purplequeenvt
Herd Master
Check your milk replacer. Are you mixing in the correct proportions, is it warm enough, is too hot, etc... Make sure that is milk protein based and not soy as that can cause stomach upset and they will sometimes not be eager to drink. Check the nipple to make sure the milk isn’t coming out too fast or is plugged.
if you know someone with goats or a Jersey cow, you could try switching him to raw milk instead.
Some lambs just don’t like milk replacer. I had a bottle lamb a couple years ago whose mom and brother died from lambing complications. She lived in the house and slept in my bed for about 2 weeks and every day was a battle to get her to take enough milk. Then we had a ewe give birth to triplets where the only surviving lamb was itty bitty and so weak that she couldn’t walk for over a week. We pulled that tiny lamb from her mom and swapped in my bottle lamb who was thrilled to have a real booby to nurse off of. I had to keep the ewe tied/penned up for almost 2 weeks before she completely accepted her foster lamb, but eventually she did and they were inseparable until weaning time.
if you know someone with goats or a Jersey cow, you could try switching him to raw milk instead.
Some lambs just don’t like milk replacer. I had a bottle lamb a couple years ago whose mom and brother died from lambing complications. She lived in the house and slept in my bed for about 2 weeks and every day was a battle to get her to take enough milk. Then we had a ewe give birth to triplets where the only surviving lamb was itty bitty and so weak that she couldn’t walk for over a week. We pulled that tiny lamb from her mom and swapped in my bottle lamb who was thrilled to have a real booby to nurse off of. I had to keep the ewe tied/penned up for almost 2 weeks before she completely accepted her foster lamb, but eventually she did and they were inseparable until weaning time.