Ewe rejecting her lamb

[BD1]

I have a yearling ewe who has just lambed twins on her own and seemed fine with both but now is rejecting the other.....any tips on what i can do or should I just take it away from her.

 

[Plopper]

sell as a pet saves f*cking about

 

[glensman]

I have a yearling ewe who has just lambed twins on her own and seemed fine with both but now is rejecting the other.....any tips on what i can do or should I just take it away from her.

If you really want her to take both and don't mind a bit of hassle, put her in a decent sized pen 6×6 or bigger and hurdle off a corner of the pen to put the lambs behind. Let them out to suck 4 times a day and straight back behind the hurdle as soon as they finish, after 3 or 4 days she'll take them.

 

[Nithsdale]

If you really want her to take both and don't mind a bit of hassle, put her in a decent sized pen 6×6 or bigger and hurdle off a corner of the pen to put the lambs behind. Let them out to suck 4 times a day and straight back behind the hurdle as soon as they finish, after 3 or 4 days she'll take them.

Oh no she won't!!

(It is panto season, after all )

 

[steveR]

sell as a pet saves f*cking about

Ideal Chrissy pressie for someone!!!

 

[Nithsdale]

If you really want her to take both and don't mind a bit of hassle, put her in a decent sized pen 6×6 or bigger and hurdle off a corner of the pen to put the lambs behind. Let them out to suck 4 times a day and straight back behind the hurdle as soon as they finish, after 3 or 4 days she'll take them.

In seriousness, this is probably the best way to get her to take them both.
You can buy a spray to put on the lambs which will mask their own smell, and make them smell the same so that the ewe can't tell them apart... It does work, but isn't guaranteed every time, IME. I've not bought the proper stuff though, I just use deodorant. The ex really questioned my relationship with the sheep when the lambing shed smelled like I was dressed up for going out

 

[SteveHants]

If you can get her to take them using the methods above, then do - I'd be tempted to orphan one and get rid of it to someone who likes looking after a loss making animal.
Don't forget to earmark her to be culled as soon as her lamb is weaned.

 

[glensman]

Oh no she won't!!

(It is panto season, after all [emoji23])

Ohhhh yes she will

 

[glensman]

In seriousness, this is probably the best way to get her to take them both.
You can buy a spray to put on the lambs which will mask their own smell, and make them smell the same so that the ewe can't tell them apart... It does work, but isn't guaranteed every time, IME. I've not bought the proper stuff though, I just use deodorant. The ex really questioned my relationship with the sheep when the lambing shed smelled like I was dressed up for going out

I have had a few gimmers that wouldn't take both on either halters or the adoption crate that were sorted using this method. We lamb indoors so I'm always about to get them a suck.

 

[cotswoldcs]

In seriousness, this is probably the best way to get her to take them both.
You can buy a spray to put on the lambs which will mask their own smell, and make them smell the same so that the ewe can't tell them apart... It does work, but isn't guaranteed every time, IME. I've not bought the proper stuff though, I just use deodorant. The ex really questioned my relationship with the sheep when the lambing shed smelled like I was dressed up for going out

Never tried deodorant but have "borrowed" some of my wife's old perfume. I didn't have any success but it was worth a try. Some take to lambs in the adopter and some don't. The success rate is very variable but every year we have a few "evil" sheep that test our patience and will attempt to kill a lamb. It's one of the most upsetting and frustrating things about lambing.

Up for any suggestions/ tips to improve our chances.

 

[neilo]

If you can get her to take them using the methods above, then do - I'd be tempted to orphan one and get rid of it to someone who likes looking after a loss making animal.
Don't forget to earmark her to be culled as soon as her lamb is weaned.

It would have to be a very dear pet lamb not to return a profit for someone willing to make the effort imo. Any lamb born now will cost the same to rear as a May born cade, but will hit the peak Easter trade.

 

[z.man]

It would have to be a very dear pet lamb not to return a profit for someone willing to make the effort imo. Any lamb born now will cost the same to rear as a May born cade, but will hit the peak Easter trade.

Could be worth £120 first week in April ?

 

[neilo]

Could be worth £120 first week in April ?

Could well be this year imo, as hoggets will be short.

Still ‘only’ costs £50 to rear to finished weights.

 

[Nithsdale]

Never tried deodorant but have "borrowed" some of my wife's old perfume. I didn't have any success but it was worth a try. Some take to lambs in the adopter and some don't. The success rate is very variable but every year we have a few "evil" sheep that test our patience and will attempt to kill a lamb. It's one of the most upsetting and frustrating things about lambing.

Up for any suggestions/ tips to improve our chances.

I don't have an adopter anymore, I just halter the ewe in the pen... it does work but like you say there's always the odd one hell bent on rejection so I'm game to try anything to get her away with her lambs.


My theory with the deodorant was we've all seen Lynx sends the girls wild, so surely a wee wiff of Africa would get her loving the lamb...

I didn't try using my Hugo Boss - it's never worked for me so didn't think it was worth bothering

 

[yellowbelly]

I didn't try using my Hugo Boss - it's never worked for me so didn't think it was worth bothering

The ex really questioned my relationship with the sheep when the lambing shed smelled like I was dressed up for going out

.....well you've only yourself to blame, what with that and all your talk of 'pulling your tups off' on other threads

 

[neilo]

My preferred option is to use a plastic feed sack over the ewe's head, cut to make a tube. It works sometimes, but if they've already made their mind up for whatever reason, very often nothing ever works. It seems to be much worse with more maternal ewes IME, and I don't even bother trying with Highlanders any more, if they ever reject one.

 

[SteveHants]

Could well be this year imo, as hoggets will be short.

Still ‘only’ costs £50 to rear to finished weights.

If it doesn't die.

Mortality rates are unsurprisingly higher in orphan lambs - it might "only" cost £50 to rear, but if one out of every 5 die.......

 

[neilo]

If it doesn't die.

Mortality rates are unsurprisingly higher in orphan lambs - it might "only" cost £50 to rear, but if one out of every 5 die.......

If one out of every 5 die, you have a problem that needs addressing!

 

[SteveHants]

If one out of every 5 die, you have a problem that needs addressing!

I'm sure the stats give mortalities of 25% - I never bothered, I had a job off-farm which made more money so I made sure they were vital and then got rid to a friendly smallholder asap - If they cost £50 to raise and mortality is high and my time is worth £12/hour elsewhere......

 

[Green farmer]

Ewes rejecting lambs is an area I've never figured out. These are my possible reasons for it
1. Ewe is just lacking some maternal ability and something stupid has stopped her from accepting lamb. Ewe needs culling.
2. she is lazy and decided she couldn't be bothered rearing two lambs, so that's what shes going with. Again needs culling
3 . Has sensed that the lamb has some genetic defect , that we cannt see and has decided to reject it, as the lamb won't survive . Alternatively, she has some internal weakness and she knows shes unable to rear two, so she has made the decision to rear the stronger lamb ? ewe is more clever then us !!!