I know very little about raising sheep, but I am learning fast. And one of the things I have learned is that sheep can die in the blink of an eye. One day they look fine and healthy and the next day they're dead. Very unnerving.
Last year we had a very mild winter. Of the 23 lambs that were born that winter we lost only 3, leaving us with 19 healthy lambs. The first one we lost had gotten separated from its mom. I found it curled up in a corner on the other side of the fence. I tried to put it back in with mom, but the little thing couldn't stand, which meant it wouldn't be able to nurse. So I brought it into the house and tried to warm it up. Warm towels out of the drier did the trick and the lamb came around and nursed from a bottle. Unfortunately, its health disintigrated overnight and through the next day and it then died. Another lamb got white muscle disease, which meant it's legs went stiff and it couldn't get up or stand for long. I bottle fed that one for weeks in the barn and it looked like it was getting better, but then one morning we found it dead . Very disheartening. The third one just died. We have no idea why.
This year has been brutal. It has been so wickedly cold; we've already lost 6 lambs. But we do have some successes as well. There are 4 healthy lambs outside with their moms. If they can get through the first night okay then they do fine. The cold doesn't bother them. And we have 2 lambs that we are bottle feeding in the basement. One is a boy, his name is Stanley. The other is a girl and her name is Flopsy (Dan named that one). Stanley has a twin brother, Oliver, who is doing fine outside with mom. Stanley wasn't as strong when he was born and wasn't getting to the "milk bar" quick enough. He would have died if we hadn't intervened. But we brought him into the house, warmed him up and fed him milk that Dan milked from his mom. From then on he has been on lamb milk formula and is doing great. Flopsy was born strong, but wasn't nursing. Dan tried to milk the mom, but got nothing. The mom was dry, no milk. So we brought Flopsy into the house and fed her milk that we got from Stanley's mom. That first milk has colostrum in it, which is very important for the lambs immune system. Since then she has been on formula as well and seems to be thriving. So now I bottle feed two lambs four times a day, change the cedar shavings in their box to keep things clean and take them outside for some sunshine and exercise. Slowly they will spend more and more time outside until I can comfortably leave them outside. Right now they think I am their mother. They probably always will.
