This ewe was our first to lamb with a set of quads! We will likely have to take a couple of these lambs to bottle feed but for now the ewe will be able to provide these four with the essential colostrum that they need. Colostrum is the first milk produced by a ewe when their lambs are born. It’s the key to survival for lambs as it is high in fat which helps them maintain their body temperature and helps protect the newborn lambs against disease.

Why do some lambs need bottle fed?

Unlike a cow that has an udder with four teats, a ewe has only two teats. This means that if she has more than two lambs she may not be able to provide enough milk for them all. This is why we will often bottle feed some of the lambs. This helps ensure that all the lambs get enough milk to thrive.

When a ewe has more than two lambs it is often difficult for her to feed them all. We will either have to bottle feed one lamb or find another ewe who only had one lamb to adopt one. This is called ‘grafting’. Grafting is the process of assessing milk/colostrum production in ewes and matching lambs to supply. This is not always an easy thing to do as ewes look for their scent on the lambs when their born.

So far Dean has successfully grafted one lamb to a new ewe this year. Here is a video of ‘Tiny’, she is one ewe that has great mothering instincts and she took this lamb and loved it right away! She’s our ‘Rock Star’.

Here’s a photo of Tiny with her lamb and her new adoption.

Why do the sheep have numbers painted on them?

We use a special livestock paint to paint the same numbers on a ewe as we put on her lambs. This is done so that from a distance we can easily spot who belongs to who. Different colors represents the different amount of lambs the ewe had.