The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: piggy on June 06, 2010, 10:08:10 pm

Title: When to stop bottle feeding lambs
Post by: piggy on June 06, 2010, 10:08:10 pm
I have 2 6 week old orphan lambs and have about 2 days left of milk,should i stop feeding them when i run out or do they need a bit longer.
Title: Re: When to stop bottle feeding lambs
Post by: mmm on June 07, 2010, 09:16:31 am
Personally we feed ours longer than that. How many pellets are they eating, they need to be eating plenty before you even think of weaning them.

Ours is on 1 feed of milk a day but they are around 10weeks old. We are also feeding pellets add lib.
Title: Re: When to stop bottle feeding lambs
Post by: morri2 on June 09, 2010, 11:17:55 am
I usually feed mine until they are at least 10 weeks.   I cut down to two bottles by the time they are 6 weeks old, along with feeding on grass and concentrates.
Title: Re: When to stop bottle feeding lambs
Post by: Frieslandfilly on June 14, 2010, 11:11:52 pm
Hi, we have tried 2 different ways of weaning, 1st year kept them on the milk for about 8-10 weeks before reducing and this year introduced hard feed earlier, made sure they had been eating it for at least 10 days, and stopped milk feed abrubtly as advised on the feed bag, personally I would not do it this way again, had many more problems such as scouring and bloat, would keep them on longer next time.