[mrst064]

Silly question, I have some dorset lambs only days old and eventually I want to move them to another field across the village, only 1 mile. How old do they have to be before they can go in the trailer with their mothers? What is the best way to move them?

[Porterlauren]

Small compartment in trailer for lambs, ewes in main part. Or ewes in trailer, lambs in back of truck. Small lambs in a bunch of ewes in trailer can get knocked about or stood on too much.

[mrst064]

That is what I thought. I'd rather not separate them so I think I'll construct a compartment in the trailer for the lambs. Ta ever so.

[princesslayer]

I moved mine at 2 weeks, in a separate part of the trailer to their mums. One ram lamb managed to get through a surprisingly small gap through the partition to get back to her, before we'd even left, so watch out for that! 

[Marches Farmer]

A month old.

[Hillview Farm]

I'm sure it's a week old. Seen bottle lambs at market from a week old

[Buttermilk]

Once the navel is dry.

[Herdygirl]

Small compartment in trailer for lambs, ewes in main part. Or ewes in trailer, lambs in back of truck. Small lambs in a bunch of ewes in trailer can get knocked about or stood on too much.

I find this method the best, but no messing about, you need to be quick, mums and lambs get very stressed if apart at this age

[harmony]

These are the official guidelines


Fitness for travelIt’s illegal to transport an animal that’s considered unfit for travel. This includes:shorn sheep during cold weather - particularly November to March

• very young animals - eg lambs of less than one week - unless the journey is less than 100 kilometres

• new-born mammals where the navel has not completely healed

• heavily pregnant females - where more than 90 per cent of the expected gestation period has passed

• females who have given birth during the previous seven days

• sick or injured animals where moving them would cause additional suffering - unless instructed by a vet

• Download Defra’s guidance on whether animals are fit to travel from the ADLibwebsite (PDF, 247KB).

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I'm sure it's a week old. Seen bottle lambs at market from a week old

I assume you mean being sold with their mothers? I would of thought that as being risky though, because they're so young they could pick up diseases.

[harmony]

WBF - I think Hillview means cade lambs so no, not lambs at foot.