[Louloubell]

Hello, we are newbies although have raised pigs we have taken on 4 orphaned lambs for grazing this year, the 2 eldest are 9 weeks old and having 2 bottles a day 900ml in total and are eating hay and creeping drinking plenty of water. At what point can they go out to live in the field? We have nowhere to bring them in at night so it would be a case of out out! not out in the day and then in at night. Their enclosure is sheep netted with a good 12v electric fence energiser with a practical straw bale shelter that is wind and rain proof, Thank you

[PipKelpy]

Morning. I lambed in December and once all had bonded, kicked out the back though All mums and babes were locked into a covered lean to at night. A vet once commented that my place was the livestock version of the Ritz! In other words i don't like livestock roughing it out over winter. I'm nuts! Anyhow, it all actually depends on the weather for your area and how well the shelter is constructed. If the lambs are weaned and doing well and can tolerate the bad weather during the day then in theory there shouldn't be any reason why they can't go out at night. We had sunny weather a couple of weeks ago so I kicked the cattle out, they tie in stalls, well the weather has changed and now they're looking at me. But, they do get the lean to at night! Sheep and fat lambs on another field!

[shep53]

At 9wks you can wean from milk any time , you don't say how old the youngest are  but anything over  6wks and eating plenty of creep /hay/ water then will be fine to wean , if you want to finish your bag of powder then that's ok  maybe cut the feeds back a bit to say 300ml x 2  to decrease any potential problems .  You say the shelter is warm and cosy so great ,you will need to still give them access to  creep ,hay and water  with the hay probably only nibbled when in the shelter .   I would put all 4 out together if practical so they bond as a small flock and comfort ,keep each other warm .   You say field is netted so why the electric ? unless you mean  electric net  if so be careful as young lambs can get entangled  and they will need time to train about any electric wires or net