The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: horsemadmummy on March 09, 2011, 07:35:33 pm
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i have taken four orphaned lambs today - bottle feeding as only week old. I have steralised bottles using my steam unit (as I have 7 month old baby who wont take a bottle!!!!!) am I going too far???
Was told 4 feeds at 250ml a time is this right or should they be on 3 feeds? If so what amount?
Using lamlac so hopefully good.
Do they need water in a bucket in their pen and when should I start including the ewe nuts I have?
Is there anything else I should be doing? They seem very enthusiastic when I sit in the pen but then I do smell of milk as I am feeding my own baby - shouldn't be a problem should it? they are calmer with me than the children who are keen to help. Is it the milk thing?
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Yep start on 250ml x 4 and follow instructions on lamblac bag! Keep bottles nice and clean.
You will need lamb creep pellets not ewe nuts as too big and wrong formulation really. Also ad lib good soft sweet hay to get them eating fibre to develop the rumen properly fed from a rack so they don't waste it!
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made them really deep bd of wheat straw with bales as walls so that heat is kept in and they are already nibbling at it. Will get creep feed tomorrow and leave it in corner for them to have a go at should I be worried about the straw? people we got them from said not to feed hay as it will likely make them bloat!!!
Have some ewes in lamb arriving Friday so will open some haylage then and leave some for the four muskateers too
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Nope hay will not make them bloat! Grass is best avoided until they are eating a lot of roughage as well as milk as grass and large quantities of milk can cause all sorts of problems! Well done for sorting the transport issues!
Good luck!
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Hi HMM
---love to see some pictures of "the four muskateers" :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: ;D
-good luck :hshoe:
What are the in lamb ewes that are coming to you on Friday?
Tilly :wave:
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ewes are shetland type so should be really pretty!
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Just make a note in your calendar now to vaccinate them with Heptavac P+ at four weeks at the latest. As these have come in to your famr you cannot be sure how much (if any) proper colcostrum they got soon after birth. Better safe than sorry.
I don't sterilise the lambs/goat kids bottles, just wash with really hot water and re-fill straight away, then store milk in fridge until next feeding.
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Hi HMM hope your new arrivials all getting on O.K
Here are a few photo`s of my two "bottle babies"this is Joey--very small at birth, popped a modified boot sock on him, which kept him lovely and warm!(http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae26/thomsett_bucket/P3106459.jpg)
Here is out in the sunshine today --about a week old now, and grown out of his sock!(http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae26/thomsett_bucket/P3116468.jpg)
Look at this little character!(http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae26/thomsett_bucket/P3106465.jpg) ;D --she is a leister longwool,her mum was not looking after her very well, so she`s been having a little bottled milk and is getting on nicely now.
I think she looks like that fluffy creature in "gremlins" ;D
Tilly :wave:
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the lambs are absolutely adorable, esp the last one, more like a teddy bear ;D the first year I made jackets for mine I used the sleeve off my fleece, glad to hear we can all be resourceful when needed :D
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Oh Tilly, those pics are just adorable. :) I love the welly sock jacket. We had a Gizmo look alike last year but yours wins the prize! ;D
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I don't know if you're aware of the 'Shepherdess' lamb rearing bucket, are you? It is a very simple affair which is essentially a largish bucket, with a lid, which holds water which is kept at a constant temperature by the use of a heater/thermostat of the type used in aquaria.
An inner bucket holds the milk.
The outer bucket has teats just below the rim. Tubes bring milk from the bucket to the teats.
This feeder was invented by a sheep farmer's daughter (aged twelve, I think), and is widely used to rear lambs. It helps keep lambs growing evenly and stops them getting bloated bellies. I think they are about £130 new, but it is a simple thing to copy.
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We sell a lot of them - as far as Eire and France :
https://www.suppliesforsmallholders.co.uk/shepherdess-lamb-feeder-free-5kg-sca-milk-replacer-p-1714.html (https://www.suppliesforsmallholders.co.uk/shepherdess-lamb-feeder-free-5kg-sca-milk-replacer-p-1714.html)
You are correct - they were invented by the manufacturers daughter (aged 12) who contracted orf from bottle feeding lambs.
They can also be used for rearing Goats, Foals - and have even been used on a Zebra!!!.
Thanks
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here are a couple of pics of our lambs all four together and athos (white) and dartanion (black)
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Lovely. :)
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They are so cute hmm, I miss having little lambs about. Good luck with them :hshoe:
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Hi HMM
Thanks for posting the piccies. ;D
I hope the little chaps are still doing o.k.
Tilly :wave:
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seem fine but not yet two weeks so fingers crossed