Asha's Lamb-Along Spring 2026

[Asha_Gail]

English is not my first language so I don't know all the English sheep terms, what exactly is a down ewe?

So thing very similar to this is also how I learned to let ewes adopt lambs. Although succes is also often based on the specific ewe you put them with. Some just know and won't accept them. Of that happens we fix the ewe head between 2 planks on a fence, so she is basically stuck in place in her jug. This way she can't headbutt the adopted lamb away. After a while she will accept the adopted lamb.


When we have 5 lambs separated from their mother we use a bucket with teats. Although our set up uses a normal bucket with 2 tubes leading to 2 teats fixed on a plank on the correct height for the lambs. It's not that expensive and fairly easy to set up. Can't imagine the work needed to bottle feed 40 lambs!

No worries! A "Down Ewe" is a sheep that is down and can't get back up, usually due to being sick or injured. In my case, our ewes have a calcium deficiency in their diet which has spiraled into them getting sick and not being able to stand which makes them more sick.



We've tried the head-lock thing too! We built a locked station like your two boards out of some wood and metal. Like you said, some ewes just never accept a foreign lamb so the head-lock hasn't always worked for us either.



We have a multi feeding bucket too, though I find it hard to clean so we don't use it often unless we have few bottle lambs. Our big machine that makes the milk for the lambs uses tubes that go to a plank similar to what you said, but all automatic. Thankfully, the machine makes taking care of 40 lambs easier!

(The picture is from my bottle lambs last year!)

 

[Asha_Gail]

Wow! I think ten in the foster pen was generally about the most we'd have at any time - mostly waiting to be adopted when one of the singles lambed, plus the odd one that was a bit wonky and would stay a bottle lamb (what I'd call a caddy lamb) until they were out on grass and weaned. Probably did 50-60 wet adoptions a year plus a few jackets and they were almost always successful

We never do wet adoptions anymore or any type of 'grafting' (which is what we usually call any type of adoption) mostly because the machine is too convenient XD

Honestly the UK has basically written the book so to speak on sheep rearing, most of the techniques used in the US (where I'm located) are all UK based. Especially the equipment too. Our electronic tags look nearly identical to the one I saw in the picture you shared. We use Shearwell. Honestly my dad is handy with welding and metal work so he often studies equipment used in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand then replicates it since quality equipment is hard to come by here without importing.

Don't even get me started on sheepdogs... nearly impossible to find

I know jugs are something we use because we lamb in a barn, plus we have a lot of what I dubbed "vultures" aka lamb theives. We used to lamb out on pasture about two decades ago, but pivoted after substantial loss.

 

[Asha_Gail]

Finally in for the night! My bed has never looked better lmao

All the lambs are fed, and the ewes have hay to munch on. Water is frozen right now unfortunately but expecting it to thaw tomorrow.

I put 2 vultures in 2 jugs and Vulture #1 isn't lambing but Vulture #2 absolutely mutilated her jug's bedding and was starting to labor.

I believe we're around 25 ewes lambed out of 245ish sheep. Definitely going slower than I'm used to.

 

[Asha_Gail]

Ewe from last night had two stillborn which is unfortunate and surprising. She's a very sweet ewe and was still wanting lambs so currently she's babysitting 4 out of 5 bottle lambs.

Had one of our down ewes that had partially recovered was in labor but struggling so treated with oxytocin and assisted. Both her lambs were stillborn. Though I at least expected that, given she was a down ewe. The vet had mentioned that down ewe lambs were most likely to be deceased.

Had a lamb that was either in hypoglycemic shock, or had been laid on. Treating it the best I can but as of right now I'm not confident in it's survival.

My 5th bottle lamb is getting better with the bottle, and much more perky and hydrated. Big improvements lol

Honestly all things considered, things are going decently if you ignore the rough start. We're at 27 ewes now I think? Still slow, but there's a slight uptick. We're gonna need to castrate, vaccinate, tag, and dock soon too.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I’m sorry you’ve lost so many lambs, but glad you now have a ewe to babysit!

 

[Asha_Gail]

I’m sorry you’ve lost so many lambs, but glad you now have a ewe to babysit!

Thank you, it hasn't been that many compared to years prior so far but each loss is hard. <3