The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Coximus on May 11, 2016, 12:38:39 am
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I've got a lamb I found at 3 days old curled up next to its dead mother;
Hes now 5 weeks old, and down to 2 feeds a day but is hardly touching grass, creep or hay...
Any tips to get him to up his intake.
He nibbles and eats shrub leaves - Hawthorne and maple mostly, will also try and die eating rhubarb, but as of yet doesnt really do more than passing nibble at hay.
Hes Tex x Hebtex
He's growing on fine, but simply cant have him round the house anymore, hes buggering the cat and keeping me awake!
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Have you had him in the house for 5 weeks? Maybe he needs to go in with the other lambs and learn how to be a sheep.
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Cut his milk down. He should be eating creep by now like it's going out of fashion so I would be tempted to bring him in on straw and get him eating hay and creep rather than bushes in your garden! Then put him out in a small paddock behind electric with a bit of grass.
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Can you rig him up a small pen next to your turned out sheep during the day so he can get used to them over a few days? Probably worth bringing him into shelter overnight for a while as he won't have a ewe looking out for him the the field. He'll soon start to copy the other lambs and find their games more interesting than the cat.
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I agree with the above. He needs to be with sheep if possible other lambs to learn what being a lamb is about.
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He is with the flock during the day, inside at night as he keeps looking for the bottle after dark and gets himself tangled in wire.
What do people think about a hurdle pen in the field? 2 days in pen with sight of sheep then wean in pen and after 2 days total freedom?
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I think I might try something like that in your position... is there any other sheep with whom he/she could share the pen with?
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Had to bring him back, penned at 6 and by half 8 the bloody badgers were trying to get in and get him. god I hate badgers.
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How frustrating for you. It's so hard to get it right....
We're working on transitioning our twin orphan lambs to overnight outside.... But we do have field shelters to assist, and no pesky badgers!
It may be that you just have to wait until he's a bit bigger a d able to look after himself with the flock - 6 or 7 weeks?
I'm sure there must be others here with some helpful experience of this.....
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Try a bit of "tup ration" mixed in with the creep - the molasses in it makes it more appealing. They don't all conform to what they should be doing. I've 20 pets this year, most now off milk but 4 still on the bottle, one which was a quad is still on the bottle despite being one of the oldest.
Do you only have the one pet? He can always come and join my mob for a while :-)
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Aye - just the one - had 5, but 2 died, 1 fostered and the other (A triplet) ran away and rejoined its mum after 7 days on bottle so I left them as a family (7 days after been taken off the mum took her straight back - and is fine) so just the one little tuplamb.
He's free to a good home.
1/4 tex 3/4 heb.
Sweet, anoying little thing.
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Well an update:
The bugger / spot has now been grass only for a week and abit, he basically started eating and nibbling so I "shock weaned" him over 2 days, to just one feed a day then half a feed.
Hes basically anormal sheep now with one problem...........
After a day or two in the fields, he decides he's had enough and escapes, he can climb walls (Worryingly easily) and squeeze under fencing, he then turns up on roads and houses looking for me... when he sees me he runs full pelt and sits ay my feet............
Any solutions other than putting him in a hurdle pen in a field?
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If he was "shock weaned" at around 7 weeks I'd consider this very young and very sudden - the rumen needs time to adjust to a diet without milk. He may well be hungry and since you're "Mum" he's coming to find you for some milk.
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I'd take up Old Shep's offer and let him go to someone else. Not that you aren't doing your best I think you have done such a good job he really thinks you are a sheep but he is driving you mad!
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Sadly the one I was still bottle feeding suddenly died for no apparent reason (apart from being a quad) so he wouldn't now fit in. I've weaned mine at 7 weeks as per advice, and as long as they've had access to nibbling straw and creep feed their rumens should cope well enough.