My dad made a halter out of some flat nylon woven strapping for a ewe
that would not take her lambs. We tied her to the pen and p;ut hay and
water within reach and in 3 days she took her lambs. We supplemented
the lambs with bottle feeding also. She had triplets. When she did it
again the next year, we tied her again and when she had weaned her lambs
she went to the sale. I have tried mentholatum or Vicks vapor rub on
the lambs back and the ewes nose to get orphan lambs grafted to
mothers. I also took a lamb from an unwilling mother and set it into
the pen with a mother who had just had a stillborn lamb and she took
that little lamb just as if it was hers. She seemed so grateful to find
that it magically came to life. The unwilling mother went to the sale.
( maybe you note a trend here!) I don't know if the mothering trait is
inherited, or learned from the behavior of the lambs mother, but if it
is not there, they do not stay around.
The time and expense involved to take care of orphans is immense. I
am nearing weaning of 4 bottle babies this time. One was injured during
a predator situation during lambing at night. The others were
abandoned, and I could not determine who was the mother. We had a
severe drought and my ewes did not give a lot of milk. 3 were raised
together in a playpen, and were found within 2 days. The one that was
injured was raised in the house with diapers and the dog looked after
it. It thinks it is a dog and runs to meet us when we drive in and also
other people that come around. It freaks them out to have a lamb run
with the dog to the car!. She also will butt heads with the dog.!!!
I have worked with blackbellies for about 15 years now. When I first
started, I spent a lot of time with unwilling mothers, and ewes that I
would call "head cases". Now that I am nearing 60 years old, my advice
is to get rid of the "head cases" If they do not have any mothering
ability, they are not part of my flock. I have an orphan I raised on a
bottle that just had a lamb, and she is a great mother, I am so proud!!
I have another ewe that had her feet frostbitten when born. She
only has 3 hooves. To make things worse the bad leg is her hind leg.
She had a lamb yesterday, and she will not allow it to get over 2 feet
from her. A great mother. My point is, I will put up with a lot of
problems if the ewe is a good mother.
This will probably be my last lambing for along time, so I am going to
thin my flock and keep everything that is named!!
Just my opinion and observations.
Cecil in OKla
5/11/2012 7:38 PM, SHession wrote:
Thank you to all for the good advice. The lambs continue to do well. Mom lets
the babies nurse while I hold her, and has become increasingly less aggressive
with them over the course of the day. I am hopeful that she will accept them.
I will put together a headgate for her tomorrow, if needed. I wasn't good for
much today since I was up most of the night. Hopefully more useful tomorrow,
although there will still be interruptions to feed the lambs.
Sandy
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