[moprabbit]

A friend of mine has a ewe that has had triplets. They're ok at the minute but one is weaker than the rest and he is thinking of tubing that one once a day. He doesn't want to bottle feed it (don't know why?) I just don't know if there is an age limit on how long you can tube feed lambs? The lamb is about 3+ weeks  old I think. Just wondered if it is Ok for him to do this - I always think of tube feeding when they are very young. Any advice would be welcome - though don't know if he'll listen!
Thank you

[JMB]

I'm not sure either, but some lambs never take to the bottle so I assume they are always tube fed until you can get them on to creep feed.
I'm just hand rearing my first so someone with more experience will come along. Mine is only one day old so we are tube feeding in the hope it might still suckle.


Bearing in mind though that lambs naturally suckle little and often, I wouldn't think tube feeding once a day will be enough.
I think bottle fed lambs at 3 weeks will be on about 3 to 4 feeds a day, so I'd assume tube feeding should be the same?
And if it is weak I wouldn't think it was sensible to give a whole lot in one go.
J xxxxx

[Remy]

Ive always thought of tubing as an emergency kind of thing to help very young and weak lambs, rather than something done routinely  to an older lamb - I'm wondering why he doesn't want to bottle feed it? Is he wanting just to top it up? It can be hard work getting some of them on the bottle and perhaps he doesn't want the hassle - perhaps he also wants it it carry on suckling from the mum.  They need about 1.5 litres per day so he wouldn't be able to do that in one tubing I wouldn't have thought. There is always the risk of the tube going down the wrong hole although with practise and care the risks are minimised. But if it was me I'd rather bottle feed ..