Sometimes it happens that newborn lambs lose their mother.
This happens for many reasons, for example, a sheep refused or cannot feed the baby.
Or the ewe died during childbirth.
What to do in this case? Very simple.
There are several ways out of this situation.
This material is dedicated to them.
If a sheep has given birth to several lambs, then the uterus is not always able to feed all the young. In this case, you need push the baby to another womb.
This must be done so that the lamb receives colostrum valuable for its organism. This product plays a very important role for the body of the newborn, as colostrum is a certain foundation for the future immunity of the animal.
The uterus, which gave birth to lambs, immediately licks the newborns, after which it can always determine its cub by smell.
When replanting someone else's lamb, you need to lubricate it with milk or amniotic fluid, after which the adoptive mother should lick the lamb, which will be a sign that she has adopted a "stranger".
Generally speaking, there are a number of ways in which you can accustom a lamb to a new mother.
The first way is that lamb hair is impregnated with placental or amniotic fluid. This case is described above.
The second method is called "wet" schooling. It is used when enough time has passed since the ewe lambing.
Under this method, you need to take the native uterus of a lamb and a stranger and buy both in a water-salt solution. After bathing, both lambs need to be rubbed tightly about each other, and you can still placental envelop, if possible.
Such measures may be insufficient, so the young growth is better placed in a room where the uterus has lodged. After that, the mother will accept the new family member for sure.
The third way is “skin” training. This method is used in the event that a dead lamb is born in the uterus, and a foster baby must be attached to it.
For this stillborn lamb freshened, and the stranger wrapped in a skinned skin. The ewe must be left in the ozarka along with the foster cub for a while. When the uterus takes in, the skin can be gradually removed.
The fourth method is to use the fattening cups. This method is applicable to those ewes who have enough milk not only to feed their lamb.
In these ditches, which are very similar to the delivery rooms, there is a special leash for an ewe. It is necessary to fix a sheep rigidly, but at the same time it should be able to get up and lie down.
The essence of this method is head fixation so that she does not see or smell the lambs that are sucked to her mammary gland.
Lambs are in free movement. Due to the fact that the babies are constantly together, they feed on milk from one sheep, the uterus ceases to reject the adoptee and gets used to it.
This process can take 4-5 days. The younger the cubs, the faster the uterus will receive the stranger.
If the uterus still did not take someone else's lamb, then it will have to be fed artificially. It is important to know that a newly born baby needs about 90 g of colostrum per 0.5 kg of weight during the first 18 hours of life.
After the colostrum stage, the lambs need to be fed with milk. In particular, the cow. You need to be very careful about this method of feeding, since cow's milk is very different from sheep's and in composition, and even in consistency.
After 4 - 5 hours after the lamb tasted colostrum, it can already be drunk whole, necessarily clean and warm cow's milk. You need to water from a bottle with a nipple, which will be a kind of nipple maternal udder.
Later you will need to teach your child to drink from the dishes. There are dairy standards according to age.
That is, the first week the lamb should be given 200 g of milk per day, the second week - 300-400 g, during the third week the baby should receive 400 - 700 g of milk, and during the fourth week - 700-900 g.
It is also interesting to read about the features of care for pregnant sheep.
After a month after the birth, the lamb will be more or less stronger, so it can be converted to oilcake or oat broths or to skim milk. In addition, from this point on, lambs can be given concentrated feed.
Instead of whole cow milk, orphan lambs are often watered with sheep milk substitutes or Zom.
ZOM specifically to feed orphan lambs. This substitute fits kids more than cow's milk.
There are 2 types of recipes, according to which a sheep milk substitute is prepared.
The mixture, which is prepared according to the first recipe, you need to feed the lambs aged 1-15 days. The composition of this mixture accounts for most of the fat, which is very necessary for young in these first 2 weeks of life. There is an approximate composition of this ZOM: 69% is allocated to reverse, 28% to fat and 3% to phosphatides.
2 weeks after the birth, the lambs need protein, not fat. Therefore, in the composition of ZOMa need to reduce the amount of fat to 17%, and the balance to give back. The period of feeding such a substitute lasts for 45 days of life. In the composition of both ZOMA there are various vitamin complexes, compounds of iodine, copper and sodium, salt.
Externally, ZOM is a powder that must be diluted in warm water (38-40 ̊C), where 9 liters of water must be given to 1 kg of powder.
Norms these are: for the first day, the lamb must receive ZOM 5–6 times, and the norm at a time is 125–150 g. In the period from 16 to 40 days, the rate should be brought to 500 g, and the frequency of feeding is 3 times a day.
In addition to the substitute, the lamb must be fed with other products. For example, 10 days after birth, you need to feed in the form of alfalfa hay and compound feed, 1 kg of which contains 120-150 g of protein, which is easily digested by the stomach of a young animal. A month later, you can give the youngsters feed mixture in granules.
At this time you need to give the lamb water, so that he got used to it. After the period of feeding the babies with ZOM, then they will be able to calmly give hay, green grass, mixed feed.
Growing a lamb without a mother is difficult, but possible. The main thing is the desire to save a little life. After all, as a result, you get a beautiful, and most importantly - a healthy animal.
