[Timmy T]

Firstly, thanks for all the help and advice, I really appreciate it. 

Secondly, the plan as I see it, which would work for us:

Slowly increasing the milk quantity and decreasing the milk temp. I'm going to try increasing each feed by 50ml for this week and see how much they take, and hopefully have it only lukewarm (feeding it at 40 C at the mo), then increase slowly every 4 days or so until they're on about 1.5L a day (as recommended). I'm also tempted to try a bucket feeder (it's only about £15 at Mole Valley, so worth a punt!) and see how they get on with that.

I'd like to keep the hay available, but will also start adding creep for them to nibble, but monitor how much gets eaten daily. Start with about 250g in a trug and see how much goes.

A bucket of fresh water, and again monitor how much they drink.

Aim to wean around 6-8 week mark, depending on how they get on.

Keep them in the shelter for the time being, looking to make it a bit bigger as they grow.

So that's it! Any thoughts? I know any plan never survives first contact with the enemy, so here goes!! 

[shep53]

Looks like a plan .2 points - if the trug is not very deep they  will climb in and poo , may be block off the top around the handle to allow only a head sized gap through which to eat . Is the bucket going to replace the bottles at each feed or left out ad lib ?  2 500ml plastic bottles can be held in one hand if wanted and makes the feeding a little more personal , if you leave the bucket in ad lib then the lambs may chew the teats as they get older ( some buckets come with soft & hard teats ). Forgot to ask are you keeping or giving back the lambs ? if keeping were they tagged before leaving their farm of birth and did you record the movement ?

[Timmy T]

Looks like a plan .2 points - if the trug is not very deep they  will climb in and poo , may be block off the top around the handle to allow only a head sized gap through which to eat . Is the bucket going to replace the bottles at each feed or left out ad lib ?  2 500ml plastic bottles can be held in one hand if wanted and makes the feeding a little more personal , if you leave the bucket in ad lib then the lambs may chew the teats as they get older ( some buckets come with soft & hard teats ). Forgot to ask are you keeping or giving back the lambs ? if keeping were they tagged before leaving their farm of birth and did you record the movement ?

We are going to keep them, so are hoping for them to remain friendly and come up to the stables for feeding. Something for the grandchildren to get involved with! They were only 3 days old when they came, so untagged, so I've applied for a CPH number, will apply for a herd number(?) and then have them tagged. I thinks that's what I need to do?

I thought that if we bottle fed them first thing in the morning, we could put the bucket in the pen for the rest of the day.

[SallyintNorth]

I've always done fixed feeds, so others with more experience of ad lib feeding may tell you more, but I think you need to be either on ad lib all the time, or on fixed feeds.  You can't do half and half, or they will just guzzle the bucket when you leave it (and probably get bloat.)  As I understand it, ad lib works because they get used to having milk always there, so they don't guzzle, just take little and often.  Whereas a healthy lamb which hasn't been fed for some hours will guzzle a bottle down in a very few seconds.

If you are wanting them tame for the grandkids, bottle feeding might be better than ad lib - but then some bottle fed lambs can get too bolshy (if too spoiled ), so there are pros and cons either way.  Again I will let those who do ad lib lambs comment further.

Also, if you are leaving a bucket out for them, I think the advice is to be on cold milk.  Warm milk is such a breeding ground for all sorts of bugs, plus some lambs - and their digestions - can be very sensitive to the temperature of the milk they are fed, certainly in the first few weeks, so a bucket of milk that starts warm and cools throughout the day might not be such a good idea.

Remind how many lambs you have?  I always preferred the racks of 4 bottles and could feed up to 7 at a time that way - 4 on the rack, one bottle in each hand, and one bottle between my knees!  lol. 

[Timmy T]

We've only 2 Sally, so maybe taking the bottle approach might be the way forward. I'm also hoping to be on cold milk in a week or so. They both guzzle at the moment, which does concern me a little, especially after you recently mentioned too much can cause significant problems with their developing digestive tract.

Am I being too sentimental by thinking they are being isolated kept in a pen for the next 6 weeks or so? Or will they just accept it?

