MOTHERLESS LAMBS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20920, 27 September 1939, Page 13

MOTHERLESS LAMBS

NEW METHOD ADOPTED HAWKE’S BAY EXPERIENCE How to deal with the motherless lamb is always something of a problem and many ingenious practices have been adopted to persuade ewes to take a strange lamb. A novel method of obtaining the desired results, noticed on a Hawke’s Bay property, is explained by Mr R. P. Hill, Instructor in Agriculture. In the case in point a ewe had died, leaving a motherless lamb for the farmer to cope with. Usually when a lamb dies and it is deisred to persuade the bereaved ewe to take another lamb the dead lamb is skinned and the skin placed over the strange lamb, a process which usually has the effect of misleading the ewe into thinking that the new lamb is her own. In this case, however, the dead lamb of the ewe was not available for the purpose. Instead, however, the farmer tried another system and one which proved perfectly successful.

For the purpose of the trial it was necessary to construct a small enclosure in the paddock. The enclosure was of wire netting round timber supports and was large enough only for the ewe and so small that she could not turn round. The wire did not extend right to the bottom of the enclosure, sufficient room being left for the lamb to enter and leave. By this means the lamb was able to escape unhurt in the event of the ewe deciding to lie down.

Having placed the ewe in the enclosure the lamb was put under the wire and commenced to feed on his foster-mother. This process was repeated for some time, until the ewe began to care naturally for the lamb, after which they were turned out into the paddock. The system has proved successful in the case of several ewes and lambs.