Bottle Orphan Ram-Seeking Advice/Encouragement

[FranklinHazelGardens]

Hi there! I’m raising wool sheep and am in my first year on my hobby farm. My neighbor gave me an orphan ram katahdin lamb on Thanksgiving day to take in as a bottle lamb and I had him in the house with a diaper in a dog crate. He’s hilarious, adorable, and thriving. Since he’s being raised without a sheep mama he hasn’t been developing his rumen-not much interest in his hay or creep feed. I don’t know if evicting him to the barn was the right choice and I want to see what you experienced farmers think.

I evicted him to the barn at 5 weeks old. He’s got a heated mat to lay on if chosen, hay, water, creep feed, and I am still giving him bottles twice a day. He’s 6 weeks old now and still little interest in any food. He will do grass if I’m outside with him but unfortunately that’s not sustainable.

I don’t want a lamb in the house anymore. It’s cute and he’s tiny but he’s never going to eat hay or grain while he’s convinced I’m his mom. When I reduce his bottles he yells at me at night too. Did I rush the eviction? Do I push through or do I need to bring him in at night?

He’s breaking out of his pen all the time now. He made it to my pasture with my two bull calves but as soon as he caught sight of my roaming LGDs he ducked under the fence to join them on the road. Those sweet girls had none of that and tried to push him back under the fence which didn’t work so they brought him to the front porch of my house. The only good part of this was he was eating grass when he was with the calves.

He’s currently in a wire dog crate inside a pen in the barn where I feed the sheep grain. That’s the only way I can contain him and socialize him. But his cries are actually stressing out all the animals I keep-even the chickens.

There really is no purpose for him because I raise wool sheep and he’s a hair sheep that I can’t eat because I am way too invested in his life. I wanted to wether him and have him keep my rams company but honestly I have enough boys. I just like the fella I guess and don’t want to sell him.

 

[Baymule]

Get him castrated ASAP. I know that is in your plans, but it needs to happen the sooner the better.

I have a bottle nutless boy lamb. He was born December 17. I’m still bottle feeding him, he has been with the flock the whole time. I had the luxury of penning his mom and sister for 3 weeks for him to figure out that I feed him, but he follows mom and sister around. He still gets 3 bottles a day, getting my granddaughters tomorrow through the 19th and they love feeding bottle lambs, so what the heck, I’ll let them have their fun.

Spot is with the flock, but comes when I call. If I don’t call him, he comes to the gate and yells at me.

I do think 6 weeks is a little soon to wean bottle lambs. Keep him outside like you are doing, maybe in a small pasture that he can’t escape from. Keep out hay and feed, he will get the hang of it.

Wethers make good companions for newly weaned lambs and help to calm them down. Or you can keep him for a yard ornament.

I raise Katahdin hair sheep. What wool breed do you raise and what do you do with the wool? It is my understanding that running hair sheep with wool sheep contaminates the wool with the hair.

 

[FranklinHazelGardens]

Get him castrated ASAP. I know that is in your plans, but it needs to happen the sooner the better.

I have a bottle nutless boy lamb. He was born December 17. I’m still bottle feeding him, he has been with the flock the whole time. I had the luxury of penning his mom and sister for 3 weeks for him to figure out that I feed him, but he follows mom and sister around. He still gets 3 bottles a day, getting my granddaughters tomorrow through the 19th and they love feeding bottle lambs, so what the heck, I’ll let them have their fun.

Spot is with the flock, but comes when I call. If I don’t call him, he comes to the gate and yells at me.

I do think 6 weeks is a little soon to wean bottle lambs. Keep him outside like you are doing, maybe in a small pasture that he can’t escape from. Keep out hay and feed, he will get the hang of it.

Wethers make good companions for newly weaned lambs and help to calm them down. Or you can keep him for a yard ornament.

I raise Katahdin hair sheep. What wool breed do you raise and what do you do with the wool? It is my understanding that running hair sheep with wool sheep contaminates the wool with the hair.

Thank you for the response! So helpful.

I have never heard about contaminating wool with hair, I’ll have to do some research. I raise shetlands, harlequins, and Southdown babydoll. The latter two I’m raising for fun and to help build the harlequin breed. They are also wool sheep and I love to knit so I say they are also for fiber but the Shetland wool is the main fiber breed. I have 15 total sheep including the little guy.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have goats BUT same applies with bottle babes. I leave with family, or adoptive ones -- often just the other kids -- and that teaches them to be goats. Copy cat adults to eat, drink, etc. They are always a little different with attachment due to you being momma but, it's always worked out here. Oh, there's some "spoiled" activity.

Also, the bottle kid will try to nurse a mom. With goats it's not as easily accepted by mom but, I've had it happen. You really, really need to keep watching that they are eating enough. Also, my kids nurse about 12 weeks. That last 3-4 weeks reduce frequency, then quantity. They will eat more hay/feed with that happening. Last week of bottling, I water down the milk....reducing their want and dependence.

 

[Baymule]

Hair sheep shed in the summer. If on the same field as wool sheep, their wool can pick up the hair when they lay down. The last thing you want in fine wool is hair. That’s what I’ve read, have no experience of that myself.

You may want to relieve him of his testicles, let him heal up and find another home for him. Just don’t let him go intact. A bottle raised ram can be more dangerous because they have no fear or respect. A bottle raised ram looks on people as equals or subordinates, to be dominated. Rams dominate by ramming and that’s not good. You will have other bottle babies as your journey goes so remember to de-nutt the ram lambs.

A lady I know got knocked down by their ram. When she tried to get up, he hit her again. So she laid there yelling for her husband. He was in the house and didn’t hear her, but a neighbor did. He got her husband and they were able to get her out. She acted astounded that the ram hit her and asked,
Why did he do that??
I replied, because his balls are bigger than his brain and he’s got two of them.

 

[Ridgetop]

Rams can be dangerous. A bottle baby ram can be expecially dangerous since they don't respect humans. Put him in with your other sheep during the day so he can see them eating and grazing, just be sure they don't pick on him.

Aother alternative is to sell him now while he is cute. Band him before sending him to his new home as a pet.

 

[Ridgetop]

Also if you sell him, don't ask what the buyer plans to do with him. Sometimes it is better not knowing.