Dog bottle feeds baby lamb

Why you should NEVER overfeed bottle lambs...

We had a very interesting and potentially deadly situation arise about two weeks ago with our bottle-raised lambs. It is resolved now, thanks to good observations by Melinda and Lisa, sage advice from our vet, Calvin Dotti, and just the right sleuthing and research by Lisa, Melinda and me.

We have a group of 4 lambs that we are bottle feeding: Top Gun and Linc, who are two of Blaze’s quads, Mel, the only surviving lamb from Jane’s family (mother and three quads all died), and Peg, Starlet’s lamb who needed splints on her legs. We were increasing their feedings as they grew, the way we always do with our East Friesian lambs, increasing a bit faster than the books suggest, as we always have done. Our rationale for doing this has always been that East Friesian lambs grow fast, their mothers have a lot of milk, and if they were being raised by their mothers they would be consuming more milk than the average lamb. We’ve done this for 10 years with no problems.

But this year was different, maybe because these lambs are half-Romney (all but Peg), but we are not really sure what is the reason. Maybe we increased the volumes a bit too fast for the lambs’ size. Bottle lambs ALWAYS act like they are unsatisfied and want more—it is up to the shepherd to cut them off when they have had enough.

Peg sucking greedily on a bottle yesterday

About two weeks ago, within the course of a day or so, all four lambs lost interest in milk, and at the same time their abdomens became bloated. When a lamb drinks milk, it bypasses the first stomach–the rumen–thanks to a fold of tissue known as the reticular groove, which funnels the milk straight to the abomasum, the lamb’s true stomach. But, we learned from some hurried research in our books and on line, if you overfeed a bottle lamb, the milk will fill their abomasum and the excess will back up to their immature rumen, where bacteria can ferment it, leading to acidosis and bloat.

Now the lambs were bloated, and drinking very little milk at feeding times. Melinda and Lisa also noted that they were acting uncoordinated, taking one or two strong pulls on the bottle and then acting like they had forgotten how to suck. And when we let them run around the barn, some of them, particularly Linc and Mel, were dashing madly and crashing into walls and panels, like they were blind!

We realized we had something serious and neurological going on, and I called Dr Dotti. He said the symptoms sounded like thiamine deficiency, but he said that usually occurs in older lambs who are beginning to ruminate, if their rumen microbes are out of balance and cause an acid condition in which thiamine is destroyed and the bacteria that produce it are inhibited. Young lambs get all their thiamine from the milk they drink. But Dr Dotti said it was an easy hypothesis to check, because injections of vitamin B complex can reverse the condition.

Mel enjoying a meal

Meanwhile, we had a second hypothesis. We feed our lambs frozen ewes’ milk that we collected from our dairy ewes after weaning their lambs the previous season. The milk is stored frozen in 4-gallon buckets. We wondered if there was something wrong with the milk–if the bucket we had been using when the lambs got sick had somehow been tainted or poisoned. We calculated back to when we began using the current bucket, and it was pretty much when the symptoms began. We set aside the rest of that milk, got out some powdered milk-replacer, and made it up to feed the lambs. We also started giving them Vitamin B-complex shots following Dr Dotti’s suggestion, and continued reading.

Melinda and Lisa both found information on the internet about polioencephalomalacia–commonly known as “polio”–in lambs, which is not caused by a virus like polio in humans, but is a neurological syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is essential for glucose utilization, and glucose is the preferred energy source for the brain. Thiamine deficiency leads to loss of brain cells and neurological symptoms, one of the first being blindness. I had heard of it but paid it little attention as we had no experience with it. All the information said it occurs in lambs older than these lambs, lambs that are making the transition from milk-feeding to rumination.

But then Lisa found the key piece of information in “Lamb Problems,” an excellent book by Laura Lawson that has helped us through many a bad situation. Lawson describes polio, and the symptoms fit our lambs exactly: loss of appetite, blindness and crashing into things. She said that while it usually occurs in weaned lambs that are overfed and develop acidosis in their rumens, she had occasionally seen it occur in lambs being raised by high-production ewes, lambs that are probably ingesting too much milk.

Our bottle lambs, including the 4 who were affected, playing in the corrals today

Our lambs recovered fully with a week of Vitamin B-complex shots. As soon as we began the therapy, their appetites came back and first we fed them milk-replacer, then returned to feeding them ewes’ milk, once we were convinced that the problem was due to a thiamine deficiency and not poisoned milk. Linc and Mel were the last to get back to normal and for a while we thought they might have residual neurological issues, but for the past few days they have been completely normal and we have discontinued the Vitamin B shots.

