Though there's been a least one year, I can't recall a year when I didn't have bottle babies. Several of them. It's common with a breed as prolific as Katahdins. I always say that I'd rather have a ewe that has triplets and only raises two than a ewe that births and raises twins. The extra lamb is a bonus. At the same time, many of the ewes can raise triplets.
Tippy: the lamb that had a broken legThis year, I had two sets of three lambs that I bottle fed. They overlapped very little, so essentially I hand fed lambs for about twelve weeks. I wean orphan lambs at about five weeks of age. I could probably weaned them a bit earlier, but five weeks has been working for many years -- and I'm a softy.
The first bottle lamb (Doc) was a single out of a 10 year old ewe. She didn't have any milk. I shouldn't have kept her, but she used to be one of my best ewes. For the previous two years, she birthed triplets and I raised one of her lambs. The twins she raised were always quality lambs. Kept her one too many years. I kept Doc with his mom for bonding. For the longest time, he liked to be held for bottle feeding. Towards the end, he would feed with his two front legs up on my lap.
The next bottle lamb (Raúl) was a triplet. His mother had too much milk -- believe or not. The teat on one side was large. The lambs wouldn't nurse that side. I milked the side out several times (lots of milk--fed it back to them), but they never seem to nurse from that side. Raúl kept consuming full amounts of milk from the bottle. The ewe raised the other two lambs on the one side. Raúl stayed in the general population. Like Doc, he liked to be held for bottle feeding until he was almost five weeks old.
The third lamb was also a triplet. She had a broken leg, either born with it or injured shortly after birth. I figured she could complete with one sibling for milk, but not two, so I removed her (Tippy) for bottle feeding. She went up into the garage into her own pen. She had goats for neighbors. I set her leg with vet wrap and paint rollers. It healed nicely and you can't tell she ever had a bum leg. She's still quite attentive to me, whereas the boys have largely assimilated into the flock.
Lambs delivered via C-section
The first three lambs were just about ready to be weaned when one of the yearlings required a C-section. She hadn't dilated sufficiently. I/we couldn't get the lambs out. Both lambs were alive. I immediately began feeding them colostrum. The vet suggested I keep the lambs with their mom. She woke from the anesthesia quickly and seem to be rebounding, but didn't last 24 hours. She must have hemorrhaged. Her lambs became orphans. I dubbed them Keith and Ray after the young vet that delivered them.
The final bottle lamb of the year was a twin ewe lamb out of another yearling. Her mom didn't want her. I probably could have eventually gotten the ewe to take the lamb, but her udder was small and she didn't seem to have a lot of milk. I was already feeding the C-section twins, so what was another one? I named her Heidi. These second three lambs were the most primal I'd ever fed. I was definitely just a big tit to them. They've been weaned for several days now and are eating and drinking well.
