Raising Orphan Lambs

This is an Instructable based on my experience raising two orphan lambs.

There are many, many reasons why a lamb may be orphaned. In this case, one lamb (a ram lamb) was one of twins, one was orphaned because he was the weaker of the two and the dam was recovering from a worm burden, so she didn't have the energy to raise both. The other lamb (a ewe lamb) was orphaned because the dam was a maiden ewe who gave birth prematurely and hadn't yet developed her udder, so she couldn't feed the lamb at all.

As the owner of the flock, it is my responsibility to ensure the welfare of the flock ... and that is, sometimes, a lot of work. It does, however, have MANY benefits.

The two lambs were born about a week apart. When the ram lamb was born, he was one of five lambs born within 3 days. The ewe lamb was born about a week later. Fortunately, for me, I only had to deal with one lamb indoors at a time.

The decision to take the lamb indoors to care for them was not difficult, nor was it ambiguous. If I didn't intervene, the lambs would die.

To raise orphan lambs, there are things that you will need to have on hand or be able to acquire readily.

• Nappies - I use a normal human baby nappy for a 4-8kg baby.
• Baby Bottles - I use a range of bottles with a range of teats depending on the lambs ability to suckle.
• Colostrum - this is the milk that is produced for the first 48 hours after the ewe has lambed, it is packed full of immunity boosting antibodies and is of a higher sugar and fat content than the milk that will be produced later. I use a colostrum replacer powder (available from the feed store).
• Lamb Milk Powder - 25kg bag
• Kitchen Scales
• Large Pet Cage
• Pet Warming Blanket
• Lots of towels - we have a lot of old towels that we use for our dog and other animals.
• Time and Patience - you will need a lot of these

I have a couple of baby bottle options including:

• Normal human baby bottle 270ml with a number 3 teat.
• Small soda bottle (400ml) with a screw on lamb teat.
• Large lamb bottle (1000ml) with a large lamb teat.

I also make up about 2 litres of milk at a time in a 2 litre soda bottle that I keep in the fridge.

Ram Lam - Pickin

"Pickin" is an indigenous Australian word meaning "child" (I believe).

Pickin was rescued in the evening of the day he was born. He had suckled on his mother (Alice), off and on, throughout the day, but was abandoned in the late afternoon. He had fed on natural colostrum and so didn't need a colostrum replacer. His mother had also done a lot of his cleaning, so I didn't have to clean the amniotic fluid off (thank you Alice).

He was cold and wet when I found him at about 8pm, so he needed to be warmed and fed.

I quickly had to erect the large dog cage in the lounge room and get the warming pad out of the shed. I also needed to get a load of towels to dry him and to keep him warm.

I also have a supply of nappies on hand for lambs, so I had to prepare one of these for lamb use :) Basically, I cut a small slit (about 3cm) just above the middle of the nappy so that the tail can slot through. The tail is passed through the slot and the nappy is put on the lamb around it's middle. Being a ram lamb, his pizzle is just a couple of centimetres behind his navel and it is important to get the band of the nappy in front of the pizzle, so he doesn't just wee everywhere.

I mixed up some lamb milk replacer and filled up a small soda bottle with the milk and fitted a push on teat and got some milk into him.

Initially, he wouldn't take the teat (as he wasn't used to it). It was necessary to hold him in one arm while holding his head still so that I could push the teat into his mouth.

Lambs need to consume about 10% of their body weight in milk every day and they need a lot of little feeds per day. In the field, a lamb will get >30 feeds a day from it's dam ... it's more practical to give your orphan about 10 feeds a day for the first few days (well ... a week). This is really because it takes a while for the lamb to get used to a synthetic teat being delivered by you.

When we brought Pickin inside, he was just over 3 kg, so 300ml per day was the target for the first day. Over the next few days, he increased his weight and milk intake. After 3 days, he was taken out to the paddock to play with his brothers every day and was fed in the paddock. We brought him back inside every night for the remainder of the week.

We kept him indoors for a week, when he was up to 5kg and drinking around 900ml per day (over his target consumption and growing well) we took him outside so that he could live with the flock. It is now a week later and he is still being fed in the paddock (about 8 times a day) where he consumes about 300ml per feed.

