The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Gilly on June 11, 2021, 04:21:30 am

Title: Emergency milk for new born lambs
Post by: Gilly on June 11, 2021, 04:21:30 am

Hi all. I've just had twin Suffolk crosses & the mum has no milk.. blocked teats. I've tried for ages & she's dry. It's 4 am, no vets or anywhere open to get colostrum & replacer.
Could I give them ordinary cows milk to keep them going till shops open, or would that make them sick?

I thought lambing was finished weeks ago. This one is a big surprise so am not prepared.


Any advice would be very welcome.

Title: Re: Emergency milk for new born lambs
Post by: shep53 on June 15, 2021, 11:13:01 am

Very sorry that we didn't notice this post and hope that the lambs survived ok . For future referance you can mix up emergency colostrum with cows milk /egg /sugar  ( look on internet ) or if you have cows then you can freeze cow colostrum in individual pots for up to 6 months or colostrum from a ewe with excess

Title: Re: Emergency milk for new born lambs
Post by: SallyintNorth on June 15, 2021, 02:26:01 pm

BUT...  it must be unhomogenised milk, which for cows' milk is hard to find these days.  Best to have some unhomogenised (sheep's, goats' or cows') milk in the freezer, for if you get caught out and don't have a sachet of colostrum to hand.

Hope the lambs survived...

Title: Re: Emergency milk for new born lambs
Post by: Anke on June 15, 2021, 10:28:27 pm

I always freeze some colostrum from one year to the next, in my case goats colostrum, which works for lambs as well as kids. So even if I have a very late (and unexpected) ewe lambing there is some in the freezer. It gets thrown out once the first batch of the following year is frozen.