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14theroze
Forum celebrity
Posts: 348
Location: SW NSW
Registered: October 2007
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What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb? Posted 1209 days ago I have a poddy lamb that I'd rescued from our flock after observing that it appeared to be abandoned by it's mother. She is now 4 weeks old. I'm on a property and have a flock of 50 wiltshires, including some wiltipols (27 lambs amongst them).
I'm enjoying being mamma to this one lamb that I've called Tinkerbell. If I can train her in the future I might even try using her as a milking sheep (wiltshires are said to be good milk producers as they tend to have twins and often triplets - though I don't know what they are like to actually use as milkers).
Although occasionally I manage to trick her into spending time with the rest of the flock, I can't leave her with them very long because I still need to feed her. I think once she's fully weaned she'll be ok - she seems to integrate ok with the other sheep, and I actually will spend time out in the paddock with her near the other sheep so they remain familiar with her and become more familiar with me too (we've had these sheep since November 07) Some of the other lambs are coming closer to me now and the mothers are accepting me there too. Wiltshires are easier to train to come to you and are not nearly as jumpy as merinos. Tinkerbell has become friends with my 2 dogs, a border collie x Kelpie and a cockerspaniel, and actully sleeps in the cockers kennel at night (the cocker sleeps on a cushion just outside the kennel by choice).
When I'm outside she'll follow me everwhere, and when she's with the flock she is easy to call to give her her bottle. Of course - I know I'm going to have problems with her in my garden in the future, but so far she's been a very good lamb to keep. I'm glad she has the dogs for company, and the chooks and geese, when I'm doing things indoors though - I'm sure she'd fret more otherwise (she loves company of course). This is not my first poddy lamb - though it is my first wiltshire poddy lamb. Weaning is just beginning. Any ideas about the weaning process will be welcome.
One of the things I love about wiltshires is their curiosity. When you walk up to them they will watch you till they feel you've come too close - then they will slowly walk off, and sometimes run if spooked (but no way near in the erratic way that merinos do). I can easily walk my sheep from paddock to paddock and they will mostly stay together (I've heard stories about farmers trying to use sheep dogs to move them - wiltshires are horned and they are not afraid of dogs - the dogs were not happy (nor were the farmers) about the wiltshires defending themselves. Wiltshires are also easy care cause they don't need shearing or crutching.
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Even the hard, dull, dry ground harbours life - which is brought to the surface with the fresh touch of drenching rain (or the humble watering can). |
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ducky
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Posts: 132
Location: QLD
Registered: July 2008
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RE: What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb Posted 1208 days ago I had a poddy lamb once, his name was Paisley. I found him on my way to school, on the side of the road, newborn after a farmer moved his ewes to another paddock. Luckily my parents were breeding Alpaccas at the time and had a sickly baby they had to supplement, so we had heaps of Divetalact.
I got an old red jumper and fixed it up so it would fit him, and fed him from a beer bottle. I slept with him out side in the trailer at night and he was doing really well.... until my yr 11 exams when he was 2 weeks old. I thought he would be strong enough to sleep on his own and I needed sleep because of my exams. When I went to feed him first thing in the morning I found the poor little thing had fretted too much and had died overnight. I still wish I had stayed with him.
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14theroze
Forum celebrity
Posts: 348
Location: SW NSW
Registered: October 2007
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RE: What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb Posted 1194 days ago That's unfortunate about your little Paisley, ducky. I have neighbours who tell me about losing many of their young poddy lambs - it would be interesting to know the reasons why they don't all thrive. I've heard that if they get at least the first few days feed from their own mother, the colostrum is what they need to help them survive. They do fret when left on their own - even the older ones in the paddock tend to try and keep tabs on where their mothers are. Some are more independent than others.
At 6 weeks our little Tinkerbell has grown a lot. She's now between the sizes of our 2 dogs. She's pretty clingy to me - but I'm trying to get her used to relying, if not on the other sheep for company, at least enjoying the company of the dogs. She'd follow me around the house if she could. She has a built in clock when it comes to her feeds - and lets me know when it's her feed time (we've been feeding her with palastart).
