Eastside Farm

weak, he will milk the ewe and give the lamb
a reviving feed of colostrum with a tube fed
carefully down the lamb’s throat. After one
or two such feeds, the lamb revives and the
bonding process begins.
Sometimes, in spite of the shepherd’s best
efforts, a lamb is stillborn. The ewe will be
distressed and nudge the lamb in vain to
wake it. At the same time, another ewe may
have twin lambs but not enough milk for them
both. If this happens we can use a technique
called “twinning on”. It sounds gruesome
to describe but can ensure the successful
adoption of the twin with insufficient milk
from its mother. The dead lamb is skinned and
the skin placed on the twin lamb like a second
coat. This fools the dead lamb’s mother into
thinking it is her own. As the Blackface ewe
recognises her lamb mainly by smell, any lamb
that doesn’t smell right will be swiftly rejected
with a butt of the head. Placing the skin of the
dead lamb on the twin means it smells correct
to the mother and she’ll busily nuzzle and feed
her seemingly miraculously recovered offspring.
Even although it’s Spring, the sheep can
experience blizzard conditions. More frequently
there is a dusting of snow that melts quickly
but Blackface lambs are remarkably resilient
to harsh conditions and as long as they have
a belly full of milk, they will survive harsh
conditions quite happily.