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Author Topic: Feeding treats to lambs  (Read 10636 times)

JosieJoe

  • Joined Oct 2016
Feeding treats to lambs
« on: October 16, 2016, 07:28:42 pm »
Hello everyone, newbie lamb owner here.  We have 6 month old coloured rylands who are very sweet - come happily to a bucket and for a scratch.  I have tried looking on line but can't find an exact answer.  I know they mustn't have copper but is it ok to use high fibre horse cubes as a treat?  The online feed analysis doesn't say anymore that 'vitamins and minerals' so I don't know how much if any copper it contains.  I also have pygmy goats who have their own mix as a treat - mainly fruit and veg I think - but they will help themselves to any left over horse feed, like the lambs too.  However, I understand it's ok for goats to have copper.  Any advice?  Many thanks all.

TheSmilingSheep

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2016, 01:59:21 pm »
for our sheep any sort of cake is a treat.... but I've heard that digestive biscuits are a big hit!
also, sometimes getting some other foliage is a huge treat.... off cuts of willow or apple tree leaves....

Backinwellies

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
    • Nantygroes
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Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2016, 02:13:25 pm »
whatever mix you have in your bucket that they come too is a treat ... why do you need anything else?
Linda

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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2016, 02:36:43 pm »
I know you mustn't let sheep get at the Rockies mineral licks that horses have, so I would say absolutely not to let them have access to the horse pellets.

As you are now registered with Animal Health you must also make yourself aware of all the legislation pertaining to the keeping of sheep and goats, which includes keeping the feedstuffs for each species completely separate in sealed bins with no possibility of cross-contamination.  Same applies with chickens, I think - anything which might end up in the human food chain.

Simplest answer is to get an all-purpose stock blend that is safe for all cattle, sheep, pigs and ponies.  Do check that it is specifically ok for male sheep too, though, as if not it could cause urinary calculi in any male sheep you have.

I'm going to try to get some grass pellets that all mine can then eat, but I haven't started to look for any yet,
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2016, 02:51:37 pm »
Digestives and doughnuts (no sugar!) but only half a biscuit per lamb or a quarter of a doughnut. They also like bread.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2016, 03:29:53 pm »
I keep the contents ticket from each new delivery of feed.  I generally have a sack of coarse mix around, as a sheep has to be pretty far gone not to polish off a handful.  A chopped up apple, leaves from ash, apple, pear, beech, blackthorn .....

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2016, 08:28:41 pm »
Oat cakes are our goats' treat - even the crackling of the cellophane wrapping brings them racing to you....

The sheep just have sheep mix...

If you are struggling to have two different kinds of feed sacks - your goats will be happy to eat the sheep mix (or any general stock mix), and are fine as long as you have a Red Rockie in their pen, non-accessible to the sheep.

Unless you have high-yielding dairy goats it is - IMO - completely unnecessary to feed a specialised goat mix, these are often far more expensive than sheep or general stock mixes....


agoosecalledshakespeare

  • Joined Apr 2016
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2016, 08:35:06 pm »
We occasionally give ours alfalfa pellets, which we soak briefly first, to keep them bucket tame for when we need to get them in.  They also love being given a big leafy branch from a tree to nibble on and play with.  One of our tups absolutely loves foliage.  I think it's quite good for them as well.  I should add that ours very rarely get anything that isn't growing. We have Coloured Ryelands and they seem to do really well off grass but can be a bit prone to porking up if given a lot of concentrates.

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2016, 09:04:31 pm »
Yep, oatcakes hit the spot for my girls.

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2016, 09:50:48 pm »
Yep, oatcakes hit the spot for my girls.

Must be a Scottish thing....

Oopsiboughtasheep

  • Joined Aug 2014
  • Hampshire
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2016, 12:58:11 pm »
I have had some brilliant advice from this forum over the past 2 yrs since getting a few (pet) sheep. One of the  first and most brilliant was 'use digestive biscuits as a treat'. I can move the girls anywhere, anytime for anything with one digestive! Floss, one of the Zwartbles, walks to heel better than my dogs and will turn full left or right circles (also to heel). She will do all of this at a walk, trot and run. It's hilarious.....might enter her in BGT! The 'sit' is obviously not going too well  ;) but their 'recall' is fab! I only use one a day between the 6 of them, usually in the evenings, they love them.
My neighbours love to watch it but my friends think I should get out more!  :roflanim:
Anything that costs you your peace is too expensive

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2016, 01:48:45 pm »
I think that's just a Zwartbles thing Oops, or perhaps it's big girl = big appetite! Most of our Zs will follow us around the field even without any bribery. Our wee pet lamb Dinky even freaked out the neighbour's sheep dog by trying to lick it through the fence one time. Floss just looked up at his owner as if to say "what the hell is wrong with this one?"  ;D

I also overheard a couple of old farmers talking at the Zwartbles auction last year, and one said to the other "I just don't get it Jim. If ye want a great big woolly dug, why don't ye get yersel' a f***ing poodle?"  :roflanim:
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

shygirl

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2016, 02:27:31 pm »
sheep nuts maybe?

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2016, 04:15:55 pm »
Sugar beet nuts or shreds would be a better choice - you may have those for your horses anyway?

Blondie

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: Feeding treats to lambs
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2016, 06:08:56 pm »
I knew someone who would feed her favourite sheep warm porridge every day! The sheep would wait by the gate for her evening treat every day! Porridge is cheap although I'm not sure how healthy!

 

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