Ewe Lamb - Pearl

Pearl was rescued within an hour of being born. Her dam was a maiden ewe, so hadn't developed an udder yet (just 14 months old). On top of that, she was drenched on Friday, and I believe that the drench induced lambing. Pearl was born on the following Saturday morning.

All of the evidence was that Pearl was premature (but not by much). She was small and weak, her teeth hadn't erupted yet and she had almost no suckle response. Thankfully, Pickin had prepared us for the coming of Pearl!

Once we had brought her inside, we rubbed her down with a clean towel and gave her a first feed. This needed to be colostrum so that she could develop her natural immunity. Colostrum MUST be given within the first 48 hours of their lives so that their immune system develops normally and protects them from a lot of the things that they will encounter in their early lives.

Because her teeth hadn't fully erupted yet, the front of her mouth was tender. The teat had to be put in the side of her mouth to avoid her teeth. Unfortunately, this meant that she couldn't use her tongue to suckle and we had to apply gentle pressure onto the bottle to get anything in.

If this is the case for your lamb ... be prepared to wear a LOT of dribbled milk. The colostrum replacer is also quite sticky ... so wear something that you don't mind getting absolutely filthy :)

Pearl was just 3kg in weight so she needed 20g of colostrum replacer in 180ml of warm water to make up 200ml of formula. I made up 220 ml with 25g of colostrum replacer to account for the spillage.

This first 220ml of milk took a day to give her ... with no suckle response, sore teeth and being very unused to the bottle, it was a struggle to keep her alive. I have since purchased a lamb tube feeder so that, should this happen with any more lambs, I can get the colostrum straight down into her gut without having to worry about the lamb participating in the rescue.

Over the next three days, the struggle to keep her fed improved slightly every day. At first, she was only consuming 200ml per day and would only suckle if I held her in my arms. Now, like a lot of humans ... I am in proud possession of only 2 arms. Holding the lambs body securely, her legs under her, her head in position AND manipulating a bottle is a task that I think that is more appropriate with 4 or more arms. Nevertheless ... feed her I did.

The next problem was that Pearl would only allow ME to feed her. My darling wife had the wonderful job of talking me down when the frustration overwhelmed me (and it did on more than one occasion). Without her help, I don't think that I would have made it.

Day 4 and Pearl is now suckling from the front of her mouth. She still hasn't figured out what to do with her tongue, but she is now drinking >800ml per day. By the end of Day 4, Pearl is able to have her bottle standing up without anyone holding her head!

Oh, nappies for ewes is a breeze compared to a ram. All of the bits are in the same general location, you don't have to worry anywhere near as much about a nappy urine failure! Thank you gender diversification. The only caveat to that is that she goes through about 5 nappies a day.

Now we are at day 6 and Pearl is getting regular walks to the letterbox (about 800m) so that she can be out doors, out of a nappy and investigating the world a little bit more. She has not put on as much weight as her brother in the first week (only 3.8kg) but, now that she is consuming more milk and getting exercise, I am hopeful.

Pearl was examined by a vet at day 4. The vet was very happy with her condition, given her circumstances, and so I am relived that what I have done seems to have worked.

Our ram (Brutal) was euthanised on Monday this week after struggling for a while. He had gone from his magnificent 140kg down to barely 80kg. The vets that we had look at him could not tell us what was wrong with him. He went down on Monday morning and could not get up, so I made the decision to euthanise to end his suffering. Farewell, Brutal. You were a much loved and respected member of our staff. I will miss your "help" in the workshop good buddy.

This means that we no longer have a herd sire, and no desire to replace him. We will no longer be producing lambs on our property, so that is the end of an era.

One of our ewes, Ruby, is still to drop her lambs. We are expecting to have another lambing in the coming weeks. However, as was seen with Pearls dam, there is a risk that the drench can compromise the unborn lambs so we are crossing everything that the lambs are born healthy and that Ruby remains well. She is the same age as Brutal (8 years old), so she is a mature ewe.