Every book tells you NOT to overfeed bottle lambs, but none of them really gives a good explanation of why. And it is so easy to overfeed, when the lamb is always asking for more. What happened to our lambs wasn’t really described anywhere that we discovered in our research, and even our vet was uncertain that thiamine deficiency would be the culprit in such young lambs. It took careful observation and research by Melinda and Lisa to put all the pieces together. We saved our lambs and learned a valuable lesson that we want to make sure to share.

The bottle lambs in their barn-pen yesterday

Do You Know How To Bottle Feed A Lamb Easily

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You may need to bottle feed a lamb sometimes if you have orphaned lambs, if it’s mother dies in birth or if it’s mother rejects the baby for any reason.

For ensuring the lamb survives, you must have to begin bottle feeding it as soon as possible. As you know, a lamb’s primary source of nutrition is milk.

And a hand-raised or bottle-feed lamb must be fed milk from a bottle. By the way, there are some some rules that you need to follow to bottle feed a lamb. Here we are describing more about the steps of bottle feeding a lamb.

Table of Contents

It’s a good decision to consult with a vet before starting to bottle feed a lamb. An experienced vet can tell you exactly what the lamb needs and he/she will also tell you about it’s caring procedures.

You will probably need to obtain colostrum replacer to bottle feed a lamb. Colostrum is actually the first type of milk a ewe produces after giving birth and it’s vital to the health and well-being of a lamb.

Colostrum is also very important because it contains high levels of nutrients and it also protects against a variety of infectious agents.

Lambs need colostrum because they do not carry antibodies at birth. And colostrum help them to develop antibodies and combat potential infections.

A lamb generally require around 10 percent of colostrum after birth (during the first 24 hours of life).

You need to purchase colostrum replacer as soon as possible if the lamb has been rejected by it’s mother or abandoned.

By the way, it’s a good idea to have colostrum replacer on hand at all times if you raise lambs.

But in case you need to bottle feed a lamb over 10-13 weeks of age, you will need milk replacer.

You can easily purchase both colostrum and milk replacer any store that sell livestock feed.

When buying milk replacer, you have to ensure that it is specifically prepared for lambs.

Whether you are going to bottle feed a lamb colostrum replacer or milk replacer, you will need to prepare the bottle first.

You can easily fed a lamb with an 8 ounce baby bottle with a rubber nipple.

In case of feeding colostrum replacer, fill the bottle with 10 percent of the lamb’s weight in colostrum and feed this to the lamb within it’s first 24 hours.

And during it’s first 24 hours, it will be better if you can feed the lamb every two hours.

But you can use your own formula in case of bottle feeding the lamb with milk replacer.

Don’t forget to sterilize the bottles and nipples on a regular basis. However, read more information below about ‘how to bottle feed a lamb’.

Follow a Feeding Schedule

First of all, you have to form a feeding schedule depending on the age and size of your lamb. And you should always follow the schedule for feeding your lamb.

The lamb should receive colostrum for the first 24 hours of it’s life. And it will be better if you can feed the lamb every two hours during this first stage of life.

After the first stage the lamb should be fed around 140 ml every four hours, then around 200 ml every 6 hours (this can vary depending on the size of lamb and breed).

You can gradually begin increasing the amount of milk you feed your lamb, once 2 weeks passed (heat the milk replacer first).

Feeding the Lamb

You can feed your lamb once you have the milk measured and prepared. To bottle feed a lamb, hold it’s head up (allowing it to stand) and let it feed.

The lambs should be feed standing up. While feeding, do not cuddle or hold the lamb, because this could result in a clot in it’s lung.

Generally the lamb will suckle instinctively. But in case if the lamb is not suckling, pressing the bottle’s nipple against it’s lips should encourage it to feed.

Recommended: bottle feeding dwarf goats.

Offer Water & Food

You should offer the lamb fresh water, grass and hay after the first week along with bottle feeding.

You should let the lamb eat and drink as it desires. And if the lamb is strong enough, then you can let it out to graze with the rest of the flock.

Doing this will help the lamb to begin socializing with other sheep in the flock.

Increase the Amount of Milk

You should increase the amount of milk every two weeks.

