Reuniting Mother with babies after weaning/separated 1 month+

[prebs]

Hi all,

Have a question about reuniting mother and babies... we have taken in two baby girls that were born around the beginning of February. We have had them since for about a month. We recently got a call asking if we could take the twins mother and another adult (both 4 years old). The two adults get along great and get along with other sheep. She told us we will have to separate them for a while till they "grow up" a bit more. She stated most people keep them separated for two years, then stated but its up to the owner on how long of a time frame. We are new to sheep so was looking for advice. We have a stall/house large enough yard that we can divide but want to know how long so we can make something temp, or semi permanent till we can reunite them in the same area.

Thanks in advance!

Tina

 

[prebs]

Anyone have info on this please?

 

[purplequeenvt]

You can put them together right away. The only reason ewes and lambs are separated is to allow the ewes to dry off and start preparing for breeding season. We generally leave our ewes/lambs together until the lambs are 2-3 months old and then we separate for weaning. During the summer months we graze the lambs separately from the ewes only because we feed grain to our lambs and not to the ewes.

 

[BrownSheep]

You should be ok. Althougb we've had lambs try to nurse after being separated for 3 months

 

[prebs]

OK thanks, I will probably put up some type of temp fence to see how they are around the goats, see if there is any head butting going on or if they just mingle with the rest. Thanks for responses.

If they tried to nurse again would the mother just tell them no in her own way?

Thanks again

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I doubt they'll still try to nurse, especially after being away for 2 months. At this point the ewes are dried up anyways, so the lambs won't get anything. I think they should do fine with the goats too. As long as they have space to get away from the goats (if the goats decide to be pests) and a space to eat away from the goats, they'll be fine.

 

[prebs]

Yeah, I just spoke to the lady, she said they should be fine. there is plenty of room for all to get away from each other if needed. The goats and sheep eat separately due to food differences. But there is plenty of room to graze after they have their grain in morning and evening. I will do a temp fence to divide to make sure the baby goats are ok they are about two months old right now.

Thanks all for help!