Sometimes Sheep just surprise you !

[andybk]

Just getting near end of lambing second lot , one 2t ewe had a single didnt want it right from birth , then chased it around the nursery pen for two days , so went on a long halter so she didnt do it any damage, every day since water bucket kicked over floor so had to clean it out and dry bed , dances every time lamb tries to suck (hes doing really well and as fat as butter ) well had enough tonight and let her out with lamb in pen under cctv camera to keep an eye , thinking need to get it on bottle when it gets hungary tomorrow , couldnt believe it she is standing letting the lamb suck just like rest , then following it as it dances around pen .
well that has knocked my socks off !, cant believe it , and a relief of not have a bottle baby at the end of season , they just surprise you sometimes

 

[Mc115reed]

Just getting near end of lambing second lot , one 2t ewe had a single didnt want it right from birth , then chased it around the nursery pen for two days , so went on a long halter so she didnt do it any damage, every day since water bucket kicked over floor so had to clean it out and dry bed , dances every time lamb tries to suck (hes doing really well and as fat as butter ) well had enough tonight and let her out with lamb in pen under cctv camera to keep an eye , thinking need to get it on bottle when it gets hungary tomorrow , couldnt believe it she is standing letting the lamb suck just like rest , then following it as it dances around pen .
well that has knocked my socks off !, cant believe it , and a relief of not have a bottle baby at the end of season , they just surprise you sometimes

I find the more I watch them in pens at lambing the worse I make things... there’s spotting things that are problems and then there’s getting too involved and causing them I seem too do the latter when I start too worry about lambs...

 

[Green farmer]

Just getting near end of lambing second lot , one 2t ewe had a single didnt want it right from birth , then chased it around the nursery pen for two days , so went on a long halter so she didnt do it any damage, every day since water bucket kicked over floor so had to clean it out and dry bed , dances every time lamb tries to suck (hes doing really well and as fat as butter ) well had enough tonight and let her out with lamb in pen under cctv camera to keep an eye , thinking need to get it on bottle when it gets hungary tomorrow , couldnt believe it she is standing letting the lamb suck just like rest , then following it as it dances around pen .
well that has knocked my socks off !, cant believe it , and a relief of not have a bottle baby at the end of season , they just surprise you sometimes

I'd still give her a cull tag. You wouldn't have to ask your best ewes a second time to take a lamb. ?

 

[Agrivator]

One wonder of nature is a Peewit (Plover), pretending to have a broken wing, when it thinks its eggs or chicks are under threat.

The sight of it in distress is supposed to distract a predator, but how does the Peewit know to do that?

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

I've seen ducks do that as well. Nature is a wonderful thing.
Regarding the OP, since getting a camera in the lambing/calving shed it reinforces how differently animals behave when they don't know they are being watched!

 

[andybk]

I'd still give her a cull tag. You wouldn't have to ask your best ewes a second time to take a lamb. ?

she already has , that went in within 24hrs lol

 

[Poorbuthappy]

One wonder of nature is a Peewit (Plover), pretending to have a broken wing, when it thinks its eggs or chicks are under threat.

The sight of it in distress is supposed to distract a predator, but how does the Peewit know to do that?

I've seen ducks do that as well. Nature is a wonderful thing.
Regarding the OP, since getting a camera in the lambing/calving shed it reinforces how differently animals behave when they don't know they are being watched!

Yes, saw a duck do that here too when I came along with the dog.
But I'm not quite sure of the relevance to the thread

Maybe more directly related to op, or to join the 2 ideas, I had a boss once who would bring the dog in beside the pen of a ewe that wouldn't take its lamb, to "bring out the maternal instinct".
We've tried it here, occasionally has some success.

 

[neilo]

I'd still give her a cull tag. You wouldn't have to ask your best ewes a second time to take a lamb. ?

Surely depends on whether she was a first time lamber? They can be bewildered by the new experience, particularly maiden shearlings and where people have interfered in the birthing/bonding process.
Iirc the op doesn’t lamb hoggs and lambs inside, so a 2 tooth ewe could well have had both those factors involved.

Any I’ve had like that have been fine the next year, with a bit of experience under their belts.

 

[Keepers]

Funny how they do things! Sometimes it works that way, we try and try and then when he let go and put less pressure on them and leave them to be a sheep they think about it a bit more

I had a little welsh x shearling lamb for the first time in March, big still born lamb but I didn’t have anything to foster on to her so left it with her incase a foster came up
She maa’d at the lamb for ages until I picked it up, a whole THREE days later she decided she wanted a lamb so bad that she went and nicked a twin off another first timer. But the twin was already a week old, she just followed it around and fed it for so long that it became hers. Until she managed to walk off with it, both yearlings now rearing singles and both singles growing much better than if left on the original mum

 

[Extreme Optimist]

I've seen ducks do that as well. Nature is a wonderful thing.
Regarding the OP, since getting a camera in the lambing/calving shed it reinforces how differently animals behave when they don't know they are being watched!

Couldn't agree more. The cameras have revolutionised calving. The bond is so much greater between mother and calf - heifers particularly! Also, they get on with things so much quicker if you are not going out to check on them every 15 mins. The other thing I have noticed is how much more likely you are to spot problems. Had a cow acting oddly, nothing I could put my finger on though. Got her in and 360 degree torsion of the uterous which required a Caesar. Chances are, she would have behaved differently if she had seen me watching and I may well have missed it resulting in a dead calf.

 

[andybk]

Surely depends on whether she was a first time lamber? They can be bewildered by the new experience, particularly maiden shearlings and where people have interfered in the birthing/bonding process.
Iirc the op doesn’t lamb hoggs and lambs inside, so a 2 tooth ewe could well have had both those factors involved.

Any I’ve had like that have been fine the next year, with a bit of experience under their belts.

lol, yes i do lamb a few hoggs outside this time of year , mainly because i got fed up of strong shearlings behaving as in op ,the hoggs are far better mothers and will look after a single as good as gold and will be better mothers as 2t , will be treated as bonus lambs anyway , if i loose a few so be it . But yes lamb 2t indoors then straight out mainly due to logistics and fragmented holding

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Couldn't agree more. The cameras have revolutionised calving. The bond is so much greater between mother and calf - heifers particularly! Also, they get on with things so much quicker if you are not going out to check on them every 15 mins. The other thing I have noticed is how much more likely you are to spot problems. Had a cow acting oddly, nothing I could put my finger on though. Got her in and 360 degree torsion of the uterous which required a Caesar. Chances are, she would have behaved differently if she had seen me watching and I may well have missed it resulting in a dead calf.

This is our experience as well. Animals can tell you a lot by their body language but it's much better when they don't know you are watching. We also AI some cows and find the cameras a great help in spotting cows in season, especially the shy ones!