There’s a first time for everything.

[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]

 

[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?

So this is my first attempt at grafting these two. This is how they were behaving immediately before I tried Vick’s which is all I had on hand. What do you all think about their interactions? Also this is the only available enclosed area I have at the moment and momma can be heard on the other side of the wall. Is this ok or should I vacate an enclosed area further away?

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?

So here are a few snap shots of a video I took where baby was responding to her own mother’s cries but kept approaching Onyx. Onyx would shoo her away or give her a light head but before I put Vick’s on them as instructed. Nothing mean seems more like a “get out of here kid” kind of gesture. Baby would run away but always come back.

 

[Ayla_noemi]

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

These are a few pics after the Vick’s was added. Baby kept answering moms calls but seemed to be looking for Onyx to protect her from us. Now Onyx was just watching us and did not shoo baby or head but at all.

 

[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...?

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

come on little one latch on you can do it...

 

[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]

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.

Here are some more snaps of Onyx And her potential baby. No issues yet that I can see. I couldn’t figure out how to load a video, if that is even possible, which is what I wanted to show everyone in order to get some feed back on what they thought of their interaction. I figured next best thing was photo bursts in order to show their behavior as much as possible. I wanted to give them a few minutes to relax before I attempted to assist feed. I’m curious about everyone’s thoughts. I will continue to add updates. Everyone feel free to let me know if I am overwhelming you with updates and or pictures.