[piggy]

Sorry if this seems a silly question but we have never had lambs before,my 2 orphan lambs will be 8 weeks on sat and today i noticed that when out in the sun the ram was panting,he went and layed in the shade and then seemed fine,although he is young he is very big(and greedy) and has quite a thick coat, do you sheer lambs or just leave them.

Thanks

[Freddiesfarm]

If you plan to keep them over the winter then it is adviseable to have them sheared in the autumn, but generally you just leave lambs unshorn.

[Fleecewife]

Sounds as if he might be overweight.  When you say greedy, does he take more than the recommended amount of milk for his age and breed?  He should be eating grass as well as milk now, with the milk gradually reducing, then stopping at 3 months or so.  Severe obesity in bottle fed lambs can be a cause of sudden death.
On the other hand, sheep pant when it's very hot and seek out shade, so his behaviour is not unnatural if he is a normal weight.  Wool insulates against both heat and cold, so I would leave his fleece until next shearing season - he will need it in the winter if he's outdoors, although as Freddiesfarm says you might want to shear him in the autumn if he is to be housed all winter.   Do you spin?  Lambs fleece is wonderfully soft for spinning or even felting.....

[piggy]

They are out on grass all day and are now down to 1 250ml bottle in morning and same at night,given the chance he would drink alot more.Took picture tonight to see if you think hes overweight.No dont spin not sure what would do with the fleeces.

[Fleecewife]

His intake sounds fair enough.  Can't really see from the photo if he's fat.  The way you tell is to feel along his spine - you should be able to feel the spinous processes which stick up vertically along the back, but not get your fingers under the edges of the vertebrae (too thin then).  If you can't feel any bone at all along the ridge of his spine, just fat, then he's way too fat, but how you put a sheep on a diet I'm not sure    Is he panting less now it's cooler?  Well, it's cooler here. His fleece doesn't look long so I wouldn't shear him.

[piggy]

Had vet today as he has got flystrike and i feel awful,vet said that he is not fat at all so at least thats a relief.