Barra the Lamb
April is a happy, busy time with lambs arriving.
Five ewes delivered a single, two sets of twins and two sets of triplets!
And the last ewe, Grace, a first-time mom, was waiting. One morning, walking to the barn I could hear a lamb bleating. It was not a good sign. Normally, ewes are attentive to the lamb’s every need and you never hear them bleat. From the doorway, I could see a little black lamb standing all alone, bleating. Nearby, was Grace who showed no interest in her new lamb.
I moved them into their own pen and tended to the lamb. A ewe lamb, she was perky, strong and large at 13 - 1/2 pounds. She wanted to nurse, so I positioned her by Grace, but the ewe kept moving away from the lamb. I had to get some colostrum into the lamb, so she would not get cold and weak.

I put a halter on Grace and tied her to the pen. With some body pressure against Grace to keep her from moving, I positioned the lamb and was able to get her to nurse. Fortunately, the lamb had a strong instinct to find the teat and nurse. She hung on like a barracuda, tenacious and focused. Little “Barra” had a chance to live. I had to halter Grace five times a day for the first three weeks so Barra could nurse. Although Grace would not nurse the lamb on her own, she did allow the lamb to nurse.
I taught Barra to nurse both teats. She grew quickly and was an efficient nurser. She developed a fast nursing system, standing on one side, where she sucked on one teat, bumped the udder soundly several times to get a milk let down and then repeated the process on the other teat. She would go back and forth quickly many times sucking as much milk as possible before she pulled back panting to catch her breath. Then she went back for more milk.
After three weeks it was time for the ewes and lambs to be on pasture. It was difficult to catch Grace in the pasture, so after several days, Barra was weaned. A little black beauty at 35 pounds she was on her own. Eating grass and chewing cud, she was making her own food.
Reproduction is a very delicate and complex process. A healthy and stress-free ewe should not have problems, but they can happen, especially with first-time moms.
If ewes have problems birthing or taking care of lambs, many people may either sell the ewe, not bred her again or cull the ewe.

I gave Grace another chance to be bred, as I felt she would not have problems again. The next year she successfully birthed and nursed twins (photo above), and the year after another set of twins (photo below). She was a wonderful caring mom!