Orphan Lamb in the house

[n8ivetxn]

This summer I had a bottle baby (ewe) - I wanted to bring her in the house soooo bad! But alas, I was told to leave her in the pasture/barn with everyone else....Now I'm glad I did! Good grief, she's a handful :/

I weaned her at 5 weeks. The first 2 weeks I thought I'd die, going to the barn at all hours of the night.....
You can wean them when they get the rumen going. She was eating good by then. I read an article on this, the guy was OSU sheep/goat guy, can't remember his name. It was a good article.

I did supplement her grazing with a handful of grain daily. I know the green grasses she was eating were good, but I felt like she needed a little extra something.

 

[Sheepshape]

I had 5 orphaned lambs in the house last year (4 from a ewe who had one teat and went on to have 5 lambs!). There was a VAST amount of work for 4 days and nights when they went out into the shed.I would normally not give an overnight feed after the first night,but these guys were TINY....weighing only around two to two and a half pounds. They fed and grew very well (apart from the tiniest who weighed only 1.5 pounds and died within hours of birth).
I still have 2 of them who have made sizeable ewes.
I think generally the best advice is not to keep them in the house and to provide a bucket feeder of some type. Unfortunately I feel the need to hand feed them......
Diapers with a hole cut for the tail generally saves the worst of the mess!

 

[n8ivetxn]

What a story! I would be seriously stressed out, trying to care for 4 or 5 premies! Of course it would have to be the ewe with one teat