[Jacob-list] Ewe rejecting second twin

[Peg Bostwick]

Sorry that you're having trouble with your ewe.    I don't think it is
necessarily due to the delay between lamb 1 and lamb 2.     There is a lot
of variation in lambing patterns.  Some twins come right on top of one
another, while in other cases there is up to an hour or two delay.    I
often have ewes start nursing lamb 1 before lamb 2 arrives.    Typically, I
assume that ewes won't be interested in eating and drinking until they are
done - but recently had a ewe pig out on hay for an hour before having lamb
2.   She was chewing her cud while delivering number 2!

I would not necessarily give up  on this ewe.  We had a couple of ewes that
rejected a twin their first go round, or in one case 2 of 3 triplets in her
second go round.   She only wanted the first lamb born!  This was very early
in our shepherding experience, and a friend told us to tie her up until she
accepted her lambs.  We did that, and it made the ewe very irritated - but
after three days she took her #2 lamb the first year, and it only took her 1
day to accept lambs #2 and #3 the second year.  The third year she had
twins, started being crabby, and I tied her up - went back to check and hour
later and she was mothering both of them.  We had her a long time and she
always had twins and triplets, but never rejected one again.  She was the
worst we had (among the Jacobs anyway).   We have had to go through the
tying routine with a couple of other first timers, though.   A couple of
companies sell stantions or headgates for ewes like this, but a rope and a
close watch has always been enough for us.   

Once your ewe learns to take care of twins, I think she'll be fine.   You
may have to hold her at first a few times a day to make sure she lets lamb
#2 nurse.   But hopefully, she will accept things within a  couple of days.


It is interesting that we've not had issues like this in recent years.  I
wonder if it is because our unbred yearlings run with the moms, and are used
to being around young lambs.    A lot of our major problems were with our
first ewe - she was not only a first time mom but the only one we had that
was lambing the first year, and one of only a couple the next year.   I
suspect that while mothering is largely instinctual, there is an element of
learned behavior in there as well ???     Or we could have been hovering so
much that we made her nervous, but that doesn't sound like the issue with
you guys.

Good luck!    Peg

Peg Bostwick
peg at sweetgrass-jacobs.com
517-626-6981


-----Original Message-----
From: jacob-list-bounces at jacobsheep.com
[mailto:jacob-list-bounces at jacobsheep.com] On Behalf Of shmee1 at mail.com
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:07 AM
To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
Subject: [Jacob-list] Ewe rejecting second twin

Last year we had a ewe reject one of her twins, I know it was hers because
she was the only one that had lambed that day.  We tried and tried to
convince her that it was her lamb but eventually it became a bottle lamb.

This year she only had one lamb when I went out to check on her, so I put
her in a pen and hung out in the barn to keep an eye on her.  After a half
hour of waiting I figured only one lamb and had to get back into the house.
Now this lamb was already standing and nursing, so at least 10 min old.
About 2 hours later my husband went out and found a second lamb which she
was rejecting.

Could she be rejecting this lamb because she had it so long after the first?
My husband says she's should be going to the freezer but I'm not so sure.
She did clean off the lamb after it was born.  Do you think it has anything
to do with the fact that she had let the first one nurse before the second
was born? I find normally they don't let the first nurse until the second is
born.

Any thoughts?

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