The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Penninehillbilly on April 21, 2017, 11:11:34 am

Title: More lamb advice please?
Post by: Penninehillbilly on April 21, 2017, 11:11:34 am
My little lamb is now 3 weeks old. In with a little boer kid.
Both fed mix of formula and goats milk. Still on 5 feeds a day, 125ml a feed, she's a good shape,  but she will not look at concentrates, nibbles a bit of hay but not much. If I offer creep or tup and lamb mix she's just pushing me looking for a bottle, usually nose in air.
She does nibble a bit of grass when I put them out, but i have to be in sight all the time, so can't leave her out, + worried about boer kid getting chilled.
Where am I going wrong?
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: bj_cardiff on April 21, 2017, 11:30:26 am
At 3 weeks my lambs are usually on about 350ml 4 times a day. Is 125 all that she'll eat? I'd also stop feeding goats milk, I can't think where I heard it but I believe its about half the 'strength' of sheep milk.

I'd put the lamb and the goat out, if you have a couple of older ewes with lambs I'd put them all together. Walk away and after 30 mins creep back and I bet they'll be off with the other lambs playing. If they see you they'll go crazy calling for you. With all the extra excercise I bet they drink a lot more too!
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: Sbom on April 21, 2017, 12:05:02 pm
I'd be feeding more milk less often. Morning, lunch, tea and bedtime and offering 300-500ml depending on lamb size.
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: shep53 on April 21, 2017, 12:10:49 pm
By 3wks of age , 3 feeds per day  cold milk  , creep in a bucket 24 hrs a day  from a week old  plus haylage  and still inside until weaned . And yes every time they see me they will shout
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: Penninehillbilly on April 21, 2017, 12:38:44 pm
Thanks, they are still on quite warm milk, 35/37 by the time they get it, so i should be giving it cooler? 
300ml per feed?  So she's not getting enough though she seems chunky?
I'll cut down to 4 feeds, increase volume today, 3 in about a week?
I was thinking more milk=less bothered with solids.
I was told she was welsh, so only small, but could be anything in there, all sorts of sheep, (shapes and coloured faces) mixed in fields.
Daren't put them out, weather still variable up here. + only one ewe, just lambed. Breeding program went wrong, ewe kept having males and her mate disappeared. (She would follow anyone  with a bucket :(.)
I'll get a photo later.
She sticks with me closer than the dogs,  i know that's sweet now, but will be a problem later, especially when her pen buddy goes.
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: Penninehillbilly on April 21, 2017, 01:52:22 pm
Stupid Me!  LOL.
She's on 250ml x 5 times, I make 500 ml up between them, half each, i managed to half it again when starting this post. Just mixing their feed and realised.
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: Anke on April 21, 2017, 09:39:18 pm
At 3 weeks my lambs are usually on about 350ml 4 times a day. Is 125 all that she'll eat? I'd also stop feeding goats milk, I can't think where I heard it but I believe its about half the 'strength' of sheep milk.

I'd put the lamb and the goat out, if you have a couple of older ewes with lambs I'd put them all together. Walk away and after 30 mins creep back and I bet they'll be off with the other lambs playing. If they see you they'll go crazy calling for you. With all the extra excercise I bet they drink a lot more too!

Nothing wrong with goatsmilk for lambs. Much better than any kind of milk replacer feed.
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: farmers wife on April 21, 2017, 09:57:42 pm
my pet lambs are on adlib within a week.  Makes light work and more controlled. I fill the bucket up in the morning and thats it.  They have hay and water.  Large pen plenty of running about.  We dont feed lambs creep as pasture fed. Theyll will go in field soon with the bucket.   Think youve just made more work and complicated.   They dont need concentrates in a good grass fed system they should thrive on lush grass.
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: SallyintNorth on April 22, 2017, 08:21:31 am
If you're feeding five times a day she isn't getting hungry enough between meals to explore other options.  Cut her down (gently!) to 3 feeds a day and she'll start to try other things ;)
Title: Re: More lamb advice please?
Post by: Penninehillbilly on April 22, 2017, 03:25:47 pm
Thanks, she's now on 4 x 300ml.will cut again in a week or so, she's such a little guzzler, she finishes hers then tries to push little fella out, naughty lass.