[melholly]

....3 orphans doing well. In my naivety I am now considering the poisitive future with them after loing my first lamb last week having had her only 24 hours...

Anyway, one lamb is 9 weeks approx, one 6 weeks approx, one 5 weeks approx. They are all still being fed proper milk supplement though the eldest is showing disinterest in it now (guessing thats natural as she's massive!??) All are eating mixed barley.

I am sorry to trouble you all - my greeness asking for your time at the busy period but hoping someone may spare me a few mins to help!

1. I have had conflicting advice when to wean and move them out of their pen onto our land - anything from 8-12 weeks Ive been told??

2. Worming - how and when should I do this?

3. Docking - 2 of the lambs have short tails, my youngest has a long tail but when I got her it's been bound tightly with cord part way down. What do I do with this?

4. Injections - do my sheep need any? The farmer I bought them from has agreed he'll spray them for the anti fly strike when he gets his done.

5. Lastly - tagging! Am so confused as to what tags I need for them. They are all girls and will be kept for pets - maybe in a year or 2 to breed from (when I build my confidence!)

Thank you all so much..am on a steep learning curve!

Mx

[nails]

I am no expert by any means, but I'll tell you what i know and will stand corrected if i am wrong!
1, i am a big softy when it comes to bottle feeding lambs, and know that once i stop feeding them i don't get quiet as many cuddles lol but we have just started to wean some of ours, and they are now down to 1 bottle in the evening but they have creep and water in the day.
2, Our farmer friend who we are feeding the lambs for, came and wormed the lambs at about 4 weeks.
3, Docking this should be done within 7 days i think, i always do mine newborns 2 days after birth less stress for them.
4, Only injections they will need is worming if you are doing it like that and vaccination
5 Earing tagging- one tag if they are going to slaughter before a year old, and i think its 2 if you are keeping them over a year.
Hope i have given you the right info and my apologies to those that have been doing this a lot longer than i have if i have got any of it wrong.

[shearling]

Why do you feel that they need to be wormed? The advice I have had from the vet and this site is do it when you need to. Why not invest in getting a worm count from the vet? Also vacinations might be not worth it, depends on your land, how much,how you use it and what has been on it and what is also on it, but also your preferences. Woollyshepherd gave me some good advice on this thread earlier this week.  'to vacinate or not'.

We do not dock our tails as they are Portlands and the standard does not have them docked. As you say you are in for the long hawl I would get my own kit for anti-strike. Its easy to do and not expensive and helps you feel in control, learn about them.

[plumseverywhere]

I am learning on the job but this is what we have found out with our 3 tenant bottle lambs (!)

1. the plan with these is to put them out at 8 weeks so long as they are big enough (cope with fox etc)
2.I will be insisting on worming as these will live next to my goats and sheep worm burden can impact on my goats (who will also be wormed as they are every 4 months here)
3.these all had their tail bands put on as few day old lambs but one of them still has all its bits hanging on (tail and boy bits) because he's not thrived I think. hopefully will drop off soon!
4. we use heptavac P on our goats, its injection and covers for lots of nasty things. not sure if store lambs would need this or not though but having lost a goat to pneumonia and another to possibly coccxy I always use it now. If these sheep are carrying nasty bugs and I don't inject, these doesn't bode well for new goats I bring in either 
5. two tags. one needs to be electronic if you are keeping over a year. 

[shep53]

hi you can wean lambs from 6wks old so long as they are eating idealy pellets and hay or grass, can you not let them out to grass during the day ?    the tail will hopefully drop off. cant think why it should be tied.    Worming depends on wether there have been lamb on your grass in the last 2 years if yes then do FEC  after 2-3wks grazing , at the moment your lambs have no worms.   Injections talk to your farmer if he does it then you should normally 5-6 wks old  followed by second inj 4to 6wks later.    TAGS you need 2 one eid one non-eid and legaly must be done by 9 months of age.   Hope this helps                                                            REALISED 5mins after i did this that the farmer should have put in at least one tag and filled in a movement document  for your holding number to comply with the rules. THOUGHTS on the tail, on welfare grounds ask the vet to shorten it

[VSS]

Answers in red:

....3 orphans doing well. In my naivety I am now considering the poisitive future with them after loing my first lamb last week having had her only 24 hours...

Anyway, one lamb is 9 weeks approx, one 6 weeks approx, one 5 weeks approx. They are all still being fed proper milk supplement though the eldest is showing disinterest in it now (guessing thats natural as she's massive!??) All are eating mixed barley.

I am sorry to trouble you all - my greeness asking for your time at the busy period but hoping someone may spare me a few mins to help!

1. I have had conflicting advice when to wean and move them out of their pen onto our land - anything from 8-12 weeks Ive been told??
They should be able to go out anytime now so long as you make sure the weather is set fair for a few days when you first put them out, and there is adequate shelter in the field.
2. Worming - how and when should I do this?
As they haven't been out, they shouldn't have much in the way of worms, and won't pick up much if your land hasn't had sheep on it for a while.

3. Docking - 2 of the lambs have short tails, my youngest has a long tail but when I got her it's been bound tightly with cord part way down. What do I do with this?
Keep an eye on it - not the way to tail lambs at all. If it has been tied tightly enough, it will drop off eventually, but it should have been done properly with a ring before the lamb was a week old. You might consoder getting your vet to surgically remove it as I would say that it would be a target for maggots.

4. Injections - do my sheep need any? The farmer I bought them from has agreed he'll spray them for the anti fly strike when he gets his done.
Depends on what your plans for them are.

5. Lastly - tagging! Am so confused as to what tags I need for them. They are all girls and will be kept for pets - maybe in a year or 2 to breed from (when I build my confidence!)
They should have been tagged before you got them. If not, then they shoudl not have been moved. Go back to the chap you got them from and make sure he comes ans tags them

Thank you all so much..am on a steep learning curve!

Mx

[melholly]

Thank you all so much. Your thoughts, knowledge, experience and opinions are invaluable to me - born a city girl, trying to have fun with a smallholding, open to advice and wanting to do the best for my sheep and animals!

Thank u again, books just dont cut the mustard compared with those who've been there, done and seen it!

Mx