February 8, 2000
The time has arrived for new babies in the barn, and all too often, that also means new babies in the house! Since we raise horses and sheep, we often find it necessary to share our home with lambs (it's not to say that I haven't had a foal in my kitchen, but it's more rare!) who are either rejected, orphaned, or their dams simply can't raise all of her babies.
We are sharing our home with a lamb at the moment. Her name is "Jazz," and she's from a friend's purebred Montadale flock. As a triplet, her mother wasn't equipped to raise all three and no other ewe delivered a single that could have been graphed to this lamb. "Jazz" joined us at four days of age and has literally "taken over" our kitchen!
There have been folk's that think she should have been moved directly to the barn. To them, I simply explain that as a triplet, her instinct is to have others around her, and since the weather was well below zero when we brought her home, it made more sense to keep her in the house than run the risk of having her fail in the barn. Heat lamps have a purpose, but don't take the place of true shelter and companionship. There is also the risk of failure or fire with heat lamps that I would rather not take, so my house becomes a "nursery" whenever necessary.
There is also the feeding schedule for bum lambs that is best adhered to when the lamb is close at hand and not 100 yards away! As with all infants, a feeding schedule should be as normalized as possible. This often means setting up a schedule that isn't adhered to every so many hours, but is more "as needed." Lambs, especially, are prone to a condition equal to that of human infants described as "failure to thrive" if treated in a manner which does not nurture their most common instincts. Those instincts include, but certainly aren't limited to, nursing often during their most active hours of the day, warmth (physical and emotional), and shelter from extremes (physical and emotional), and a tactile environment.
Most domestic animals (and human beings) are social creatures, needing a tactile environment in order to thrive. This is met with Jazz by touching her, allowing her to touch us, talking to her, and taking on the roll of her natural mother as best we can. Having an understanding of animal behavior helps is assuring that we can meet Jazz's needs at the most basic level. If she's frightened by something, she will run to one of us for comfort, if she's hungry she will nudge against our legs, and if she's simply looking for "motherly love," she'll ask for that, too! Being able to recognize these behaviors assures that we are meeting her needs and assuring that she will thrive regardless that she is not with her natural mother. If we look at those common instincts, it's easy to see the sense that they make and how difficult those might be to meet if the lamb in question is kept alone in a barn.
Many of you who raise livestock may raise an eyebrow and scoff at the idea of providing physical and emotional warmth and shelter to an animal. Many of you might think that it's not worth the effort to give more when the results may be less… please let me explain… many bum lambs, orphaned calves, foals, or piglets don't gain/grow as well, nor are they as "healthy" as those raised in their natural environment and hand raising any of these can be labor intensive. Unfortunately, that's why so many of these babies are destroyed shortly after birth or are allowed to die. It's not necessary to lose them, though, if any producer is willing to expend a little bit of effort, or turn the effort over to someone else (one of the kids in the family, a spouse who shows a genuine interest, a neighbor) that is willing to try. It really doesn't matter who is doing the nurturing, as long as it's done!
At times, orphaned, rejected, or abandoned babies can be found at the auction barns on sale day for "give away" prices. Those are the toughest to raise since they've been stressed both physically and emotionally, but it's still possible to have success with them if one takes the time and has patience, and a place to quarantine those auction barn babies. Unfortunately, auction barns are not the healthiest place for any bum baby, and the incident of disease can overwhelm even the best of intentions. Since we started raising sheep (about 10 year ago), we haven't resorted to picking up any bottle lambs from the auction barns. Instead, we let producers know that we're interested in taking on their bum lambs, which usually assures a reasonable supply of good, healthy lambs whose only stress will be separation and the quick move to bring them home.
Of course, if there is more than one, a draft free "nursery" is set up in the barn with deep bedding and if necessary, a protected heat lamp. Although all of ours are started on bottles rather than a self-feeder (those are really wonderful and can be made quickly and inexpensively with a plastic bucket, a few feet of plastic tubing and some made-to-order nipples), it is simply because it's easier to assure proper nutrition in those crucial first weeks. A "Pritchert" nipple or two, and a few soda pop (plastic) bottles, along with a good milk replacer (read the labels, folks… will save you a whole lot of problems later on!) and you're in business! Most of the higher quality milk replacer will state that it can be fed cold, but we've learned that initially, it's best served warm or slightly over room temperature. We've also learned that it's easier to bottle feed to assure the product is fresh, even though the labels will often state that the milk will not spoil for up to three days.
If it's necessary, as we have found, to have one in the house, there are a few other things that will make the effort somewhat easier… a linoleum floor, a good mop, disinfectant cleaner, paper towels, a radio, and a steady supply of either towels or rugs!! I must warn you, though, that lamb urine will remove the wax from your floor if let stand too long, even when the lamb is milk fed only. There isn't an odor problem with them until they reach about a month old and are eating other foods, but usually by that time, they are strong enough to move to a nursery pen in the barn.
Jazz is currently gaining at about 1-lb per day, which is right in the ball park when compared to healthy lambs being raised by their dams. In order to assure normalcy in her growth rate, it was necessary to arrange our lifestyle in order to include Jazz. She quickly bonded to us as her surrogate mothers, found amusement and company with our housecats (they can sure "terrorize" each other!), and will be a member of our family until there's another lamb available to raise with her.
Raising bum lambs doesn't need to be labor intensive and can be quite a bonus to any farm income. Finding good producers who can supply you with their bum lambs can also help you build your own flock from proven genetics.
Raising bum lambs doesn't need to be labor intensive and can be quite a bonus to any farm income. Finding good producers who can supply you with their bum lambs can also help you build your own flock from proven genetics.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact us!
Until later,
Linda
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