Bottles Lambs at Ten Months

In 10 months, they've gone from just too cute...

just so adorable....

to teenagers....

to almost grown up...

to still occasionally cute....

to mostly obnoxious.

Yes, that is my knee in the photo... and that is a lamb chest. My dogs don't try to jump up on me, but the 100-pound bottle lambs do. The twin bottle lambs are 10 months old now, and not afraid of people, not afraid of dogs, not afraid of leaving the flock to explore the barn, not afraid of jumping on humans.

We haven't had lots of bottle lambs in the past, but until now, they've been singles. As they grew, they assimilated with the flock.

Not so with the twins.

Oh, they hang out with the flock, but they also are content to hang out with humans.

And, they aren't shy about demanding food or attention.

While photographing chickens for the blog, the dark-faced one jumps on my back.

"Not cute," I tell her, suddenly aware that while I understand how horse and dog mamas correct their young, I have no idea what sheep mamas do.

My Little Lambs

It's been months since the orphan twin lambs have had a bottle. But that doesn't mean they've forgotten me.

When I go into the pasture, they still come up to me.

Which can be cute and endearing, unless I'm trying to move them. A foot stomp moves most sheep away from me. With these two, it takes a shove.

And, I've got to watch my back. Sometimes, the twins forget that they are adults now, and that pawing me with front hooves hurts.

But when they approach, I'll still scratch their faces and behind their ears. On cold mornings, I'll still bury my fingers in their woolly coats. In these moments, they still are my little lambs.

Vaccinating Lambs

Years ago, when I first vaccinated lambs, I thought about the needles.

I sweated, tried not to shake or think about it too much as I pierced their skin with the needle.

After administering hundreds of vaccines, I'm over that.

Now, I think about the fat.

The ram lambs are vaccinated with the CDT (enterotoxemia types C and D and tetanus) vaccine when they become wethers at about 10 days old. They are given a booster vaccine about 3-4 weeks later. We usually give the ewe lambs their first vaccines at this time.

To administer the vaccine, I pinch the skin behind the elbow and inject the needle under the skin. It's easy to do on the plump, 60-day-old lambs.

It's harder on the 60-day-old bottle lambs, like the one below.

While she's healthy and thriving, she doesn't have the extra layer of fat that her nursing pasture mates have. The other difficult ones were Good Mom's triplets.

A month younger than most of the other lambs, they haven't filled out yet.

When we give boosters to the ewe lambs in 3-4 weeks, I again will be focusing on the fat and their size, as most will have outgrown human laps by then.

The Power of Sugar and Salt

When a ewe died, I was left with 16-day-old twin ewe lambs.

Those lambs didn't want to be caught. They didn't want a bottle. They just wanted their mother.

Instead they got me.

Several times a day, I'd catch them, place them on my lap, pry their mouths open, and stick a baby bottle nipple into their mouths.

They'd take a few swallows, deem it nasty, and set their jaws.

After three days of this, I worried about them not getting enough calories and liquids.

So, I mixed an electrolyte solution for them, and again, only convinced them to drink a few ounces. But when I tried again a few hours later, they were more enthusiastic. After each drinking six ounces, they demanded more.

That evening, I offered them the lamb replacer formula. They sucked that down and begged for more.

So, now this is my view, times two, three times a day.