[elizasheep]

A ewe got a bacterial infection a few weeks before lambing. After treatment, she recovered and had 2 good lambs 5 1/2 weeks ago. However, she had very little milk, and was in poor condition. We have been feeding formula to the lambs and kept the ewe in with them. All 3 are eating plenty of ewe nuts and hay. Her weight is still gradually increasing, but her milk production is not a lot better. Does anyone know if a ewe is likely to come back into something like full milk after this length of time? We would like to put her out on grass for her own good, but our success rate has been poor when we’ve put orphan/semi-orphan lambs outside. So if she’s unlikely to pick up, we’re thinking we should put her out without them. What do you reckon?[/font]

[bj_cardiff]

I think in your position I'd turn her out onto grass with both lambs and continue to feed them a bottle a couple of times a day for a couple of weeks and then stop. They should be old enough to be weaned by then so if the ewe isn't producing much it shouldn't affect them too badly.

[shep53]

At 6 wks after lambing she will be at her max milk production , so no not going to improve . Why would you not put all the family out to grass and just bottle feed  a couple of times per day as bj Cardiff says ?

[SallyintNorth]

Grass makes milk, hay doesn’t make much milk, nuts make a bit of milk but not as much as grass.  Always get ewes onto grass as soon as you possibly can.

Once you’ve fed a lamb for a few days it’ll gallop several hundred yards to you wherever it is, so you can always top them up in the field after that first few days getting them trained to come to you.

I almost never disagree with shep53 but I do on this one.  Whilst yes, a ewe on good grass throughout is at peak production at six weeks, a ewe on poor grass will still produce more milk if moved onto better grass.  So I would say, if she’s actually producing milk, her yield will go up if you get her onto grass. 

My Jersey cow’s yield varies in both directions according to what grass she’s on. And is currently back up at 11L per day on good grass after dropping to 6.5L when it was mainly hay.  I know when it’s time to move her again, it drops to 7.5!  She’s running through this time, it’s nearly twelve months since she calved.

Incidentally, we find the pink bales of Meadow Haylage from Livaton Farms does the best job of any forage in making milk.  The cows love good hay better, but give us more milk if we give them the haylage once a day.

[shep53]

Maybe right SALLY to some degree but unlike your cow we don't know if the lambs have been stimulating milk production every day  as often if they get next to no milk they give up trying  and are getting every thing from a bottle , Time will tell 

[SallyintNorth]

Maybe right SALLY to some degree but unlike your cow we don't know if the lambs have been stimulating milk production every day  as often if they get next to no milk they give up trying  and are getting every thing from a bottle , Time will tell 

Very true - but as we don’t know, I’d say it’s definitely worth a try

[Fleecewife]

A slightly different point, if either of the lambs are male (including castrated) then they must not eat ewe feed.
I agree with [member=168790]bj_cardiff[/member] , put them all out together on grass.  They might also get a sneaky feed from other ewes if they are with the flock.

[elizasheep]

Hi all, we might put them out then. The reason that I’m reluctant is that we’ve done this a few times before, and every time the lambs have gradually lost interest in coming back for the bottle and then gone downhill as they aren’t getting enough nourishment from the ewe and  ewe nuts or creep feed. Farming friends have told us that’s why they don’t put orphan lambs out, because they will get just enough grass/nuts/stolen milk to decide they don’t need the bottle anymore. However, as these 2 can be weaned soon, it should be OK I hope. Fleecewife, how do you stop ram lambs from getting at the feed that their mothers are given? I’ve never heard of that problem before. What does ewe feed do to ram lambs?

[twizzel]

Ewe nuts will give male lambs urinary calculi- so you must not feed them to lambs. I stop feeding ewes when the lambs start picking at ewe nuts- normally around 4 weeks after lambing, and then the lambs have some creep in their feeder. Anything you feed to male lambs or mature rams must have ammonium chloride in- lamb finisher, lamb creep will all have it in.

[SallyintNorth]

It’s just ones called ewe feed which could harm the boys.  They’re especially useful pre-lambing and for a couple of weeks after if the grass hasn’t really come in yet.   But once the lambs start to eat them, you have to switch to an all-stock mix, or a ‘tup and lamb’ mix (which is fine for ewes too) or grass pellets. 
All are fine for lambed ewes on decent grass, and won’t harm the males.