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Author Topic: Cade Lamb  (Read 4721 times)

flossbells

  • Joined Apr 2012
Cade Lamb
« on: May 06, 2012, 07:25:21 pm »
Hi,
I'm new to the site so please excuse me if Im posting this in the wrong place.
I have two cade bottle fed lambs that are approx five and a half weeks old. They have been having four warm feeds a day with fresh hay and hard feed at each feed, fresh water and a warm bed in a pen that is actually the dog's!

They are being put in to a paddock for x3 half hours daily after their feed.

The female has stopped taking her milk although seemingly still hungry, she starts off keen but goes off it. The bottles are cleaned/strerilised and well rinsed. She has violently coughed a couple of times and at 5pm she stood as if going to 'go' but didn't although I did see her urinate a couple of times within the 15 minutes before this.
It's difficult to know how much hard feed and hay she is having because their is two of them. Between them they have been eating approx 450g hard feed per day and eating some hay and enjoying willow leaves and nibbling in the paddock
A few ideas I came up with was

1) Is the milk coming out of the bottle too quickly now she is older and sucking better?

2) Does she have a thorn in her mouth from nibbling the new shoots of blackthorn that have self seeded in the paddock (I'ave tried to look but found it difficult because of her stuggling?

3) Does she have a 'blockage' somewhere?

Has anyone known this type of thing to happen to them, any ideas please?

toaster

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Cade Lamb
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2012, 10:34:59 pm »
I have one that has seemed to go off the milk but we do suspect that its because the hole in the teat is too big and causing her to pull away then milk goes up her nose and she gets in a right state- this evening we changed the teat to one with a smaller hole and so far so good


Hellybee

  • Joined Feb 2010
    • www.blaengwawrponies.co.uk
Re: Cade Lamb
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2012, 11:02:10 pm »
Hello there, we have four Molly lambs as they are called here, they are let out in the morning and are left to come and go as they please til its going dark, plenty of time to run about and burn off some beans. The youngest one is six weeks old and the oldest is 12 weeks, they are all on a bucket, the hanging type, we find that the older ones Jak and Thumper have theyre fill n wander off for nuts, and the other two younger ones Eve and Seren have a good fill and they they follow, .  Theres always a little creep left the next time we refill theyre trough as it is fed ad lib.  they are grazing taking in  hay  nicely too :)   

The ad lib hard feed gently weans them off the milk, as time goes by we weaken the milk mix gradually.  Theyre drinking half theyre water bucket too., which is a yay moment :D We would put out her hard food ad lib if she were here,, extend turnout.. make sure that shelter does have lots of air flow.....rather than warmth, warmth is very important for the very young lamb as that gets theyre fire stoked, but can cause a whole new set of issues as they get older.  Sorry if ive rambled  ::)

Good luck with them   :)   :wave:
« Last Edit: May 06, 2012, 11:21:18 pm by Hellybee »

flossbells

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Cade Lamb
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2012, 08:52:55 am »
Thankyou. We have tried that this morning and she guzzled the milk down very quickly.
I was wracking my brains thinking of all sorts of things as these are our first lambs now we finally have our paddock fenced.
 It's funny how a seemingly simple solution can be found, experience is worth a thousand books, thanks once again.

flossbells

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Cade Lamb
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2012, 09:05:28 am »
Hellybee, hi.

Thankyou for your reply. I take your point about the airflow, I thought the same myself.
We will extend their time at grass and give them as much creep as they will take.
I'm a little concerned about them grazing and gorzing to much as the paddock hasn't been grazed for years and so very long already.

Hellybee

  • Joined Feb 2010
    • www.blaengwawrponies.co.uk
Re: Cade Lamb
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2012, 01:25:19 pm »
Hey we only third year ourselves, and it s a very steep learnin curve, always gathering knowledge, learning from mistakes, bettering ourselves for the next year.   Theres plenty of brilliant sheep people on here, much you can take on yourselves from theyre many years of  experience.

I particularly relish having a molly lamb or two, of course them being on theyre dam is the best way, but when/if the occasion does arise i/we take them on with open arms. 

I wouldnt worry about them gorging on grass, they will take what they want, but are more likely in my experience to adventure. if grass is a little long with you (lucky thing) watch out for a touch of scald, between toes (aliken it to a papercut).   blue antibiotic spray is a good one to have to hand just in case, it has a myriad of uses.   

Like i said earlier, theyre turnout is very important, they are an outdoor animal after all !! :)  If you can house them onto theyre paddock so they can come and go as they please, that would be ideal, and then lok them away at night. Of course if you are a little protective of them, you could go sit with them, with a book or summat ?? 

i/we also dont allow anyone from outside theyre feeding regime to mouth them....especially when they re really young...they become used to your natural bacteria/flora on your hands etc, but not to others.

LAstly, they are old enough to have a heptavac jab, to cover them for a range of diseases, including pulpy kidney, tetanus etc, 7 hence the Hepta :D  I doubt at 5 half weeks theyve had theyre first one, find out if you can.  Vet maybe your best option for two lambs. 

:D
 
 
« Last Edit: May 07, 2012, 01:31:21 pm by Hellybee »

flossbells

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Cade Lamb
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2012, 07:57:07 pm »

Thanks for advice. I have put up a temporary shelter in the paddock with hurdles and a tarpaulin until we get a permenant one. I wove willow branches inside through the hurdles for them to eat as they love it, this way they are encouraged to use it. They do seem to hang around at the gate until I walk around the paddock with them.
They are a precursor to hebrideans we are we are hoping to buy around late summer/autumn to train my dog on.

 
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