Author Topic: How much do I feed my lambs? (Read 1360 times)

castlemilksandhebs · « **on:** May 10, 2019, 06:34:26 pm »

Hi all,

We have got two orphan lambs and I’m just after some general advice as to how to best look after them!
They are Castlemilk crosses, now three weeks old, live in the field with the other lambs and their mums and are generally well accepted by the other mums. They are about 7kg each and having 5x 250ml feeds a day. We are obviously keen to reduce the number of feeds but don’t know how to go about it! The milk replacer says they can have up to 1.5l per lamb a day, but they still seem to be quite full after 250ml at a time.

Many thanks in advance for all advice!

shep53 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2019, 10:07:47 am »

Don't be too worried the bag label is just a generalisation , your lambs are of a small breed ( a x lamb will be 10kg + ) if they are full and content then good . Just cut out one feed then in a day or 2 cut out a second , 3 feeds per day , early morning , late evening and 1 in the middle will be fine ,they will increase amount drunk per feed . Mixing with cold water will be fine

bj_cardiff · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2019, 10:34:05 am »

Yes, best to feed them cold milk if their out eating grass to avoid bloat. I'd do as Shep says and reduce the frequency of the feeds. Little and often is best but not very practical.

castlemilksandhebs · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2019, 02:42:50 pm »

Thank you everyone. Feeding them frequently isn’t too much of a hassle as they are next door. We have dropped them to four feeds today and they aren’t very happy to be out of their routine! Will start to give them cold milk, I’ve read a lot to try and avoid bloat as it’s something I know bottle lambs are prone to but there isn’t very much on lambs kept outside with the others like ours - most are indoors and fed creep feed. Very much appreciate the advice!

twizzel · « **Reply #4 on:** May 11, 2019, 05:09:40 pm »

Pet lambs tend to be kept inside until weaned simply because the risk of bloat is high when you mix artificial milk with grass and creep. So most farmers will wean off milk and only introduce grass once the lambs are eating creep and hay happily. My pet lambs had their first day in the field yesterday- they were born first week of March and weaned at 6 weeks from milk.