How to Manage Bummer Lambs

Bummer lambs can be a real “bummer” for sheep producers, but with the right management techniques, these lambs can still be successfully raised and provide value to the operation. Redd Summit shares our tips and tricks to manage these lambs to weaning and avoid incurring a loss. 

What is a Bummer Lamb?

The definition of a bummer lamb can change depending on who you talk to, in general, a bummer lamb is a lamb that doesn’t have a mother to nurse from. Of course, this can happen in a myriad of different ways. The ewe could have died or rejected the lamb, the lamb might be too weak to nurse, they could be pulled off the ewe due to too many siblings, they may not have received enough colostrum, etcetera, etcetera. 

Regardless of how a lamb becomes a bummer, it will pose a management challenge. But have no fear! You’ve got plenty of options. 

How Do you Successfully Manage Bummer Lambs?

When it comes to managing bummer lambs, common options include (but are not limited to): bottle feeding, grafting, selling, or culling. 

Bottle feeding is perhaps the most labor-intensive option for rearing bummer lambs, but you can mitigate the added labor by creep feeding and early weaning. You could also use auto bottle feeders/buckets to feed larger groups of bummers, though this may require an additional investment. 

Another management option is grafting, which is the practice of switching a lamb off of its mother to a different lactating ewe. This works best if you have a number of ewes lambing at the same time and is a good alternative to bottle-feeding milk replacer. There are several ways to graft a bummer lamb onto a foster ewe, including slime grafting, scent grafting (also called stocking grafting), stanchion graft, and skin graft. Each method has its own pros and cons, and some may work better for your operation than others. Regardless, they all require management and observation to ensure that the foster ewe and bummer lamb bond and that the graft succeeds.

Selling bummer lambs is also an option. There are actually plenty of people who would love the opportunity to bottle-raise a lamb, and if labor is a limiting factor, this may be a good option to get some value out of your bummer lambs without much labor input. 

The final option is culling, which may be necessary if labor is a limiting factor. Though this option does not allow you to gain any value from the lamb. 

Conclusion

Bummer lambs can be more labor-intensive. However, there are still a few options to successfully manage these lambs to increase your lamb survival rate and still provide some value to your operation, whether that be managing them until they're successfully weaned or selling them off to a hobby farmer. Bummer lamb management requires a little extra work, but the rewards can be well worth it. With the right techniques and management, bummer lambs can grow into healthy, valuable sheep.

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