The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Kaityh on April 27, 2019, 06:40:41 am
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I have two lambs this year that are being bottled. One is a registered Texel lamb who’s gimmer mother was useless the other a Texel cross which has come off a triplet. Both are absolutely fine and behaving like all 4 week old lambs do. The pure Texel is about a week older and is onto the creep pellets but is still getting a small amount of diluted milk so she doesn’t feel left out. The cross lamb is picking at the pellets but is still reliant on milk. I have recently noticed that after I have fed her she is making a quiet grunt when she breathes out. I think I’m probably just paranoid because I’ve had a pet die from bloat this year but can anyone put my mind at rest? Is it just because she’s older and starting to eat the creep that she’s got less room? I’ve started feeding her less milk more frequently but it’s kind of time consuming. Should I just reduce the milk down totally and try to wean her now?
She isn’t lethargic or colicky and she’s definitely not bloated she goes down after every feed and looks hungry on a morning as usual.
Any advice appreciated ????
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I think 4 weeks old is too young to wean, personally I wouldn't start until 6 weeks and then reduce milk over the next 1-2 weeks.
What amounts of milk are you feeding, are the lambs indoors or outside on grass, is the milk warm/room temp/chilled and how big is the hole in the teat?
Sometimes my bottle lambs are so greedy that they drink too fast out of a teat with a big hole and then wheeze a bit for a couple of mins. I would be feeding 4/5 week old lambs, turned out on grass with access to creep, 350ml of cold Lamac 4 times a day.
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I feed 500ml 3 times a day so definitely wouldn’t wean for another 2 weeks. Dont turn out to grass until weaned either or this grass/milk/creep mix can cause bloat. My 2 pet lambs born beginning of March are now weaned and eating hay and creep and planning on adding grass next week.
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So I should aim for about 1,500 ml a day? Am I better feeding more little and often? It’s just 500ml in one go sounds like quite a lot of milk to me?
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Up to you really, I’ve never had a problem feeding a full bottle 3 times a day. By 5 weeks I’d go down to 2 x 500 ml bottles and 6 weeks 250ml x 2 for a few days then wean at 6.5 weeks
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Check the packet for the milk you are using. Some are up to 1L a day, some up to 1.5L a day.
By five weeks, 2x 500ml should be fine for a Texel type lamb. I’m usually cutting them down from three to two bottles a day during week four.
Milk must not get into the rumen. Grass and creep must only get into the rumen. In general, people prefer to keep milk and grass feeds apart, just in case, but actually unless your feeding technique is really bad, or the lamb is so full of grass there is no physical room for the milk stomach to take the whole milk feed, you can’t cause a problem.
But if you’re not sure, keep them in overnight. Bottle in the morning, out to grass afterwards. Fetch in at tea time, feed bottle an hour or so later. Simples :).
Your lamb is probably just being a bit gutsy and inhaling some as well as drinking. Ideally, you don’t want milk in the lungs :/. You could try a smaller hole in the teat.
It might also be worth looking at your feeding position. You don’t want the lamb’s head to be much above the horizontal, and the bottle only tilted as much as required to stop air entering the teat. The milk needs to flow down the oesophageal groove in the front of the gullet, from whence it will be delivered correctly into the abomasum, and this position encourages that.
Sometimes, if a lamb has been bottle fed from the get-go, with poor technique, it may not have developed the reflex which closes the oesophageal groove, and then if it guzzles too fast, milk can get into places it shouldn’t.
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Thanks Sally, I think she’s definitely being gutsy to say the least! I’ll cut a new teat with a smaller hole and see if that changes anything.
They are out on the grass through the day but to be honest the younger lamb has only really just started chewing things and not really swallowing so milk in the rumen isn’t too much of a worry for me. The older lamb is eating a bit of creep and hay but I haven’t seen her touch the grass yet either.