Anyone know anything about sheep/lambs?

[LBird]

Two ewes were mistakenly abandoned in a field behind my house - got left behind when the rest of the flock were taken away. No.1 ewe lambed about 2 weeks ago and no.2 had twin lambs about 10 days ago. All appeared to be thriving until this morning when it became apparent that no.2 ewe had died. I am currently trying to find out who owns them but in the meantime, can does anyone know if there is anything I can do for the lambs? They are trying to feed off no.1 ewe but she of course is butting them away. I can't catch them but I thought of leaving a big bowl (washing up bowl size) of cows milk for them - is this any good or will it be bad for them?

Any (sensible) suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks!

[mat13]

You can get lambing milk in powder form, ask around your local farming supplies places or your local sheep farmers, you can also get special buckets with teats on the bottom.

[LBird]

Thanks Mathew, I'll try that.

[c8bof]

Would it also be worthwhile to contact a local vet / farmer to see about the dead ewe, assuming she's still there?

[LBird]

Yes, I did that first. The vet is also trying to find out who owns them by contacting all his clients. He said there wasn't much I could do for the lambs unless I could catch them (which I can't) but they do keep going back to their Mum's corpse so I reckon if I CAN get hold of some powdered lamb's milk and a special bucket with teats, as Mathew suggested, and rig it up on some sort of stand near the dead ewe, maybe they'll be tempted...

Unfortunately the local farm supplies shop is closed for The Wedding and I haven't been able to get hold of the two farmers I know. I'm about to go and pin a note on the gate of a nearby field full of sheep whose owner visits daily, in the hope that I haven't missed him today and that he'll be prepared to help.

Not sure what else I can do but what I can't do is nothing. Hope the lambs survive until morning - they'll have been 24hours without feeding then (unless they've managed to sneak a mouthful from the other ewe).

[c8bof]

I thought there was supposed to be a tag on the ewe's ear to identify it and the owner? It's been a long time tho since I had sheep.

Poor wee sods. We fed ours from diluting juice bottles with the screw on teats - obviously, you have to get a hold of them first, so that doesn't help you much.

Try pitching up at whichever farm is closest? You might be harder to ignore that way, might push someone into helping catch them. Hope you get something sorted.

[LBird]

All sorted! The vet found the owner and I went and met him in the field. He was grateful for the effort that had been put into finding him.

Thanks for your input guys - I would have hated it if the lambs had perished and I hadn't done all I could to prevent it. Happy arrival at beer 'o' clock