There’s a first time for everything.

[Beekissed]

I think I’ll try the grafting just to have some experience should I really need to do it in the future. It if takes good and it it doesn’t I’ll just give baby back to momma and continue milking. Thank you all for the advice. I’ll let you all know how it goes. How long should I try the grafting before I know if it’s a success or not?

I think that would likely vary. I always left them to it when I saw them eating consistently and after the nursing, the mother wanting to lick on and nurture the baby. You'll likely be able to tell pretty quickly if she's going to accept the baby by her behavior...if she rejects him she'll butt him and won't let him nurse at all.

I'd hold her head the first time he nurses but after he's had a good feed for a bit, I'd let her go and see what she does. Place the scent in her nostrils, his bottom, along his back, his head so that when she reaches back to sniff who's nursing, she gets a whiff of the same scent she's got in her own nose. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

I've had good success with cattle and rabbits, but sheep may be much more sensitive..especially the hair breeds. They seem more akin to wild deer to me than the woolly breeds. Much more wily.

I hope it goes well for you! Please let us know? LOVE to hear about your homesteading efforts.

 

[Ayla_noemi]

Great shear job!!! You should continue to milk her and make some cheese, as well as freeze some in case you have a bum lamb. She's beautiful!

Just curious...why did you take her lamb from her so early? She may get mastitis if you don't continue to milk her and keep her stripped out...got any extra lambs you can graft onto her?

Here are some more snaps of baby and Onyx post Vick’s. It seems like it’s going ok to me. But baby resists our attempts to help her nurse. Maybe she’s just not hungry...?

 

[Ayla_noemi]

I've never personally did it with sheep, only cattle,but was successful with putting bum calves from the stockyard onto my milk cow. Just took putting a scent into her nose and on them as well...some use Vicks, I used essential oils...can't remember the one I used at the time, could have been lemongrass. Needs to be a strong scent.

I used Vicks when we did this with meat rabbits.

She seems very docile if you are able to milk her so easily and she may welcome the relief of a swollen udder if you give her a lamb. I'd let her udder get a little distended again and then try it, masking the scent of the ringer lamb and just monitor how it goes. It would help if you isolate her from the others, especially the original mama, until the pairing has taken.

I'd check often enough that you feel secure about leaving them alone together. You've got nothing to lose by trying.

Or, you could just milk her like you planned to do your goats. She has GREAT teats for a sheep and a very roomy udder, being that docile she's an excellent candidate for a milking ewe. Some of the world's most expensive cheese is made from sheep's milk.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/04/essential-sheep-milk-cheese.html

Here are some more snaps of Onyx and her potential baby. Still looking good to me. What do you think?

 

[Ayla_noemi]

Not to be too much of a downer, but I've had no luck grafting lambs. The ewes reject them forcefully - will trample and butt a bummer lamb and injure it. They won't accept their own lamb back after separation most times. You don't need to worry about taking lambs off mom unless you have triplets or quads. Mom can handle two just fine on her own.

I have a love-hate relationship with bottle raising lambs. I love having a flock of tame ewes - started with bottle lambs. However, bottle raised rams are downright nasty and DANGEROUS. I have one of those. If his wool wasn't so nice and if I couldn't halter him, he'd be in the freezer years ago. My first year 4 out of 7 died. Second year, did great with 3 out of 3 surviving. 1 sold, 1 freezer, the other broke a leg and was put down. Third year, lost 1 to toxemia, lost another failure to thrive (was a premature lamb from a terminal C-section), and the other two bottle lambs died about 6 months old from worms, and they'd had fecal egg counts, and several rounds of wormer.

I say I won't bottle feed lambs this year, but as soon as one as one is rejected... I'm smitten. :sigh: Last year was especially bad because I was having a miscarriage at the same time as the terminal C-sections and rejected lamb stuff was going down.

I really need to cull one of my ewes. All my bottle lambs except one has been out of her or her progeny.

So no serious issues yet with this pair. I tried to force a latch just now. Had my brother steady her head and somewhat restrained her hind legs. Baby did not want to latch on her own so I stuck my finger in her mouth and opened nicely as I could and put her on the teet. She licked a bit but no real latch. Would just lay there panting. I think it was too stressful for baby but Onyx did fine. I’m thinking maybe I need to wash my hands good and wash Onyx’s udder down. Maybe I got carried away with the Vick’s and the baby might be turned off by the taste... I will try again in a bit. This baby is very vigorous so if the pairing fails and I have to bottle feed at least I can milk Onyx for her. I wasn’t very fond of Onyx’s milk. Not very rich and creamy like my goats and a bit salty/grassy.

 

[sumi]

Aww, I can almost see that little tail wagging with pleasure! Such a beautiful pair and thing to witness...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Fantastic!!

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

WAY TO GO!!!

 

[Ayla_noemi]

Excellent experiment!!! I love it when folks try new things just to learn if it can be done. I love Onyx...that's one keeper of a ewe. I'm glad someone mentioned the stimulating the hind end of the lamb...that comes in handy for getting baby animals to suckle...and also to have a BM(kittens and puppies).

I hope this graft sticks and you can call this experiment a success. I imagine as time goes along and you may have to repeat this grafting with the sheep that you will refine your technique and can teach others how you have found success with it.

Katahdins are my fave sheep breed for a very good reason...easy to work with, easy keepers, docile, easy lambing, easy to fatten on just grass, parasite resistant if raised properly and they are just beautiful in all ways~love the different colors, the way their wool just peels off neatly in large sheets instead of the rag tags of other hair breeds, their neat, feminine heads/faces.

I did have one more question for everyone. How long should they remain separated from the heard before being reintroduced in order to encourage them to stay together?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm betting Onyx will start to look less depressed once she's fully bonded with this lamb...sheep are kind of sensitive when flock members are taken away and I'm betting it's doubly so when their lambs are removed from them too soon. She looked a little hang dog on those pics when she was being sheared and her udder was too extended.

I'm very eager to see this turn out successfully. I'm so very glad you tried this out.

 

[Beekissed]

So this morning they seemed to be ok Onyx’s udder was looking good. I sat back and tried to watch but my presence was obviously irritating Onyx. She stomps when she does not approve. I sat for about 5-10 minutes and when the baby tried to nurse Onyx would move away.they were doing this circle dance where Onyx tried to smell the baby’s rump and the baby tried to reach the udder. After a while I held Onyx and the baby slowly approached and drained her udder. Onyx tried to run away almost the whole time. It didn’t look promising to me. I wanted to know what the group thought.

It does sound like she's not fully bonded with that lamb. Or it could be that she just didn't want to nurse while you were there. If she's not butting that lamb away and it looks like the udder is being nurse on, it could be the case.

Is the lamb gaining any weight? I'd leave them completely alone for a whole day and check back to see if her udder is hyper extended and the lambs belly is empty...I'd take that as a sure sign it's not going to happen.