[Jacob-list] Need help!!! New Mom rejecting lamb

[Linda]

I'm afraid I'll have to admit that I'm not at all concerned about two first time mothers that spent a little time before deciding to turn into great mothers - just like their own mothers.  I really don't consider either of these lambs as having been rejected.  There are many environmental issues (ie, shepherding errors) that quite possibly contributed to abit of confusion on the ewes parts and I'm not ready to cull the mothers just yet :-).

I had a crossbred ewe with only one teat that raised twins every year (with no assistance) and was still doing so when I sold her at age 12.

I certainly agree that overfeeding can lead to many problems - probably more than underfeeding.

Linda
 

Visit our new babies!
http://www.patchworkfibers.com/2005lambs.html
 

On Mon, 4 Apr 2005 07:49:09 -0400, Betty Berlenbach wrote:
> I wonder if some mothers just don't teach their daughters that
> breasts are for feeding.  Mine certainly didn't, and I was
> absolutely stunned when I found out: turned me against breast
> feeding entirely.  Perhaps if I had had a shepherd to encourage me,
> I would have come around, but as it was, it was Evenflow all the
> way.  Maybe sheep mothers in some way, need to teach their
> daughters...as, for example, the sheep get less primitive and more
> standardized.  REjecting lambs seems much more common in
> standardized breeds.  I wonder if rejection isn't a sign that their
> are some instincts being slowly bred out of our once primitive
> sheep...I think I'd consider very carefully whether to cull such
> sheep or not.  All the beauty in the world is worth nothing to me
> if they aren't as primitive as possible, in terms of instincts and
> mothering and lambing.  I have no interest in ewes who reject their
> lambs...though I know that part of the instinct is that often they
> know more than we know, and they reject their lambs because there's
> something wrong with the lamb...so I am careful in assessing the
> situation.  I once had a 13 or older year old ewe who would only
> feed one lamb.  The other she actually brought to me in her own way
> for feeding: come to find out she only had one operating teat left,
> and that one not a full fountain of nourishment. I  think she
> realized on some level that she could only raise one strong lamb,
> and in the open, weak lambs would be a threat to mother and lambs,
> so she opted to feed just one.  The other one though stayed with
> her and she loved it: she just couldn't feed it.  They are smart,
> these guys!
>
> I also wonder if again, because of some standardization creeping
> in, some lines now produce too much milk too quickly (or maybe it's
> because we feed them much better than they'd be fed in the wilds)
> and they engorge and are very painful until that first milking out. 
>  And so they want no one, lamb or anyone else near them.  But once
> milked out once, then they are fine with milking.  So, the fault
> may be ours in feeding too rich a diet for primitives?  Okay, end
> of my "ruminations" for the morning.  Need to go out and see if
> there's any more lambs: checked at five and found pair of twins
> born maybe 3?  So, I now have three sets of twins, five girls and
> one boy, plus one single shetland ram lamb from a first timer who
> looked like she was going to either have triplets or explode or
> float up into the sky and disappear in the wind, she was so huge. 
> Speaking of overfeeding... 
>
> Good luck, those with moms rejecting...and may this be the last
> time it happens!
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Linda
>> To: Marguerite Van Beek ; jacob-list
>> Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2005 9:07 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Need help!!! New Mom rejecting lamb
>>
>>
>> I saw that behavior twice here this year - first time ever.  I
>> posted to the list re the first one.  As I herded her into a pen,
>> she had to choose to run or protect her lamb.  She chose to
>> protect the lamb and they were instantly bonded.  The second ewe
>> kept licking her lamb and then actually tossing the lamb in the
>> air when the lamb approached to nurse. Both ewes lambed outside
>> during the day.  The second one I had to drag up the hill (we
>> will be lambing in a flatter area next year!) while carrying the
>> lamb.  Once I held the ewe so the lamb could nurse, she turned
>> into the world's greatest mother with no further attention from
>> me.  I don't know why these two ewes were initially confused.  
>> Both were first time mothers at two years, both are daughters of
>> fantastic mothers, they are paternal 1/2 sisters, they both have
>> leg markings,  they both have long fleeces, one is four horned
>> and one is two horned, they both were born here ---- looking for
>> a common thread to understand the behavior, but haven't found it.
>>
>> Hope your girl decides to take her lamb!
>>
>> Linda
>>
>>
>> Visit our new babies!
>> http://www.patchworkfibers.com/2005lambs.html
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 3 Apr 2005 07:52:20 -0400, Marguerite Van Beek wrote:
>>
>>> My huntsberger ewe just had a ram lamb last night.  Everything
>>> seem  to be fine, she talked to him, licked him but when he
>>> tries to  nurse she rams him.  I stayed up all night, put him
>>> in a box next  to her, and every two hours took him out and let
>>> him nurse while I  held the ewe.  But if I leave him in there
>>> with the box protection  and he nurses on his own she rams him
>>> good.  If I remove him she  screams for him and him for her.  I
>>> looked at the udder and it  isn't sore or large (since he is
>>> nursing).  Any suggestions PLEASE.  I was going to try to get
>>> TaWee her friend to take him since she  also had her's last
>>> night but he screams for his own mom and she  for him.  Dear
>>> god!!!  I did give her a 1/2cc of Banamine just now,  maybe she
>>> was just too sore from lambing.  I want to try  tranquilizers  
>>> but have no idea what kind. 
>>>
>>> Peggy
>>> NJ
>>
>>
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