[twizzel]

Looks like a plan .2 points - if the trug is not very deep they  will climb in and poo , may be block off the top around the handle to allow only a head sized gap through which to eat . Is the bucket going to replace the bottles at each feed or left out ad lib ?  2 500ml plastic bottles can be held in one hand if wanted and makes the feeding a little more personal , if you leave the bucket in ad lib then the lambs may chew the teats as they get older ( some buckets come with soft & hard teats ). Forgot to ask are you keeping or giving back the lambs ? if keeping were they tagged before leaving their farm of birth and did you record the movement ?

We are going to keep them, so are hoping for them to remain friendly and come up to the stables for feeding. Something for the grandchildren to get involved with! They were only 3 days old when they came, so untagged, so I've applied for a CPH number, will apply for a herd number(?) and then have them tagged. I thinks that's what I need to do?

I thought that if we bottle fed them first thing in the morning, we could put the bucket in the pen for the rest of the day.

They should have been tagged before you brought them home, the farmer should not have sold them to you without tags. So I would go back to the farmer and ask for the tags and tagger, and tag the lambs. If you plan on keeping them for more than 12 months they need double tags (1 EID and 1 matching tag). You should then have sent the movement paperwork off and recorded in your flock book, both of which require the lambs to be tagged and you to have your cph set up before you brought them home. I'd go back to the farmer tomorrow and ask for the relevant tags and paperwork.


I ad-lib feed- that means they never run out of milk, so don't use bottles, just keep the milk bucket topped up 24/7.

[SallyintNorth]

We've only 2 Sally, so maybe taking the bottle approach might be the way forward. I'm also hoping to be on cold milk in a week or so. They both guzzle at the moment, which does concern me a little, especially after you recently mentioned too much can cause significant problems with their developing digestive tract.

It's not the speed at which they drink which causes problems, it's letting them have too much at a time. 

So very newborns should get 5 or even 6 small feeds a day, then you gradually increase the size of the feed and decrease the number of feeds.  Use the instructions on the bag of milk to guide you, but err on giving less per feed, and never more.

If you look down on your lamb before it feeds, you will see that it narrows in front of the hips.  As it feeds, that will fill out, like pumping up a tyre.  Stop feeding if it starts to look convex, and definitely if you start to see little "love handles" starting to form!  The lamb will complain that it is still starving, but if it's no longer hollow, it is fine


Remind me how old they are now?

Am I being too sentimental by thinking they are being isolated kept in a pen for the next 6 weeks or so? Or will they just accept it?

They don't know any different, and they have each other for company.  Yes they would love to have something else to look at and play with.  Personally I start to give them a bit of outside time on grass from around 3-4 weeks old, but bring them in overnight and give them their last bottle an hour or more after they come in off grass.

In terms of adult sheep, there is research which says that sheep only "feel like a flock" when there are 4 or more in the group, but the main thing is to never have an only sheep.

[Anke]

With only two I would stay with bottles, and I personally do not have water available for my goats kids (and the occasional orphaned or spare triplet lamb in the mix) until they go down from 4 feeds to three and are on proper hay & mix. I also feed milk always warm (and as they never get more than 500 ml in one go I don't worry about bloat), and initially (if it is quite warm in summer) feed a warm water bottle at some point during the day. I never "thin" the milk with water, but I feed proper milk not replacer - many sheep farmers wean off milk replacer by making it thinner.


Also the milk powder does dissolve better in warm water.

[shep53]

If i read it correctly ,you need to wait until you get your CPH number then take the lambs back to the farmer get him to double tag them if keeping over 12 mths of age and make out a movement document to say that they left his farm on the day of tagging, so that when you send in a copy of the movement document then the dates will not be questioned . If he says he /she will only put in a single slaughter tag then that is fine as then you can replace in a years time . Might be an idea to ask if they have another lamb so you have 3 then if one dies you still have 2 ,so always have a friend . Ask them to castrate any boys while there so that in later life you have less problems with aggression and no worries about breeding together

[Backinwellies]

[

We are going to keep them, so are hoping for them to remain friendly and come up to the stables for feeding. Something for the grandchildren to get involved with! They were only 3 days old when they came, so untagged, so I've applied for a CPH number, will apply for a herd number(?) and then have them tagged. I thinks that's what I need to do?

They need to be tagged with tag of birthplace .... get farmer to supply the tags and borrow a tagger 

As for feeding if only 2 then stick to bottles ... will be much friendlier (or even TOO frindly when bigger!)