[orphanlamb]

Hi, was hoping for some advice on orphan lamb feeding.

One 5 and a half week old orphan lamb who had bloat a few days ago and now recovered. Have cut down her feeding to a litre of milk spread over 5 feeds now, 200ml at a time.

She has hay and creep available and is eating quite a bit in between milk feeding.

Wondered if there were any recommendations on how to feed the creep and milk to reduce the risk of bloat again before weaning?

[twizzel]

Just abruptly wean her if she’s eating creep and drinking water, normally wean at 6 weeks so a couple days early is better than a dead lamb.

[SallyintNorth]

As she is eating creep and hay, she will live if you stop the milk at 6 weeks so if it feels safer then do as twiz says.   

In my own experience they do better if they have milk as well for another week or two.  With small feeds (and everything scrupulously clean) and no grass in the equation, you won't cause her any problems, so an alternative approach would be to cut out the second and fourth feeds for a week, then drop the middle one as well for a few more days, then the bedtime one and finally the morning one.  You can of course stop abruptly at any point along that process if you feel it would be safer and she's clearly eating enough creep to sustain her : we usually want a commercial-size lamb to be eating at least 1lb a day, half that for a primitive.  She must be eating forage (hay, straw, and or grass) as well, of course.

Well done for getting her over the bloat 

[shep53]

Cold milk

[JIMMYD]

I agree with the cold milk, mix it warm and let it cool, and I don't feed late at night as it just sits. We lost a lamb to bloat 3 weeks ago, very distressing.   Its sister fell ill a week later even though giving smaller amounts and not feeding last thing.   Managed to treat her with a small amount of bicarb in 10Ml of water.  I kept her walking round and it quickly passed, despite her  blowing up like a football.

All I can suggest is watch mixing ratios  of milk powder , mix warm, feed cold. Small regular feeds, and no large feeds late at night.

[shep53]

Says on bags of milk powder that you can just mix with cool water and feed

[harmony]

Says on bags of milk powder that you can just mix with cool water and feed

I mix with a bit less cold water than I need. A good whisk and it is fine.  Then I top up with hot water to take the chill off. I don't feed warm milk except in the first week or if a lamb is still struggling after a week and they don't take any harm.

[Buttermilk]

Mine is mixed as it comes from the tap and fed at that temperature.  I feed ad lib and wean at 6 weeks when they are eating enough creep feed.

[orphanlamb]

Thank you for all your advice.

Fed cold milk for a bit and then weaned her off.

She’s now fully weaned and doing well, despite a few calls for milk when we walk past!

We’re giving her just over 250g of creep in small amounts over the course of each day.
Would it be better to have more creep available ad lib at this age?

She’s also got grass and hay available.

Thank you!

[SallyintNorth]

She's just 8 weeks?  Well, personally I would probably keep the creep going, maybe up it a bit, for at least a month or so, and probably reintroduce it in October or whenever your grass quality tails off.  If she's a commercial type she could have up to twice what you are giving her.  If she's smaller, then what you are giving or just a bit more is about right.

ETA although I would be switching from creep to a regular stock cake (16% protein) or lamb fattener (18% protein) now. 

[twizzel]

I get our lambs going on ad lib creep for about a month post weaning, get them onto grass and keep the creep up while the rumen adjusts to the grass and then wean off the creep. If needs be reintroduce later in the summer to help finish the stragglers.