For example, after second week you can feed the lamb 500 ml four times a day, and after fourth week increase the amount to 700 ml a day for three times.

But you should begin decreasing the amount of milk after it’s 5-6 weeks of age.

Weaning the Lamb

You should wean the lamb by it’s 13 weeks of age. And then it should transitioned into a diet of grass, hay, other feeds and water.

It will be good if you can feed the weaned lambs with such food that contain at least 16-18 percent crude protein. Do not feed your lamb alfalfa hay just after weaning.

Because alfalfa hay increases the chance of bloat which is a common condition in livestock that causes excess gas and discomfort.

Recommended: when to wean bottle feed goat kids.

Tips for Bottle Feeding a Lamb

You should feed the lamb at intervals that mimic natural feeding behavior.
For the first two weeks of age, you will need to bottle feed a lamb at least 4 times a day. And then 3-4 times a day until it’s 4-5 weeks of age.
Mix in electrolyte supplements with water and feed separately from milk feed if the lamb develops scours (which is a common condition in livestock that causes diarrhea). This will help to prevent dehydration in the lamb (dehydration is a dangerous condition for baby livestock animals).
Caring baby lambs require time and patience. The more time you will spend with your lamb the more you will learn about it’s needs. Good luck!

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Raising sheep - recommendations | Veterinary Service of the Vladimir Region

The first days in the life of a newborn lamb are the most responsible for the rearing and preservation of lambs. The practice of raising lambs shows that basically lambs die in the first 10 days after birth.

The reason for the death of lambs during this period is mainly insufficient care, untimely assistance to weakened lambs and low milk yield of ewes.

The only food that the lamb's stomach can digest during the first week of life is mother's milk. The lamb should be fed with mother's milk until the 10th day of life, after which it is necessary to introduce special feeding into the diet of the lambs. It has been proven that a newborn lamb gaining 1 kg in weight requires at least 5 kg of sheep's milk, and for this, the ewe must produce enough milk to feed the lambs. For this purpose, ewes are intensively fed with concentrated feed and given a sufficient amount of succulent feed (silage, beets, potatoes, etc.).

Immediately after birth, a newborn lamb should be brought to the uterus as soon as possible for the first feeding. So that lambs can get all the necessary substances with colostrum, including immunoglobulins, which they need for high body resistance.

The first feeding of the lamb should be no later than 30-45 minutes after birth (the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract during this period is able to miss the largest amount of immune globulins, which provide them with passive immunity in the first days of life). If the lamb could not drink colostrum 2 hours after birth, then the ewe must be milked and the lamb should be given colostrum from a mug or bottle with a nipple, this is especially relevant at low temperatures in the room. At low temperatures, lambs quickly lose their heat and freeze. In such cases, it is advisable to place the lambs under incandescent lamps. The chemical composition and biological value of colostrum changes almost every hour. With this in mind, pet owners should allow the lamb to suckle the uterus as often as possible. Colostrum in the ewe is released only in the first 2-3 days, after which the ewe begins to secrete normal milk. Colostrum has an increased acidity (3 times higher than milk), which has a detrimental effect on pathogenic microorganisms of the gastrointestinal tract. Before feeding, we milk the first streams of colostrum, which prevents microbes from entering the digestive tract of a newborn lamb. Weak lambs need help to find the ewe's nipple. The first two days the lambs are fed frequently (6-8 times a day). Some sheep won't let the lamb near their teats. Such a sheep, together with a lamb, is placed in a separate cage for several days, so that the sheep gets used to the lamb. In order to avoid starvation of the lamb and accelerate accustoming, it is necessary to let him go to the mother's teats more often.

In the first period, lambs feed exclusively on mother's milk, so it must meet the needs of a young, developing organism. It has been established that during the period of suckling, lambs give about ¾ of the total annual increase, i.e. 25-27kg. So, merino lambs at birth have a body weight of about 4.5 kg, and when weaned from their mother at 3.5-4 months of age -25-30 kg; over the next 6 months, the gain is 12-15 kg.

Feeding lambs during the first 2-3 weeks requires a lot of work and a caring, attentive attitude from the owners of household plots, peasant farms and shepherds. Lactating ewes with lambs in good farms are kept in sheds and pasture in small groups, the so-called sakmans. The younger the lambs, the fewer ewes should be combined in one sakman. In each sakman, sheep with lambs of the same age must be matched. Sheep with twins are separated into separate sakmans.

