Pets or pests?

Continuing her series for novice shepherds, Liz Shankland explains the highs and lows of playing foster parent to motherless lambs.

- Liz Shankland

Problems at lambing time invariably means that some lambs will end up orphaned, abandoned, or, competing with siblings to suckle.

Lambs may have to be bottle fed when the ewe:

 • dies during or after giving birth;

• rejects one or all of her offspring;

• cannot produce sufficient milk;

• produces weak or sickly lambs which are unable to suckle naturally.

As a sheep keeper, you may find yourself dealing with one of these scenarios and having to quickly adjust to a new daily schedule. You will have to cope with some tough, demanding weeks, during which you will be constantly buying, mixing, and feeding milk replacement powder, and pushing other jobs aside while you monitor health and development.

HAND REARING IS NOT A CHALLENGE FOR THE FAINTHEARTED

It's not a challenge for the faint-hearted, and many farmers and smallholders choose not to do it, giving away or selling their time-consuming 'pet' or 'cade' lambs. But for every person who decides not to go down the hand-rearing route, there will be many others who will relish the opportunity. Imagine being able to cuddle a sweet, fluffy little creature in your arms several times a day while you feed it and watch it grow. What's not to like? Those of us who have done it will tell you that the reality can be very different.

It can be very tempting - particularly if you are at the start of your smallholding journey and have few animals on site - when an opportunity to take in some unwanted lambs arises. You may have farming neighbours who are too busy to do the rearing themselves, and it could seem like the ideal way to start up your own small, tame flock without much of an outlay.