UPDATE: Lamb Rejects Foster Ewe

[klcardella]

I have what I think is a unique problem. A first-time ewe had triplets early yesterday (2 AM), so they are now about 36 hours old. I had another ewe have a single lamb earlier this afternoon, and I decided to try to move one of the triplets to the new mom. She accepted the lamb immediately, which surprised me, but the lamb will not accept the ewe! He cries and cries, and refuses to eat. It's been a couple of hours.

Has anyone had this problem before, and what should I do? I don't want the foster lamb to get dehydrated, but I would like his to stay with the foster ewe. She "talks" to him, and licks him, but he just cries and then moves away.

Any advice would be appreciated

UPDATE: when the lamb finally tried to nurse, the ewe rejected him. I think he waited too long past the honeymoon period

Kendra

 

[babsbag]

Getting a goat to take a kid can be tricky and I imagine it is the same with sheep. I have had success a few times but it usually requires me holding the doe while the kid nurses and sometimes I have to do this for days. I have had the best luck when I can rub the afterbirth all over the kid and let the doe clean it as if it is truly one of her own. They usually have to smell right in order to be accepted.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH from NE Texas. Just to make it easier, it would be extremely helpful if you'd put at least a general location in your profile so when you ask for help folks will know where you are. Many times location (climate) is critically important in recommendations. Generally folks will ask you for that information before they can offer help. That being said... I don't have sheep, but from my reading and such I'd agree with what Babs said... You may have to "force the issue" for a few days or longer until they each figure this out. I don't think it's really all that unique as I've read about this kind of thing. The alternative is to pull the lamb and make it a bottle baby. I do hope that the lamb got some colostrum at the least... if not, it's really too late now.

I'll tag a few Sheeple pros who might offer better/different advice: @purplequeenvt @Sheepshape @secuono @Roving Jacobs @mysunwolf and of course there are others.

Good luck with the little guy and I hope it works out for all of you. Please browse around and make yourself at home! Oh, and please consider sharing a few pics as we're all pic addicts.

 

[norseofcourse]

Welcome to Backyard Herds - were you able to get the lamb back with its original mom, or do you have a bottle baby now? Either way I hope things are going well. We'd love some pictures if you have any - what kind of sheep do you have?

 

[secuono]

Lambs get used to the teat and milk they've been fed. If you move them after they've gotten used to one set of teat/milk, then you have to force them to use the new set, sometimes for several days until it clicks in their head and they accept it.

My ewes bond to their lambs very quickly or up to about 12-24hrs. I've never been able to graft on a lamb the ewe didn't birth. None of the tricks have ever worked. =/ A farm of oddballs here...
All of my ewes also knew how many lambs they had. Even in the bonding period, the ewes would strongly refuse a second or 3rd lamb if she didn't birth a second or 3rd herself. I could never trick them. They may allow an outsider to nurse for awhile, but soon shove them away once she was done birthing and mobile.

It may be too late for that lamb to go back to its original mother. Is there an update on that? She may remember she had a third, but may no longer recognize it.

 

[Sheepshape]

Hope I'm getting this right....lamb won't take milk from 'foster mum', but foster mum will treat him as her own?. Crikey....that's strange! Ewe rejecting lamb that's not her own......common, but the other way round is rare.

I'd get real mum and her lambs out of earshot/smell of foster mum.....sight doesn't matter. Wait until foster lamb is really hungry, then hold foster mum and persuade foster him to take the teat (a few drops of eucalyptus or tea tree oil on his nose will kill all sense of smell of foster mum).......and likely as not he will feed if he's hungry enough. You may have to repeat this a few times before he just accepts the new source of his food etc.

If you are trying to persuade a ewe to take a lamb that is not her own the process can be more difficult. It is best done when the foster mum is giving birth. If there are any birth fluids on the lamb to be fostered, dry him thoroughly. Then roll him in any birth fluids, membranes or afterbirth from the putative foster mum's birth. If your 'foster mum' has had a stillbirth, skin the lamb and make the skin into a jacket for the orphan (easier than it sounds). the skin then stays of for about 48 hours.Once the foster lamb is excreting foster mum's milk waste, the lamb will be accepted.Using these measures, I have managed to get a fair few lambs 'adopted'. they will be treated entirely like mum's own.

Good Luck

 

[klcardella]

Thanks to all of you for the great advice. I know that grafting a lamb to a foster ewe is very difficult, but as I said this was the other way around. She was licking him, talking to him, and trying to let him nurse. She had no problem with me putting him right up to the nipple, but he would simply not take it. Then, once she passed the placenta, she started butting him around. I don't know if she would have done the same thing if he had been eating for those couple of hours, but it was too late.

So, I put him back in with his real mom, and she did not want him at first, but after wiping him down really well, and holding her while he nursed a couple of times, she accepted him again.

All is well this morning!

Again, thanks for the answers; I had just never had this happen before; ewe rejecting lamb, yes, but lamb rejecting ewe, no.

Kendra