I'm very please to report that, as of this morning, my problem ewe has accepted
her lambs, and seems to be doing a fine job as a mother now. Thanks again to
all for your advice.
Sandy
- Original Message -
From: nancy...@centurytel.net nancy...@centurytel.net
To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info
Cc:
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 9:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Mothering ability
Cecil , Great for you! We started about 10 years ago and would pull lambs at
the first sign of trouble. Now its leave them as long as possible and if its
not mom fault that okay but if so she is gone! We are also selling down to
concentrate on our Racka AI progam. We have very few black bellies now only
ones that are named! Just about all of my 30 jacobs have got to go except
named ones again. They were all bottle raised and are great moms. Can't figure
that everyone told me a bottle ewe would never be a good mom but everyone of
mine have always been great never letting a baby get more than 2 or 3 feet away
and scoulding it when they do! Nancy
Quoting Cecil R Bearden crbear...@copper.net:
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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