This year, I had seven lambs that I raised artificially. Six of the lambs I separated from the flock. The other one, I kept with its mom. Four of the lambs were from the two sets of quads. In total, there were four males (all quads) and three females (all triplets). I always name the bottle babies. This year's names are Niner, Decker, Darlene, Eddie, Toby, Timmy, and Katie.
I decided to bottle feed instead of bucket feed. It uses less milk. I'm not sure bucket feeding saves much time, since it takes longer to clean the equipment. To me, the labor is in making milk. I can more closely monitor the lambs with bottle feeding. They drink very fast. I feed two at a time.
Darlene front and center
The first ewe that had quads was a 4-year old Weeks ewe. I thought she would be able to raise at least 3 of the lambs, but after a day or so it didn't look like all of the lambs were getting enough milk, so I pulled two. The other ewe that had quads was a ewe I would have least wanted to have quads. I had to help her raise her first set of twins (as a yearling). Last year, she did better. I removed two of her quads for feeding. The artificially reared ones are bigger than the dam-reared ones. I probably cull the mom.
1911 is a ewe that has only milked one side for several years. She has been raising two good lambs on one side; so I keep her. She's an excellent milk producer. Last year, she only had a single, a big ram lamb that was first to sell for breeding. This year she had triplets. I immediately took one of the lambs, tube fed it colostrum, and began bottle feeding it. I figured she'd raise the other two. But either she didn't have enough milk (this time) or the second lamb couldn't figure out that only one side had milk. Regardless, I began bottle feeding a second of her lambs. 1911's tenure has probably come to an end. I'll likely cull her after she weans the lamb she is raising.
Niner: one of the quads
1621 has been one of my best ewes, but she is 9 years old now. Last year, she raised a beautiful set of twins. I kept the ewe and used the ram as a clean-up. The previous year, I pulled one of her triplets for artificial rearing (it had gotten sick). I had to rear one of her triplets this year. It would have survived on its mother, but bottle feeding has made it do much better. In fact, it's probably the heaviest bottle lamb. I named the lamb Eddie after her grand sire.
All of the orphans are doing well. Two are weaned. Three will be weaned in a day or so, and the other two will be weaned next week. I have used five bags of milk replacer for the 7 lambs. Hopefully, I'll have a little left over from the last bag (for next year). I wean orphan lambs at around 35 days. I could probably wean them earlier, and should. After weaning, they stay together as a group for awhile, before being merged with the younger ewes' lambs (in the back).
Eating some hay
Orphans are inevitable with the prolificacy of my flock. Most of the ewes raise their triplets. Unfortunately, neither of the ewes that had quads this year was able to raise all of their lambs. I've had ewes raise four lambs in the past. One of my ewes (#1773) has raised two sets of quads. I'd rather have a ewe that has triplets and raises twins than one that only births and raised two lambs. The third and fourth lambs are bonuses: gifts. They are free. Plus, I can only identify ewes that can raise triplets if I have lots of triplets and occasionally quads born. Besides who doesn't love bottle babies, a.k.a. bummers?
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