My second time mum ewe had a lamb this morning and was happy suckling it and licking it. All was good. Until the sheep in the next pen started to lamb. The first ewe started headbutting and rejecting her lamb. I put her into a lamb adopter (crush?) and this evening she is kicking the lamb when it tries to suck. She doesn't seem to want to headbutt it anymore and she seems to call to it but I'm worried that she won't accept it again. We only have four sheep in total and this is only the second time she's had a lamb. We are totally new at this. Any advice is welcomed. Should I try to bottle feed the lamb or try to make her sickle? I don't want to lose it. Thanks in advance.
Ewe headbutting her lamb
- Thread starter Farminggirl
- Start date
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
Pen her up with the lamb, and keep holding her every few hours to let the lamb drink. Can take days, maybe a week but generally they will take 1 lamb no bother doing this.
Sometimes a pen with a small area fenced off in a corner (for the lamb) is handy - she gets to see/smell it and you can make her stand several times a day to let the lamb have a good feed - sheep can on occasion test your patience... ( a dog tied pretty near is a good help once again)
My father's method also included his very noisy terrier being held up to the ewe which encouraged the mothering instinct.
- Location
- Radnorshire
Tie her to a hurdle 1 string round neck 1 in front of back legs. Lamb can suck when wants and ewe will calm down and after a couple of hours accept lamb.
I am indeed grateful to everyone who responded to my plea for help and indeed the ewe is in an adopter and is allowing the lamb to suckle. The reason I didn't respond was not a lack of manners but a family emergency which resulted in me spending a significant portion of the last 24 hours in hospital. Maybe don't jump to negative conclusions about people Moors ladIt would be nice if the OP were to have the manners to say thank you or at least let us know how things are going....We all like to help one another BUT sometimes you wonder why you bother...
Thanks, I think it is working.
Thanks for the update - hopefully the ewe will take the lamb. Also I hope the family emergency sorts itself out as well as possible. I hope you understand it can be very annoying when someone posts on here for the first time and then seems to just vanish in to thin air without a word of thanks to those who`ve tried to help, and no word of explanation as to how their problem has evolved....
Please accept apologies for my jumping to a conclusion.