The challenge with grafting,is the ewe is fetal programed tobproducr milk for however many she is carrying. So adding a bonus to a ewe caring a single, often results in 2 poor lambs. And about 50 percent will "starve off" at 30 days or less.
To me " maternal " means she is smart enough to know hers from any other, and does not let them nurse.
I grew up on western cattle operation. Grafting a calf was never and option, and granny cows were a disruption.
I tend to look at ewes the same.
Never have figured out where the idea, that orphan lambs should be fostered to.
And the large commercail peeps here ,have not wasted time on that in years.
Bonus lambs are sold, or placed on MR.
The cost of labor for messing with the fostering process, far exceeds the cost of MR. Especially when busy lambing in the big ops here.
Neighbor has around 225 to 250 drop rate with a thousand ewes to lamb. So nothing to foster to, and no time anyway.
Kudos to those that mess with it. But that lamb just became very expensive.
One neighbor used to use goats.
Stantioned dairy goats and 4 per goat for 4 weeks. Abrut weaning and another 4. His kids are gone ( pun intended) and so are goats. He has another commercial producer buy all of his now. That gal uses the dairy goat system as well.
