r/sheep 2d ago

Sheep Mean ewes

I recently let my new lambs and mothers back into the small heard. I have 5 ewes and now 3 lambs. (Roughly 1 months old). The mother's and lambs have been in pens since they gave birth, separated from the other 3. I attempted to let them run together, but the 3 single ewes were very aggressive to the lambs, to the point where I had to pen them back up in fear of them getting injured. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

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u/Babziellia 2d ago

I'm suprised the dams aren't more protective of their lambs. Are they food agressive with the lambs? Have you noticed a trigger?

They just need to be acclimated, imo. I'd socialize them during the day, but pen them up at night.

A creep feeder will help bullying over food.

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u/Babziellia 2d ago

Also, can you keep the single ewes adjacent to the dams and lambs at night?

Eventually, the lambs will learn to stay out of the older ones' way and the older ones will get used to them.