I think if he werent getting milk he would be near death by now.
Some ewes udders never get very large until AFTER the lambs are born, and some never get really large at all.

 

The ewe may be holding up her milk, make sure she has a quiet pen with her lamb away from the others and just keep an eye on her (ensure she has salt mineral and water) . There are ways to induce milk let down if it becomes problematic. I had ewe that needed three oxytocin injections a day to feed her twins.

 

Well, I just pinned her down, and was able to squeeze out a drop of milk, so I know there is some there. I thought maybe the teats were plugged, the way he keeps searching back and forth between nipples. She will let the little guy nurse as much as he wants, but I think he's getting thinner. Maybe there just isn't very much there. Is there a good way to get milk replacer into him as a supplement, besides a bottle?

 

I don't think it is uncommon for them to switch side to side when nursing. Even my sets of twins will play musical teats.

If/when he is hungry enough, he will take milk replacer from a bottle and greedily. In a similar situation I put the bottle's nipple in the lambs mouth and either gently squeeze the lamb's mouth on the nipple or squeeze the bottle so he gets a taste of the milk. I find having the milk replacer baby bath water warm (you know the test, a few drops on the inside of the wrist) seems to help. Too warm or too cool at first it quickly isn't a good substitute for mama. You could mix up a 4 ounce portion and see if he'll take that much to begin with.

 

Try weighing him once a day (at the same time of day) for the next few days. I expect single newborns to gain between 1/2 to a pound a day.

 

It probably wouldn't hurt to offer him some milk replacer in a bottle just to be sure he is getting enough. Don't take him away from his mother though, he should keep trying to nurse.
Not to be critical of you in particular, but my vet, who is also a sheep owner, told us in the beginning not to breed the ewes until they would lamb the first time close to age 2. He doesn't believe they are mature enough physically until then. The one time we had an accidental breeding and a yearling ewe lambed, we had a lot of problems compared to our experience with older ewes. Sometimes the young ones don't produce enough milk. We had to supplement her lamb, and it worked OK - the lamb liked the bottle, but continued to nurse, too.

Now, I'm sure others will jump in here and say they breed for yearlings to lamb all the time with no problem, I am just telling you of our experience. Good luck, hope the lamb does OK.

 

Hi everyone, just an update. We locked the ewe and lamb up together for a couple of days, as Ross suggested, and fed her a bit extra (and prayed ALOT! ) and he started gaining weight pretty well. Her milk came in heavier, and her bag grew, and now he is a crazy healthy ram. Happy him, and happy us!

RandB, I do not disagree with your vet, but we have always bred our ewes (Katahdins, St. Croix, tend to mature earlier) to lamb for the first time at about 13-15 months. This is the first girl that had a problem, so it caught us by surprise. I guess it never occurred to me that a hair sheep wouldn't have enough milk! She's fine now, though, thank God.