The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Nelson International on April 13, 2020, 05:19:24 pm

Title: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: Nelson International on April 13, 2020, 05:19:24 pm
Hiya, we’ve just finished lambing and we’ve had some ram lambs for the first time.

We’re going to keep feeding the mothers additional cake for a little while & I wondered whether I need to move away from ewe nuts that are designed for ewes only to make sure that the ram lambs don’t get calculi if they start to sneak the odd nibble?

What type of feed should I be feeding them now?

Thanks
Title: Re: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: Nelson International on April 13, 2020, 05:24:38 pm
Complementary lamb spam
Title: Re: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: SallyintNorth on April 13, 2020, 05:56:08 pm
Yes, ewe nuts is not ok once the male lambs are eating cake.

A standard all-stock feed should be fine; check with the supplier but most seem to be warranted safe for male sheep.

Champion Tup and Lamb is also a good one, if you can get it where you are.

Do make sure there is plenty of fresh water available, whatever you feed.
Title: Re: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: Fleecewife on April 13, 2020, 07:29:43 pm
As Sally says, Carr's Champion Tup is perfect.  It doesn't have the high protein of ewe pencils, but we use it during pregnancy for our Primitives.  Lambs of both sexes love it because it has tasty morsels, such as squashed maize and peas, which are small enough for them to nibble on, and it is also sweet - smells really tasty  ;D :yum:
Title: Re: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: bj_cardiff on April 13, 2020, 07:40:00 pm
As you've just finished lambing I'll assume your Ram lambs are young. If your planning on feeding the ewes nuts for another couple of weeks in reality the lambs might pick at the nuts, but unless your feeding a lot I think the ewes will of scoffed them all before the lambs get a look in.

Title: Re: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: twizzel on April 13, 2020, 08:16:46 pm
As you've just finished lambing I'll assume your Ram lambs are young. If your planning on feeding the ewes nuts for another couple of weeks in reality the lambs might pick at the nuts, but unless your feeding a lot I think the ewes will of scoffed them all before the lambs get a look in.


This. I normally feed for about a month after lambing by the end the lambs are all picking at the nuts. But in reality they don’t get much, and retreat back to the creep feeder which is full of lamb creep pellets which include ammonium chloride to avoid urinary calculi. So I wouldn’t worry too much if they pick some ewe nuts whilst the ewes are feeding, they aren’t likely to eat a dangerous amount. 




Title: Re: Ewe nuts and ram lambs
Post by: Nelson International on April 16, 2020, 05:51:18 pm
As you've just finished lambing I'll assume your Ram lambs are young. If your planning on feeding the ewes nuts for another couple of weeks in reality the lambs might pick at the nuts, but unless your feeding a lot I think the ewes will of scoffed them all before the lambs get a look in.

Thanks all  :thumbsup:

This is where we are, but I was out of ewe nuts anyway - I picked up some generic all-stock feed that should do, as Sally suggested - something more specialised would have been a bit trickier to come by in the current situation.