For me, every lambing season brings the unexpected. I’m often faced with something I’ve only read about and I need to come up with a solution that works on our farm.

This ewe has no milk; she has a large udder, but it doesn’t give milk. Fortunately for the lambs, I caught the condition right away and tube fed them colostrum.

At my first lambing workshop, I learned to “dip” the lamb’s umbilical cord in an iodine solution, “strip” out any plug to the ewe’s udder and I listen for the lamb’s “sip” of colostrum.

Luckily I not only knew I had to intervene because she had no milk, but I had the supplies to do so. Until a couple of years ago I had never tube fed a lamb. A YouTube video reminded me of the details of the skills learned in that 1st lambing workshop.

The bucket teat feeder was added to my supplies a few years ago after a season of many triplets in need of supplemental formula.

My shepherding experiences expand every lambing season, it is exciting and humbling.

BTW, even though she has no milk, this ewe will mother the lambs until they are weaned.