[Jacob-list] Lamb

[Linda]

Was it Hope?

I have always been adamant that I would not create a bottle lamb from a perfectly well adjusted lamb.  And I haven't - until last year.  A ten year old ewe had triplets and accepted all of them.  Two of the lambs were definite keepers - the third was a two horn ram with one more horn than he had spots.  He was also a bossy lamb that did his best to push the other two away from the udder whenever he could.  This boy was born to be a wether or a locker lamb.  I've sold a number of animals (rabbits, sheep, donkey) to a professional zoo in Cleveland, GA and I knew that Hope would be interested in a bottle lamb.  Since I am familiar with her and know that she is quite capable of properly caring for a bottle baby, I called her, asked if she was interested,  and sold the lamb.  

I get a number of calls about people wanting bottle lambs (I guess we all do).  This is the first bottle lamb I've sold and I instigated the sale.  In this case, it worked out fine for me, the buyer, the ewe and the siblings.  If your prospective buyer is Hope, you can count on sending your lamb to a knowledgeable home.  There are other petting zoo buyers in this area that I would not recommend for anything after talking to them.

But, if you have a young ewe with loads of milk, she's going to notice that one of her lambs is missing.  If the lambs have each picked a side to nurse from (and it happens), you'll need to watch the dam's udder.  

My experience is that I sold one created bottle lamb and the situation made it worth doing.  I'm still of the opinion that it is not something I am comfortable doing.

Linda
 
www.patchworkfibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn

On Tue, 7 Feb 2006 17:26:48 EST, ACAMDA at aol.com wrote:
> I just had a call from a woman who would like to buy a lamb, 5 - 10
> days old, for a petting zoo she has.  She wants to raise it on a
> bottle.  I happen to have one ewe with twins (one ram, one ewe)
> that might work for her, but I worry about separating them from Mom
> now that they are 5 days old. 
>
> I think my husband will flip when I mention it to him, but then I
> like the idea of exposing more people to Jacob sheep, and the lamb
> would probably have a very nice home and long life.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this?  Or have an opinion?
>
> Kathey
> Sweet Georgia Valley
> Athens, GA

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20060207/a692bf94/attachment.htm