There’s a first time for everything.

[sumi]

To my admittedly untrained eye the lamb looks o.k. If you can, take a series of pics of it through the day and then compare it over a day or two and see how it changes. That would give you a better idea of what is "normal" and when to start worrying.

 

[Beekissed]

They are a beautiful pair!

 

[baymule]

They look like they were made for each other!

 

[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?

We have a customer that we have developed I guess a friendship with. She raises bottle babies and takes them to her school for special needs children to use as therapy animals. She fell in love with him when she came over to bring us turkeys to smoke and was anxious to get him as soon as possible to avoid him rejecting the bottle. We honestly haven’t taken a baby away from momma who wasn’t already weaning before but with them I am confident that if there are any issues she will bring him back for a while. My husband had wanted to milk our goats but we never separated the babies from mom so our results were mediocre. I dont know why I didn’t see the opportunity before though. I can’t imagine how miserable she must have been. I was thinking about continuing to milk her just enough to keep her healthy and comfortable in order to allow her body to slow down production naturally. This is not because I have experience with this my only experience is with lactating mothers as a nurse. I am very curious though about this grafting you mentioned. Currently I have a set of twins just a few days younger than her lamb is. They are so much smaller than him though he was a beast. I have another ewe due within the week who has at least two in there. I assume that by grafting you mean getting them to pair up as mother and daughter. What is the best way to go about this? Would it be easier to do this with a newborn or a week old lamb? Would they need to be separated from the group until they strengthen their bond? How long should I observe them for before I can walk away for a while before returning and how often should I return to check on them?

 

[NH Homesteader]

That's a decent amount of milk for a sheep! I would milk her but I'm kinda into the milking thing, lol. If you want to dry her off just milk a little less every day and she'll gradually start making less. I don't know anything about grafting a baby on, let us know how it goes if you decide to try!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Great job! She looks gorgeous and what an udder! She should be able to supply a good amount of milk - either for your family or a new sheep baby!

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

waiting to hear and see pics of her with her "new" lamb

 

[tortoise]

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.

 

[Beekissed]

So....was wondering what's happening with your ewe? Did you try the grafting? Are you milking her instead?

 

[Dani4Hedgies]