Orphan
SOAY Lambs - What We Did
Well,
we had never had an orphan lamb at Wind River Farm until about four days ago.
A good friend was out of town and one of her ewes died - predator's are suspected
- but with my friend out of town the cause of the ewes death took a back burner
to saving her two and a half week old ewe lamb. Joe and I went and and helped
to trap the orphan, and brought her home with us. "Little Bit" rode
home on my lap. She hadn't eaten all day, was terrified, and had been delivered
into inexperienced hands. What follows is what we've learned over the last five
days.
We
elected to keep the lamb in the house with us as we do not have a barn or any
easy area outside that we could have housed the lamb, kept her warm enough, and
safe from predators - without a mom to protect her.
Housing
& Bedding
Joe built her a 3 foot by 3 foot crate with a chicken wire lid and front panel.
It is easier to get the lamb in and out of the crate with a lid opening from the
top rather than the front because at first the lamb resisted our picking her up
and dragging her out of the front closing crate (that she was originally in) pulled
out the straw and hay bedding. Since we moved her to the top loading crate the
second day that has not been a problem. It also makes it easy to change the bedding
- which we do by wearing a disposable glove and scooping it out and into a garbage
bag.
Handling
The Lamb
We usually feed Little Bit by holding her in our laps. The first couple of days
it was necessary as she did not know what the bottle was and we had to pry her
mouth open. After she caught on we can actually just lift the lid to her crate
and hold the bottle in and she tears into it. We feed her in the crate at least
once a day so she will get accustomed to feeding that way so when we put her out
in the flock she will know to come to the fence to eat. But in the evening she
loves laying on the couch with me or in Joe's lap in the recliner, taking her
bottle and napping while we are watching TV. CAUTION:
put a thick, absorbent towel or rug on the couch under the lamb. Accidents happen.
Bottles
& Nipples
My friend supplied a Gerber baby bottle with the standard
bottle nipple. This lamb did not like it. We did not have a Pritchard nipple on
hand to try so I still have no experience with that. We had bought a Playtex nurser
to keep on hand and Little Bit does very well with it. The Playtex nurser nipple
is a large soft domed nipple with a short shaft - see pictures. I did enlarge
the hole in the end just a little bit - not much though. It is a hoot to feed
Little Bit - she butts the nurser and pulls on the nipple the same way as the
lambs in the pasture do. The first time she did it she knocked the bottle right
out of my hand!
How
Much Food & How Often
As the lamb had not eaten all day she was hungry as well terrified when we got
her home. But even if she had known immediately what to do with the bottle - I
wouldn't have allowed her to eat her fill. I didn't have the worries about the
colostrum that come with new born orphans, but she had been eating mothers milk
and regardless of which formula I had to feed her it was a drastic difference
that could have thrown her into gastric distress.
The
first couple of bottles I prepared the Nursemate formula. Thereafter I switched
to the Life Line formula. By the end of the week I will ease her into the Land
O'Lakes Lamb Milk Replacer. I've also been adding 1/2 teaspoon of ProBios powder
to each bottle. The directions on the Life Line indicate 1 part powdered formula
to 2 parts water. The first 2 days I used 1 part powdered formula to 3 parts water
- I mixed 1 Tablespoon powdered formula to 3 Tablespoons of water. She had no
adverse effects from that mix but it didn't seem to hold her for very long, so
I offered her the bottle about every three hours rather than four. Now I've started
mixing 2 tablespoons of powdered formula to 5 tablespoons of water - with the
ProBios. I will continue to add extra water to the formula not just to limit the
possibility of gastric distress - but also because she is in the house - which
is heated - I do not want her dehydrated.
So
I feed a bit over 1/4 cup of formula, about every 2.5 to 3 hours - feeding more
often seems to be easier on her than trying to get her to take more formula just
for my convenience. She takes her last bottle of the day before we go to bed -
between 10 PM and 11 PM and sleeps until 6:30 or so in the morning.
Noise
& Other Thoughts
We have found that Little Bit prefers the radio or TV on
all the time - when there is a bit of noise in the house she doesn't make as much
noise. Joe and I are her flock now and if we aren't talking to her I think she
get frightened. During the day when I am busy with work around the farm or on
my computer she naps and plays with her hay and straw in her crate. We are working
on rigging up a play yard for her outside so we can take her out to romp without
having to chase her down. We will keep her in the house until she is about 6 weeks
old, or we know for sure her rumen is working well.
What
To Have and Where to Get It
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