Mamma kept the little girl, but did not want the boy. Gosh he is cute. When a newborn lamb is rejected by the mother, and it is well and healthy, then bottle feeding is the only choice. Very seldom will a mother ewe accept a lamb that is not hers. The only way to do that is to take the lamb to a mother giving birth and cover it with birth fluids, then leave it for the mother to clean. She may bond with the lamb, thinking she had just given it birth, but she may be wise and try to kill it, so vigilance is necessary.
I am bottle feeding a Karakul/Cotswold cross male lamb. He is adorable, all black with the dominant Karakul tightly curled black fleece, but he has the rounded face of the Cotswold and that makes him adorable. His name is Morgan and he already knows my voice and comes running when I call him. He butts me to get the milk flow going (in his own mind) and then sucks his bottle until he is full. Because he is young, his tummy is yet small and he cannot drink more than 6-8 ounces at a time, so he must be fed often during the day. He has 4 feedings during the day and a long stretch between midnight and 7 am which allows me to sleep a bit. As he gets older, he can have three 8 ounce feedings during the day and he should be fine. He has started to nibble hay, since he is in with older lambs that are teaching him to eat. I know of farmers who get down on their hands and knees and chew hay to teach bottle lambs. Normally, they learn this from their mothers. Morgan's tail has been cropped, but he has not been castrated at this time. It is the likely next move, since a black Karakul/Cotswold ram is not a sought after model. Too bad for the little guy. That means he will be eaten one day. And that is the hardest part of bottle feeding. It is.
I am bottle feeding a Karakul/Cotswold cross male lamb. He is adorable, all black with the dominant Karakul tightly curled black fleece, but he has the rounded face of the Cotswold and that makes him adorable. His name is Morgan and he already knows my voice and comes running when I call him. He butts me to get the milk flow going (in his own mind) and then sucks his bottle until he is full. Because he is young, his tummy is yet small and he cannot drink more than 6-8 ounces at a time, so he must be fed often during the day. He has 4 feedings during the day and a long stretch between midnight and 7 am which allows me to sleep a bit. As he gets older, he can have three 8 ounce feedings during the day and he should be fine. He has started to nibble hay, since he is in with older lambs that are teaching him to eat. I know of farmers who get down on their hands and knees and chew hay to teach bottle lambs. Normally, they learn this from their mothers. Morgan's tail has been cropped, but he has not been castrated at this time. It is the likely next move, since a black Karakul/Cotswold ram is not a sought after model. Too bad for the little guy. That means he will be eaten one day. And that is the hardest part of bottle feeding. It is.
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