Mummy!) I would be nearly knocked flat in the field and with the other inlamb ewes, they would set off galloping, ewes following, so we thought they had better go rather than risk injuries or losses to lambs and ewes.

Hope we dont end up with orphans or triplets this year, but if we do, at least I know we are prepared for the hard work of rearing them, so to the four who have left this morning, I actually thank them for letting me learn SO much about them, and the 3 that didnt make it, I thank them too, for allowing me to realise just what can go wrong.

We are lambing late, 1st May as we are outside and waiting for much needed grass, but, I feel quite excited  now for the next stage of learning in our sheep keeping!

[Fleecewife]

Good luck with your lambing ponyntrap.  Ours should start tomorrow, or whenever they are ready..... 

 You have hi-lighted one of the problems with bottlefed lambs - they grow into great big smelly sheep who think they are still cute and cuddly and you are still their mum 

[Pony-n-trap]

Good luck with your lambing ponyntrap.  Ours should start tomorrow, or whenever they are ready..... 

 You have hi-lighted one of the problems with bottlefed lambs - they grow into great big smelly sheep who think they are still cute and cuddly and you are still their mum 

Thanks Fleecewife and Good Luck to you with yours!

Yes, I was still their 'mum', although one thing my pals couldnt understand when they were going on about how cute they were as lambs was me saying. Aye, but they wont stay cute for long! 

[TheCaptain]

What's a feeding ewe when it's a home then???

[SallyintNorth]

What's a feeding ewe when it's a home then???

The grown-up equivalent of a store lamb, I guess, ie, a ewe that requires feeding in order to have enough condition to be worth slaughtering (aka "selling in the fat")

[katie]

i know what you mean about ex- bottle lambs. We started off with three from the farm where I worked as a lambing assistant. They were very sweet. Now they are huge and a menace -one of them stands on her hind legs and could easily knock me down. We decided to breed from them this year but they are hogging the feed from our other in-lamb ewes. I hate to say this but they are going to have to go once their lambs are weaned. Hopefully I have a good life lined up for them as lawnmowers....

[ellisr]

We have a couple of last years hand reared lambs which TBH are fine as I am very strict on contact when they are little to my husbands dismay. I rear them on the bottle for a week then introduce a nursing bucket and creep so very little contact other than checking them over. They then go into the home paddock with my old wether (who thinks he is a mum) and he teaches sheep behaviour and manners as well as protecting his lambs. At 3-4 months old they join the flock if they have progressed enough, as the field and home paddock are side by side they watch the other sheep and normally settle with the flock quickly and have proper sheep respect for humans. We do have one older adopted hand reared wether who can be a bit of a pain but we discourage that behaviour by not giving him attention and he soon looses all interest very quickly and walks away.

[Pony-n-trap]

We have a couple of last years hand reared lambs which TBH are fine as I am very strict on contact when they are little to my husbands dismay. I rear them on the bottle for a week then introduce a nursing bucket and creep so very little contact other than checking them over. They then go into the home paddock with my old wether (who thinks he is a mum) and he teaches sheep behaviour and manners as well as protecting his lambs. At 3-4 months old they join the flock if they have progressed enough, as the field and home paddock are side by side they watch the other sheep and normally settle with the flock quickly and have proper sheep respect for humans. We do have one older adopted hand reared wether who can be a bit of a pain but we discourage that behaviour by not giving him attention and he soon looses all interest very quickly and walks away.

Only one of my seven orphans was reared on a bottle, the rest on the bucket (which had 6 teats) no cuddles, in the paddock, feed, out, hay and creep feed, weaned at about 7 weeks, at 8 weeks into the field with the other ewes with lambs at foot, I was still mum though!

[ellisr]

Really strange. We raised them about the same and mine have no attachment at all TBH the ewe lamb we named Smiler is the hardest to catch. Makes you wonder if it is genetics that can cause it.

[Pony-n-trap]

Really strange. We raised them about the same and mine have no attachment at all TBH the ewe lamb we named Smiler is the hardest to catch. Makes you wonder if it is genetics that can cause it.

It is strange but then I was only thinking before, maybe I have some strange interest or attachment as ALL my animals come running to me yet OH, they act as they should, maybe I'm too trustworthy for them or something, makes it difficult sometimes but not one has ever bitten the hand that feeds it!

[piggy]

My 2 orphans from last year 2 ewes Dolly and Basil are more like dogs,they are not aloud in with my other sheep as they just trash the fencing to get out so they are my lawn mowers as we have far to much lawn for my likeing in all prob about an acre split in 3 different places so they quiet happly mooch about the holding doing there job,they can be anywhere on the holding and i call dolly basil and they will come running,they really are like dogs when we play fetch with the dogs they join in i really must get a video as its so funny,they will wander in my house if the front door is open,jump in my car if its open but i wouldnt be without them.