From the first days of life, newborn lambs are let out for a walk with their mother in good weather, and from a week old they are kept outdoors for the whole day, driving into cribs only in bad weather or at night. It must be borne in mind that lambs are easily and quickly exposed to colds.

Gradually, the amount of milk in the ewes decreases, and in order not to reduce the gain in live weight of the lambs, they begin to feed them with concentrates and hay from the age of 12-14 days. Hay lambs give the best, meadow, small-leaved. From concentrates give rolled grain, a mixture of oatmeal, wheat bran, peas and barley, starting at 30 grams and gradually adjusted to 200 grams per day. When the portion reaches 50 grams, we begin to mix minerals into it - salt, chalk, bone meal, 5-7 g per day per lamb. Giving them brooms made of aspen, willow, birch is very good for the formation of the gastrointestinal tract and teeth in lambs.

From the age of 2 weeks, succulent feeds (beets, carrots in crushed form) begin to be introduced into the diet of lambs.

Three-month-old lambs can eat the same feed as adult sheep. By this age, the lambs no longer have enough mother's milk, in addition, the ewes are freed from the lambs to bring them into a state of good fatness and prepare for the next breeding season.

Owners of household plots and peasant farms most often wean lambs from ewes at the age of 3.5-4 months. In the case when ewes are used for milking, lambs are taken away at 2.5-3 months of age. After weaning the lambs, sheep owners must carefully monitor the condition of the udder of the ewes. At this time, sheep are grazed on poor pastures with dry herbage, watering is reduced to once a day. All this will prevent the formation of milk in ewes and prevent them from developing mastitis. High-milk ewes are milked for the first 2-3 days.

Sakmans are driven out to the pasture after it gets warm, the earth warms up and the dew on the grass disappears. At the same time, the older ones are expelled first, and then the middle sakmans. The youngest sakman can be released to pasture only in good and calm weather. Lambs can be released to pasture for the first time at the age of at least 20 days. Previously, before grazing sheep on a pasture, it is inspected and divided into sections. Sheep grazing on each site can be no more than 5 days, shepherds must return to this site no earlier than after 2 months.

The grazing of the plots is carried out in the following order - start feeding from the worst plot, and supplementary feeding is carried out on a fresh plot that has not yet been used for grazing. The grazing regime is usually adopted as follows: from 4-5 o'clock to 8-9 o'clock in the morning until 16 o'clock the sheep rest, the second time the sheep are driven out to pasture at 16-17 o'clock and graze until 18-19 o'clock. On hot days it is recommended to organize night grazing.

During grazing, shepherds must ensure that the lambs do not tear up molehills and other earthen heaps. clogging of the book sets in and the lambs die.

In the pasture, sheep and lambs are watered in clear flowing water twice a day. In no case should you drink from dirty stagnant reservoirs, due to the fact that this is fraught with infection with helminthic invasion.

In order for the lambs to grow and develop well, they and the ewes must be healthy. To do this, sheep must be kept in premises that meet normal veterinary, sanitary and zoohygienic conditions, maintain a normal indoor microclimate (air exchange, humidity, temperature and other parameters), receive good-quality feed, and be vaccinated in a timely manner against certain infectious diseases that are common in the region of residence. .

It is forbidden to keep dogs (except guard or shepherd) on the territory of the sheep farm. Dogs must be vaccinated against rabies, tested for brucellosis, dewormed against taeniasis and other necessary veterinary treatments.

Major diseases of sheep and lambs.

Diseases of sheep are divided into non-contagious, infectious and parasitic.

Of the non-contagious diseases in sheep, pneumonia is most common, bronchopneumonia is especially common in lambs.

The cause of bronchopneumonia in lambs is dampness, drafts, increased amounts of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in the premises. For more details, see our article - catarrhal bronchopneumonia.

If the rules of grazing and feeding are not followed, rumen tympania (acute rumen tympania in goats and sheep), atony and hypotonia of the proventriculus (atony and hypotonia of the proventriculus in sheep and goats) is possible.

With a lack of vitamin E, trace elements, especially selenium in the diet, feeding with leached hay among lambs is a widespread white muscle disease (white muscle disease of young farm animals).

If the rules of feeding are violated and the diet is not balanced, the lambs eat their wool, which in the gastrointestinal tract gets into balls of wool and the animal develops bezoar disease (bezoar disease of young animals).

