A Bundle of Joy

Last night a "teenage mother" dropped this baby and decided "I'm outta here." We caught her and tried to get her to like her baby, or at least tolerate him enough to let him nurse. No deal. She wanted nothing to do with him and kept trying to escape from the jug. After much exasperation I decided to let her go and try to get the ewe who just had the twins to accept him. I took the pink sweater off the ewe lamb because she was very slimy when I put it on her. It would be sure to have a scent the mother would recognize. She nuzzled him and didn't look very perplexed or annoyed at the extra baby. Trouble is, this little guy was too weak to stand. I'm not surprised - the mother is skinny as a rail and hardly looked pregnant. She never even bagged up. What to do, what to do. I nursed some colostrum out of the twin's mother and gave it to the orphan. I put him under the light and went to bed. Matt took night duty. When I got up at 5 Matt reported the new baby looked real bad and we should probably let him go - not something I accept easily! I did not have any milk replacer in the house, and the ewe was lying down with her twins. She looked at me like "don't even think about pulling on my teats with your icy fingers!" I didn't have the heart to steal the twin's milk. Time was running out and I had to go to work. In desperation I got my feeding tube, big syringe and mixed some molasses with warm water. The tube went in fine and I filled his belly with the sugary breakfast. Off to work. I could see as I ran out the door he was perking up a little. I called Matt from work who told me he would milk out the mom again and give him a little milk. I bought a bucket of milk replacer (ouch! $$) on the way home and here we are. He drank and drank on the Pritchard's teat. Jan bought me this nifty carrier at a pet shop where her student was doing some work/study. "Buddy" loves it! I will try my best to get him strong and back with the twin family before mom says no way. A sheep raised by humans is neither here nor there. He needs to be a member of the flock. In the meantime, I am loving the heck out of having my own baby!