The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: pinkvisla1 on April 08, 2015, 09:01:55 pm
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I have just cut my orphan lambs to 1 feed and also giving creep. They are out on grass as well now. As of Monday no more lamblac! I noticed one of the three looking podgy . Am I doing the weening ok? Or giving them too much?
They look really healthy but could they get bloat?
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Sounds good- how old are they? If they look bloated then miss a milk feed. Once they are out at grass that's the hardest part done :thumbsup: we turned our first 8 lambs out last week and it was a huge relief, 7 more to go now :fc:
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So shall I cut the milk out totally? They bleet like mad at bed time we still put them in a small shed at night. I guess they must be 6_8 weeks old we didn't know how old they were when we took them on! We let them out first thing, creep about 11am and then 1 bottle before bed.They don't stop eating the 2 boys look fat and I'm scared after reading up about bloat! Shall I limit their grass intake tomorrow?
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Make sure they don't go out when it's dewy in the morning, llet them go to they're grazing when the sun is high, wet grass can increase chance of bloat too. Make sure they're drinking plenty of fresh wate though before you cut feed, watch how much they're taking in, change regularly, they can be ultra fussy with water. The morning feed and late bottle is good I think, my rule of thumb. Is never every thing at the same time when they're having everything grass/milk/creep. But most mportantly water. N a nice bit of sweet hay x
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Thank you Hellybee great advice so today I'm keeping them in there open pen I'll give them creep never tried them on hay yet so a bit of that. Plenty of fresh water. Shall I let them on grass for an hour later? Or not until they look a bit slimmer? As we speak they are bleeding like mad to get out on grass.
Just 1 bottle before bed its hard as I don't know exactly how old they are but they look healthy
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Oops bleeting!
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If they are eating grass and creep and drinking water I would cut out the milk. Ours bleet at milk time but after a few days forget about it. I worry about bloat too so yes add some hay for the first week whilst they are out ???? ours went out in the garden for 2 weeks and then went out in the field. The other 7 in the shed will go out in a few weeks too
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Previous years I have followed the ‘Lamlac’ instructions. At 6 weeks providing I felt they were big enough and eating plenty of creep with plenty of water I just stopped the 2 bottle feeds and let them fend for themselves. A lot of bleeting at their ‘milk times’, which was more traumatic for me than them but regular peeking over the hedge saw them happy as Larry grazing away.