# First time ewe with twins rejecting ram lamb



## cga_dancer (Jun 7, 2012)

my ewe lambed early this morning and she is very keen on the girl but the boy she keeps ramming and wont let him near her. we hold her and i let him feed but i have to take him up to the house as i'm afraid she will hurt him.  is there anything i can do to help the bonding and why does she reject him?


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## SheepGirl (Jun 7, 2012)

She probably doesn't realize she gave birth to him to. Here are some things you can try:

- Tie your ewe up and let the ram lamb nurse off of her. After a couple tries, the ewe may being accepting him.
- Rub molasses on the ram lamb's face (not a lot) and rear end to encourage the ewe to lick him. After licking him, the ewe may accept him.
- Put her in a head gate in a lambing jug to force her to nurse her lamb. With the headgate, she can't see which lamb she is nursing and after a day or two, she will probably accept both lambs if she can't remember which one she liked and which one she didn't like.

If she still won't accept him, you may have a bottle baby on your hands.


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## Royd Wood (Jun 7, 2012)

As above (good advice - I will try try the molasses next Feb if needed)
Bet the ewe's a first timer ???? She will hurt him or worse but at least you've got some colestrum in there


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## cga_dancer (Jun 8, 2012)

Thanks for replying. I have rubbed some milk on him from her and i have tied some of her wool to him but she still head butts him. I'm taking him down every 2 hours or so as we haven't reached the 24 hours yet to ensure he gets as much of the colostrum as possible. After that I hope I can just take him down when he cries to feed him or get some goat milk to bottlefeed him but i'm certainly going to try the molasses. I have no access to a head gate but we hold her while he feeds and right now he is sleeping in the kitchen lol so will wait until he cries to take him down for a feed again. Any other advise is greatly appreciated for raising a bottle baby.


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## cga_dancer (Jun 8, 2012)

By the way, since I don't have molasses on hand can I use sirup instead?


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