Lambing - Raising Sheep - page 300

Scientifi c evidence suggests that vaginal stimulation during parturition
plays a large role in the ewe's instinct to accept the lamb, which could explain
why grafting lambs is more successful the closer it's done to delivery. This
could also explain why some “easy lambers” simply walk away from a new-
born lamb as if its birth were just a minor occurrence.
Once a ewe rejects a lamb, it is hard to fool her into accepting it. All meth-
ods fall into two major categories: the mental, or “brainwashing,” techniques,
in which you attempt to change their hardheaded opinion, or the physical, or
“fool-the-sense-of-smell,” method.
Encourage grafting in any way you can. There are a number of things to
try, such as:
■ Use fetal fl uids from the ewe onto which the lamb is to be grafted (either
its mother or another ewe) and smear over the lamb; this is a tried-and-
true method of grafting.
■ Rub the lamb with a little water with molasses in it to encourage the
ewe to lick the lamb.
■ Use an “adoption coat” or “fostering coat” (see Resources for suppliers),
which is a cotton stockinette tubing applied like a lamb coat. When
stretched over an accepted lamb for a few hours, it will absorb the smell
and can then be turned inside out and stretched over the lamb you wish
to graft. (Shepherd's tip: If you have a heavy-milking ewe with a single
lamb, slip a coat on her lamb to have a fostering coat ready to use if
needed.)
■ Daub the ewe's nose and the lamb's rear end with a strong scent-masking
agent made for this purpose or with a dab of petroleum jelly. Since the
ewe identifi es the lamb primarily by smelling its rear end, sometimes
menthol, vanilla, or even an unscented room deodorant on her nose and
the lamb's rear will suffi ce.
■ If it's a case of the “new-mother jitters” or the ewe is high-strung and not
very tame, a tranquilizer can sometimes work wonders to calm her.
■ An old-timer's method is to tie a dog near the pen. Its presence is sup-
posed to foster the mothering instinct. But sometimes this makes the
ewe so fi erce that she will butt the lamb if she can't reach the dog.
■ Another method, which is not actually as cruel as it sounds, is to fl ick
the tips of the ewe's ears with a switch until she becomes so rattled that
she urinates from the stress. She may then accept the lamb.
■ Immerse both the lamb to be grafted on the ewe and the lamb she has
accepted in a saturated salt solution to even out the scent.