The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: kelly58 on May 22, 2015, 12:47:34 pm
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I have a week old lamb whos mother didnt have enough milk( only got 100ml colostrum at birth)
Never had pets before this young, will l need to jag her with Hep p before l put her out with the big kids ?
Was hoping to put up hurdles and have her in the sunshine sometime and get the big kids used to her.
Got no other lambs so she is on her own :( my collie plays with her indoors so she would mind her in the paddock. Could l put hay down in the pen so she doesnt eat soil or grass till she is jagged ?
All new to me......Help ???
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I have a week old lamb whos mother didnt have enough milk( only got 100ml colostrum at birth)
Never had pets before this young, will l need to jag her with Hep p before l put her out with the big kids ?
Was hoping to put up hurdles and have her in the sunshine sometime and get the big kids used to her.
Got no other lambs so she is on her own :( my collie plays with her indoors so she would mind her in the paddock. Could l put hay down in the pen so she doesnt eat soil or grass till she is jagged ?
All new to me......Help ???
Good idea about the hay, also some lambs pellets too, as they grow very well on cake. I think that it all sounds good the hurdles would be a good idea, you would have to make sure she couldn't get through the bars though as lambs are very mischevious.
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Opened up cardboard boxes tied onto the bottom of the hurdles will do.
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What do you mean by 'big kids'???
Is that some kind of weird personified speak for older lambs or ewes???
Edited to add - I wouldn't worry over much r.e her picking at grass and soil, but if you do decide to go that route, and cover the floor, use straw not hay. They like to munch on the hay sometimes, and at that age, its of little feed value, but fills up their stomachs. . . . .
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my collie plays with her indoors so she would mind her in the paddock.
What does "play" mean? If your collie is following the basic herding instinct to push the lamb towards you, as the alpha dog in the pack so you can kill it, then the lamb is going to get run ragged.
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The collie comes in the utility room with me at feed times, she follows the lamb (Sophie) about(plays) l dont leave her alone with her.
The term' big kids' is a phrase my neice uses for the ewes, nothing weird about it, just used to using it ;D
I was more interested in whether l have to jag her ? Should l give her Hep p jag now and another in few weeks with only getting so little colostrum ?
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How old is the lamb? What I used to do, when I was rearing large numbers of lambs in 2012, was feeding them yoghurt in warm water with some honey and that adds to the good bacteria in the gut.
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8 days old, probiotic yogurt :thinking: interesting. I feed that my chucks as a treat. Many thanks
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+1 for mixing good natural yoghurt with the milk a bit.
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Tried the yogurt it gave her the skitters, one soup spoon full in her milk ????
Have put her out in the stock box in the ewes field (including mum) Stupid question but would the ewe know it was her lamb ?
Halved the stock box so they can go in, is there any chance the ewes would try to hurt her?
Going to see vet tomorrow find out what to give her before she goes out to graze :sheep:
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Maybe ewe's milk yoghurt would be better. Cows milk for calves?
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If they didn't have time to bond properly and the ewe hasn't been calling for her then it's unlikely she'll know it's hers. Any ewe will butt the lamb away if it tries to suckle.
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sometimes they have the skitters after giving them the yoghurt as this cleans her gut out of bad bacteria. Also if using powdered milk, I use shine ( the blue bag as its easier to mix) or you could use denkavit. Do not use ordinary lam-lac as it has very little milk in it. Also when it says 250g to 1 ltr of water I put 1400ml of water in, this is to water it down a little for them and also to keep them hydrated. I do put water down for em too.
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Many thanks all :thumbsup:
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If born to unvaccinated dams my vet recommends hepta-vaccing them at 3 weeks, I think that's the youngest it says on the bottle.
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Thanks Anke, the ewe was vaccinated just didnt have milk, got 100 ml colostrum and that was it .
Just come back from our vets, what l was told is clear as MUD ! Waiting for a farmer friend to ring me back later.
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Hiya.... i am with you here.... i also have a pet lamb ( 5 weeks tomorrow) she was a twin, her mother rejected her but has raised her brother lovely.
She has been with me at the house over night but in a pen with access to grazing (for the last two weeks) during the day.
She is thriving at present and also plays with the dog and cats in the house and garden, but associates herself with the other ewes and lambs when out at pasture (although not mixed with them full time yet)
I love your endereing terms by the way..... even if they are not very farmer like...... i also use similar ones
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Hi Heather, How nice to have an encouraging response ! Just a crofter with a flock of Rare breed Boreray l keep, not for profit but for the love of the breed and their survival. Also have Olde English babydoll southdowns from a breeder on here, adorable sheep and the prettiest smiley faces :love: Only kept sheep for 3 yrs so always learning new things about them. :sheep:
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Hi Heather, How nice to have an encouraging response ! Just a crofter with a flock of Rare breed Boreray l keep, not for profit but for the love of the breed and their survival. Also have Olde English babydoll southdowns from a breeder on here, adorable sheep and the prettiest smiley faces :love: Only kept sheep for 3 yrs so always learning new things about them. :sheep:
I have kept sheep my whole life and still have tons to learn about them. :)
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I can well imagine WBF, but its the immense pleasure l get from watching their antics everyday (when lm not working) makes it all worthwhile. :love: :sheep: Especially the Boreray, whoever said sheep were stupid never kept Boreray, they are always one step ahead of you, literally! ! :roflanim:
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The lamb is 3 weeks old on thursday, shes still in the stock box outside, weather is like in Noahs day !
Have give her lamb creep, doesnt seem to be interested and has no other lambs with her to show her what its for :-\
Any ideas how l get her to eat it pls ? :sheep:
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Offer a teeny bit of fresh creep in a clean bowl a couple of times a day. Chuck out what she hasn't eaten; if she's not eating fresh she won't eat stale.
She will eat it soon - mine usually start to fiddle on with it at about 2-3 weeks, but aren't really eating it properly for about another week to 10 days.
Once she does eat a bit of it, you can 'encourage' her to eat more by cutting out a bottle, or extending the time between bottles. Hunger is a good incentive ;)
Oh - the other thing I have found is that Champion Tup Mix is more appealing than most creep feeds initially. So I get them on eating 'creep' using CTM, then (if necessary - some I just keep on CTM throughout) mix in the creep I really want them to have once they are eating CTM well, and gradually phase out the CTM.
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My pet lambs are on one bottle a day and they eat grass during the day and lamb pellets at night, they're growing nicely.
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Hi Heather, How nice to have an encouraging response ! Just a crofter with a flock of Rare breed Boreray l keep, not for profit but for the love of the breed and their survival. Also have Olde English babydoll southdowns from a breeder on here, adorable sheep and the prettiest smiley faces :love: Only kept sheep for 3 yrs so always learning new things about them. :sheep:
I have kept sheep my whole life and still have tons to learn about them. :)
????
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