# A Lambing Conundrum, Need Advice Please!



## PyrOfTheFlock (Mar 5, 2014)

Yesterday around 7:00PM my yearling rambouillet ewe lambed for her first time, she had one fairly good sized ram lamb. This is where it gets confusing for me: her mom, who is 4 or 5 years old, was the one cleaning it and taking care of it, even allowing it to nurse off of her. Is this normal behavior? Usually my other ewes will shove away lambs that aren't theirs and even send them flying if they get near their teats. 

That's not all the confusion though. My older ewe, the 4 or 5 yr old that was taking care of the lamb that wasn't hers, had her lambs around 8:00AM today. One big girl and one fairly runty looking little boy. After checking on them and the mom I left for school at 9am and came back around 12 and went to check on them again. In the calf hut she had birthed in, there was now a pile of placenta with two little legs and a tiny littel head sticking out, a still born. I am wondering who's lamb this one is. Could it have come from my younger ewe who now had fresh blood on her rear, or is it more likely that it came from the older ewe who had just had twins a few hours before? I'd like to hear your opinions on this as well.

Now onto the next problem. The first little ram lamb that came from the younger ewe wasn't getting any milk from her as she would move when he tried to nurse. She still bahed at it, licked it, and stayed near it as if she wasn't trying to reject it but she just wouldn't let him nurse. So now he has turned to the older ewe for nurishment, and she still lets him nurse even after having her own lambs. So now for my final questions. Is it ok if my older ewe takes care of all three babies? She has the biggest udders I've seen on any of my sheep so she should have enough milk. But would it be bad for her to take care of an extra when she already has twins? Or could it be bad for the lambs? The younger ewe still will not let him nurse and her udders are not very big at all compared to the older ewe. I am prepared to bottle raise the ram lamb if I have to but I figure it would be easier and better for him to get his milk from a natural source. 

Also, this is less important but should I shear around the ewe's udders to help the lambs find the teats? They have very long wool and even I was having trouble finding them, lol.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 5, 2014)

She most likely had the hormones raging and wanted to think the baby was hers. It not unheard of for a ewe to steal others lambs when they are close to lambing.
 As long and she can feed all three I would let her. Our ewes raise triplets with no problem but I know of other farmers who swear it can't be done. 

Check the younger ewe's udder to make certain it isn't clogged up and sore which is why she wont feed him. As long as they are indeed eating I would leave the wool but if you have doubts I would cut it back.


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## PyrOfTheFlock (Mar 5, 2014)

BrownSheep said:


> She most likely had the hormones raging and wanted to think the baby was hers. It not unheard of for a ewe to steal others lambs when they are close to lambing.
> As long and she can feed all three I would let her. Our ewes raise triplets with no problem but I know of other farmers who swear it can't be done.
> 
> Check the younger ewe's udder to make certain it isn't clogged up and sore which is why she wont feed him. As long as they are indeed eating I would leave the wool but if you have doubts I would cut it back.



Thank you for answering all of my questions! I've also heard before that it could be bad for the mom's health to raise three or more lambs, or that the new lamb could be taking nurishment from the other lambs; but I think she has enough to take care of him too, especially if the stillborn was hers, because she would have had three lambs to take care of anyways if the stillborn had survived.

How do I check to see if her udder is clogged up? I have checked a few times to see if milk would come out but nothing did, but that could be due to my inexperience. I have been able to milk other sheep but I am not very good at it. I had someone hold her still yesterday, when I noticed she wasn't letting him nurse, and I directed him to the teat, he suckled for a little bit but I don't know if he got anything. What do I do if the udder is clogged up?

And the runty ram was still having trouble finding the teat a few hours ago so I may trim it back a bit if he is still having trouble tomorrow.


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