As a result of a lack of sulfur and iodine in the diet, sheep and especially lambs develop a disease called endemic goiter (endemic goiter in animals).

With a lack of copper trace element in the diet, lambs develop such an endemic disease as lamb enzootic ataxia (paraplegia).

Non-contagious diseases of ewes include mastitis (a type of sheep mastitis).

If the rules of grazing and preventive measures are not followed, numerous invasive diseases can occur in sheep. Among the invasive diseases of sheep, the most common diseases are fasciolosis, dictyocaulosis (dictyocaulosis of cattle and sheep), monieziosis (monieziosis of cattle and sheep), coenurosis or verticillium, echinococcosis.

In sheep and lambs, infectious diseases such as listeriosis, leptospirosis, chlamydia, salmonellosis (sheep and goat salmonellosis), colibacillosis, smallpox (sheep and goat pox), infectious agalactia (infectious agalactia of sheep and goats), infectious enterotoxemia of sheep, bradzot of sheep, brucellosis (brucellosis of small cattle), anaerobic dysentery of lambs, necrobacteriosis, foot and mouth disease.

How to organize artificial feeding of lambs

May 2 2018

After the lamb is born, especially during the first three months, it must be fed by its mother. Eating milk, he matures and gradually switches to dry food. But this scheme is not always acceptable. After all, it happens that a ewe dies during childbirth, or three or more lambs were born to her at once. Sheep simply cannot feed them on their own. In such cases, it is important to know how to properly organize the artificial feeding of lambs so that they grow up healthy. In this case, the recommendations of veterinarians and practicing livestock breeders should be taken into account.

How and what to feed lambs

It is best to feed a newborn lamb with mother's colostrum, with which strength and immunity are transferred to it. Sometimes this feeding needs to be done artificially. First, for this, he needs to provide optimal conditions for growth and development. This should be a compartment in a dry, clean barn. Since newborn lambs have weak immunity, it will also have to be strengthened artificially, preventing pathogenic viruses from developing in a frail body. The corral should be warm enough, with the optimum temperature for the lamb at 19ºС. Utensils must be used sterile so that bacteria do not lead to illness in the newborn. For this, a sterile bottle for artificial feeding of the lamb is suitable. You can buy it in Ukraine in a variety of outlets, but the best option is the Ukrvet online store, which presents products only from the best modern manufacturers of goods for veterinary medicine and cattle breeding. Therefore, there is no doubt about the quality of this type of dishes. As for the feeding regimen, it must be adhered to extremely strictly so that the animal can gain strength and grow at a rapid pace.

Selection of watering options

If possible, an orphan lamb can be placed with another sheep, which will be the best option for alternative feeding in the absence of a mother. But replanting should also be done as correctly as possible. After all, a sheep, like females of other animals, is able to recognize her baby by smell. Therefore, before planting a baby in a new uterus, it is necessary to lubricate it with the amniotic fluid of the female or her own milk. In this case, she will perceive the baby as her own. If it is not possible to transfer a newborn to a new uterus, it can be bottle-fed until the lamb learns to drink milk from a dish on its own. If, however, a whole brood of lambs is left without a mother, as in some other circumstances, you can use a bucket for drinking lambs for 5 nipples. You can order in the Ukrvet catalog both a bucket and its accessories, including spare nipples.

Feeding in the first fortnight

A newborn lamb can be fed not only with sheep's milk, but also with cow's and goat's. Be sure to boil the milk and sterilize the bottle used. Although boiled milk contains less vitamins, but such a precautionary measure will protect the animal from intestinal infections and just diarrhea. The bottle is held slightly below the lamb's head during feeding to make it easier for him to drink. The amount of food should be strictly metered, since overeating in a young individual can simply stop the stomach.

Feeding norms for an orphan lamb

A single feeding norm for a newborn lamb in the first week of life is about 150 grams of milk. From the second week it is recommended to solder him more than 200 grams of milk per day. After that, the amount of milk consumed by the lamb is brought to 350 grams. For the first month, an animal can drink about 20 liters of milk.

During the first week of life, the lamb should be fed every 2 hours, excluding night sleep, which is 6 feedings per day. This schedule must be strictly observed in order to promote the uniform development of the baby's digestive organs. And since lambs in the first week of life are in dire need of large amounts of digestible fats from sheep's milk, they can be replaced with artificial substitutes for sheep's milk.