She's spoilt, she gets into my garden, and she's getting harder to leave with the rest of the flock, but she is such a good natured animal. I hope she continues to be easy to handle. She absolutely loves being groomed (so to speak) - we will sit with her sometimes and pull the grass seeds out of her wool and she'd just stand there and start to chew her cud contentedly. If she turns out a good mamma sheep in the future, and good milk producer, I might try milking her. I'm intolerant to cow dairy - so it would be nice to have a fresh supply of sheeps milk for my own consumption. I still have a lot to learn about this though.
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Even the hard, dull, dry ground harbours life - which is brought to the surface with the fresh touch of drenching rain (or the humble watering can). |
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myheritage
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Posts: 2
Location: Brisbane
Registered: November 2008
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RE: What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb Posted 1187 days ago My experience of bottle feeding lambs has been a real "eye opener !!"
We started breeding sheep back around 1998 just as a hobby...about 15 to 20 head.
Lost a ewe to local stray dogs and had to bottle feed her ram lamb....advice given to us by a long time breeder...do not keep a ram that has been bottle fed !!
Thought this to be rather "over the top!!"......Not so , this beautiful boy grew up to knock me down and fracture my back in two places .....
At a later date, we changed breeds....from Suffolk to Damara
....and found our selves with the situation where mum wouldn`t allow baby to suckle....knew of the danger but thought because it was a different breed, it may not be a problem.....ok , history repeated itself....one dangerous ram on our hands.....lesson learnt..."NEVER BOTTLE FEED A RAM THAT YOU PLAN TO KEEP !!!!"
Can`t comment on the bottle feeding of ewes....havn`t had to feed one as yet.
Cheers,
Val. |
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Gemini7
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Location: Langwarrin
Registered: November 2008
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RE: What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb Posted 1183 days ago I am raising three wiltshire lambs, now aged 9 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 weeks old, two from around 3 days old because the mothers rejected them and the eldest from 4 weeks when his mother died. Lots of work but it has been a delightful experience for my family to share, including the two dogs. The lambs are very tame, the 2 boys love a cuddle but the little girl is a bit more aloof. I am gradually cutting down their feed so that they can eventually join the other lambs at the farm, unless we can't bear to part with them, but it's a bit much to imagine three full grown sheep baa'ing at the gate for their bottle and knocking on the glass sliding doors with their hoofs wanting to come inside. |
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14theroze
Forum celebrity
Posts: 348
Location: SW NSW
Registered: October 2007
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RE: What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb Posted 1177 days ago Our girl is 8 1/2 weeks old now. She's very demanding, but I'm gradually distancing myself from her so she can get used to me not always being there for her. We would like to return her to the flock soon. She still has a 250 ml feed morning and evening, she is eating solids very well. She seems to have stopped sleeping in the dog kennels. I can relate to the scratching with it's hooves on the back door. The lamb still prefers to run with the dogs rather with the other sheep and lambs - though yesterday she was put in the back paddock with the others (under full protest) and when I went to collect her for a feed she had a young wether following her about.
I'm loving the nature of wiltshires. Apparently our present ram was a poddy lamb. We almost didn't buy him because he was very straight forward in wanting my husbands attention when we were buying him and knocked my husband into the side rail of the pen he was in - my husband wasn't paying him any attention because he was busy chatting to the rest of us. However, he was such a good looking ram and at least we knew we would be able to get close to him in general (our other sheep we'd not long purchased and were pretty ferral). He turned out to be a good choice, he's not butted any of us since and (even without the enticement of hand feeding him) he has allowed us to get close enough to give him a pat. He's not demanding at all - and I'm sure the previous owners had a lot to do with their care of him and introducing him back to the flock. He's also been very productive - we had 27 live lambs out of 22 ewes.
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Even the hard, dull, dry ground harbours life - which is brought to the surface with the fresh touch of drenching rain (or the humble watering can). |
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delllid
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Posts: 16
Location: Gippsland
Registered: September 2009
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RE: What are other peoples experiences when raising a poddy lamb Posted 872 days ago I have just bought in one of our little lambs today after all attempts to get mum to accept it have failed. She is a little black and white damara and although she has a strong appitite I don't beleive she had any milk at all from mum. We only have a couple of acres with two ewes and one ram so lambing problems are new to me. I also would welcome some shared experiences or advice from the wise.
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