Well, we had one ewe that had not lambed, and we figured she didn’t get caught as she would have needed to breed in dec to be due now, so we thought.. ah, the lambing is done..
So where we surprised to here a wee babes crying in the field and this itty bitty boy appeared, the mom and him appeared bonded and all seemed well, ah but we were mistaken, she knows him and she does not think she should feed him much.. a bit sure but as long as he needs, no sir..
So when we were out doing noon chores, we made the call to bring him in, and feed him to see if it was him that is the issue, or part of it..
Nope, baby “goon” is active, and a very strong nursing tike, he drank his milk down and took right to the nipple, and was happy to show that he can pee and poo with the best of them, and he settled down for a nice nap in his crate with bedding..
He will be started off with very small amount of warm milk every hour for the first while and then we will move to two hours and then three hours and so forth, guess who will be up blurry eyed making bottles tonight 🙂
And he will be taken to the barn with me three times a day and his mother is going to get tied and he will be allowed to nurse in the hopes that we can make this first time mother understand her duties..
I will do what is needed to make sure he is strong and active while we train his momma, ideally this will be a short term need and we will be able to get him stronger and make her take him.
Just another Day on the Farm 
And, if she won’t stand for him? Does that mean she’ll be bound for freezer camp?
As a first time mom, she needs to be taught, normally if she totally refuses everything, I will indeed freezer camp but if its a momma that wants to be a good one but is confused, I feel that it falls to me, to set her up to succeed
Yup, makes complete sense to me (and I did mean ONLY if she totally refused to “mother” at all: )
Does that happen often? Mamas ignoring the babies? Or could it be an instinctual thing, with a baby born late in the season and might possibly not survive the winter?
Yes, it can happen often with first time moms, or even experienced mom’s if they have more then one, sometimes, they have one, don’t have time to bond or clean the first before the second comes and they “forgot” the first one. That is why we normally jug the mothers and the babies for at least the first couple days to let them bond really well
No, the baby will be fine, it just that its a young first time mother, she is doing really well in some ways, just needs to be taught that bond needs to be stronger and baby needs to find the right spot better..