[MelRice]

Ive got a large sheep (German mix breed) With twin boys. Mum likes the first born but after helping the second with the first few feeds I am now bottle feeding him. At the moment he is downing four half litre bottles-full daily...is this about right? just need a bit of reassurance as its the first time Ive bottle fed.

[twizzel]

How old is he? The bag of lamlac says between 1litre - 1.5litres a day if on the bottle so that would be between 2 and 3 full bottles per day so yes it seems like he's having a little too much. If he's on a shepherdess ad lib feeder it will be slightly more. If he's more than 1 week old I'd introduce some creep for him to nibble on, and aim to cut down to say 3 bottles, then by the time he's 3-4 weeks old he should just be on 2 bottles and eating creep, then cut down a bottle a week and wean at 6 weeks (the week leading up to weaning I cut right down to 1/2 a bottle twice a day). The danger with feeding too much milk when they are eating creep is they get red gut so you need to be careful once the creep is introduced and cut milk down on a weekly basis.

[lamblyn]

Oooooh, just reading this out of interest, as I have a three week old very chubby bottle-fed lambnandnwonder what is red gut?

[Marches Farmer]

Fermentation in the large intestine.  Can be caused by a number of different foodstuffs - generally too much and/or the wrong stuff.

[twizzel]

Causes them to 'blow up' with gasses and die, when they start taking in more creep it's vital to cut the milk down and don't feed straights like barley because this will react too.
If you soak creep you will see it expands when wet, so milk and large quantities of creep spell disaster... I've just weaned 5 6 week old lambs, they are demolishing creep and didn't want them to bloat and die, it's a big disappointment when you've got them through the early stages to lose them fairly late on (OH's mum and sister have lost 2 now... they keep making the mistake of feeding barley mixed with the creep and don't wean until much later).

[ScotsGirl]

Would one of you like to come and tell my bottle lambs they have to cut down?! They fly through the chicken house when they see me coming and will whip the bottles off the bench if I'm not quick enough. On 3 bottles now are 3.5 weeks old and expect to continue for a week or two. They are starting to nibble coarse mix but not much.


Do you all keep your orphans away from flock? My problem is I keep them with mums and siblings so trying to get them eating enough is an issue as others pinch it all. Never had a problem with stomach problems so far but now you have raised this point I will be. Bit more careful.

[MelRice]

Mine is still with Mum and his brother...I will deff drop one feed from what you all say. I know it may seem a silly question but what do you count as creep...? Mum is still on full hay feeds with a tiny little bit of sugar beet (soaked) am and pm We still have 6 ins of lying snow here and the grass has not been seen since mid December so no real growth yet.