They have the idea right for sheep....at least!...

[ann_of_loxley]

We had a fantastic day today! - We went to a working farm and it was so much fun! Its lambing season and there were lambs being born my the mintue! We learned a lot about lambs today and of course - got to see the miracle of birth!

Well ewes usually have 2 lambs.
Ewes have two teats - so it works out really well! hehe
Sometimes ewes only have one lamb - though with this we noticed that those lambs were rather large compared to the ones that had two!

and even more a miracle - sometimes ewes would have THREE lambs!!!

Now - because they only have two teats, history has shown them that one lamb would usually then become the 'runt' and suffer from this - even sometimes die.

So what they do when this happens is 'adopt' the lamb to another ewe - a ewe who only had one baby.

Plenty of teats to go around!

And you know...its great! Every ewe and lamb ends up happy and well fed!

Someone commented on how it was 'cruel' - but the farmer explained it was the best option because a ewe could look after the lamb much better than him with a bottle could. And its true. Not only is the ewe providing the lamb with natural nouishment - but everything else a 'mother' can offer.

Slightly differen from humans - I am not suggestiong those with triplets adopt a child out! lol

But in theory - they have it right with sheep and dont even bat an eye lid at the though...

Where did we go wrong?

[Meiri]

I'm guessing it's easy to keep that clue with the sheep because there is simply no way the shepherd could bottlefeed 50 lambs, or however many are in the flock.

I'm curious how they get the new momma to adopt. I've read about how it's done when a ewe loses a lamb and another needs her, but how did he get the triplet to smell like the new momma instead of the old such that new would accept it?

[ann_of_loxley]

Originally Posted by Meiri

I'm guessing it's easy to keep that clue with the sheep because there is simply no way the shepherd could bottlefeed 50 lambs, or however many are in the flock.

I'm curious how they get the new momma to adopt. I've read about how it's done when a ewe loses a lamb and another needs her, but how did he get the triplet to smell like the new momma instead of the old such that new would accept it?

What they did for the two that we saw was just to hold the mother on her back (a sheep cant move in this position) - then they had the lamb feed from her! That seemed to be all that needed to be done! - I just thought it was amazing!

I just read a post last night some odd posts down about a mum who bf her friends baby as she couldnt find anywhere to warm up the babys bottle. I love the openmindedness of that! Thats what made me think of the sheep we saw today!!! - I have a few friend whos milk didnt come in until week 6 (rare, but it does happen) - if she had a friend who was willing and both were a bit more open minded, she would have been able to carry on a bf relationship with her child - without the child starving to death! I struggled so much with my son because of his tongue tie - but didnt find out that was the cause until it was too late. Now that I know I know my next child and I will be able to have that bf relationship but I have a friend willing to help me out and avoid the use of formula and bottles if need be.

But so many people have this view on such things as being horrible and nasty and yucky and that it will give your child a disease or something... But they never seemed to question the ewes lol And the farmers know its best for them as well, because its more than just a bottle.