How much to feed a baby lamb

How to Bottle Feed a Lamb Successfully

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How to bottle feed a lamb is pertinent information. Because you just never know when the situation will arise for needing to take over the care of the bottle baby lamb. Lambs can become sick, unwanted or orphaned.

And, I’m going to share with you what we do when one of our lambs becomes just that and needs us to care for it. Learning how to bottle feed a lamb is one of the most important skills that all successful sheep producers need to know.

First of all, I’m going to explain why this skill of learning how to bottle feed a lamb is so important.

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Why would you need to know how to bottle feed a lamb?

Because it’s one of the most important skills you have to know if you’re going to raise hair sheep. Learning how to bottle feed a lamb is just part of the journey of raising hair sheep. It’s not always roses and butterflies when it comes to homesteading, farming or ranching.

You see, things happen. Again, not every lambing situation will be rosy and rainbows. You can’t always predict that every situation will turn out perfectly.

So, be prepared and keep learning new skills, such as how to bottle feed a lamb. Knowing this skill can really save a lot of little lambs. But, what kind of situations are we looking at? Next are some situations you might face which would lead you to be searching for “how to bottle feed a lamb.”

Why A Lamb Would Need To Be Bottle Fed

There are a few situations where a lamb might need to be bottle fed by you in order for it’s survival:

Maybe mom just doesn’t want it. She refuses to respond to the bonding process.
Lamb was really cold after birth and became hypothermic.
Perhaps she doesn’t have enough milk to feed baby.
Or there are triplets and she can’t handle them all.
Worst of all…mom died during labor. It’s hard but baby can be saved.

So, whichever the reason, you end up with a cute fluffy bottle lamb. Now, here’s what you need to be able to feed a bottle lamb.

What Bottle to Use

There are many options, but I’m going to share with you what I use and recommend.

So, my husband drinks a lot of soda pop in those 20 oz bottles. I keep those, wash and sanitize them to use for bottle babies.

Then, I purchase pritchard nipples. When I was first starting out, I found these to be the most recommended nipple to use for bottle baby goats and lambs. Why?

Because, as I have also found, they are the nipple that is most like a teat. I’ve used other nipples (the black ones) that are just too big. They may work for older babies but not for new ones.

Therefore, I’m advising you to start with the red Pritchard Nipples. Tip: Take a razor blade and gently slice open the top of the nipple. Do not cut as the hole will be too big and baby will get too much milk!

Different Options for Milk

Now, the dilemma of what to feed the bottle baby lamb. Decisions, Decisions. There are so many. And everyone will tell you that their way is best. And any other way will kill your lamb. Don’t listen to that.

Here’s the truth: The truth is that there are a few different options that might work for your budget, time and peace of mind. So, here’s the break down of the three main options for what to feed bottle baby lambs.

Powdered Milk Replacer

First of all, I will tell you that powdered milk replacer is just fine to use. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s not. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t find it in the farm stores.

BUT, with that said, you need to know what to use and what not to use when it comes to powdered milk replacer. The powdered milk replacer needs to be MILK based like this one…not SOY based. That is very important to the success of using a milk replacer.

I’m a soybean farmer and love soy…but it’s not good on new baby lambs or goats’ tummies. So, milk based milk replacer is what you want. I’ve raised many many kids and lambs on a milk based powdered replacer with success.

If you’re completely against the powdered milk, there are other options. May I suggest whole cow’s milk as many others will. Let’s discuss.

Whole Cows or Goats Milk

Ok, so I have bought pasteurized whole milk from the store to feed a bottle baby lamb. And I know many other producers have as well. In fact, if you ask the question in any Facebook Group, whole cow’s milk is the most popular answer you will receive. Why?

Because it’s an easy option to feed bottle baby lambs. Not necessarily the best option. But really, all you do is buy, twist and pour into the bottle. No mixing required here.

And you can also try to get fresh raw milk for lambs. I have some dairy farmer friends who have always fed whole cows milk to their bottle baby lambs. This milk is straight from the cow and raw. Their lambs have done well on that whole cow’s milk.

But the one thing you want to make sure is that your not going to be giving milk infected with certain diseases, such as Johne’s Disease. Many herds have been tested and Johne’s free but you still need to keep that in mind when obtaining milk for the baby.

So, if you have dairy farmer friends nearby or the budget to buy whole cow’s milk – Go for it! Also, goats milk works, of course. Again, do what works best for you.

Finally, there’s a third option.

Homemade Milk Replacer

Finally, we come to the whole milk/buttermilk/etc. option. The gourmet homemade version for only the elitist and most spoiled lambs. And I’ve used it so I can recommend it. Plus, the person who created it is just awesome!

I’ve had this really amazing recipe for bottle babies for years. It is a no-fail. Here it is:

1/4 Cup Whipping Cream
1 large egg
1 cup non fat dry milk
3 Cups Water

Mix in a blender. It makes 30 ounces. If you need a larger batch, double everything EXCEPT whipping cream. Instead, use 1/3 cup whipping cream. Read on for feeding instructions.

To triple this recipe:

3 Eggs
3 Cups Powdered Milk
1/4 Cup Whipping Cream
And 1/3 Cup Whipping Cream
2 Cups Water

Mix in a blender and then add to 7 cups of water. This mixture makes 3/4 of a gallon of milk replacer the lambs will be loving on.

And here’s another homemade recipe that I have tried with success:

– 1 Gallon Whole Milk
– 1 Cup Whole Buttermilk
– 12 oz Can Evaporated Milk

Pour off 2 1/2 cups of the whole milk. Add Buttermilk and Evaporated milk to the whole milk. Mix well. Feeding Instructions are below.

So, there you have it. The three different milk options. But before I move on to feeding instructions, I want to share a little bit of info about grafting a bottle baby.

Grafting

So, I’ll get back to bottle feeding in just a second. But, I wanted to just mention the possibility of grafting a bottle baby onto a ewe that lost her baby. It’s totally possible in just a day.

By skinning the dead baby and tying it onto the bottle baby, the grafting process will take much less time. I’ve achieved success doing this with goats and I’ve even written about it!

Read how to graft a kid onto a doe using fresh skin and baling twine.

This can totally be achieved with sheep as well – I just have not been given the opportunity yet to try it on the sheep side. But I know of many other producers who have successfully skinned lambs and grafted babies onto moms using the skin.

Ok, so back to bottle feeding. Let’s talk about how much to bottle feed a lamb.

How Much to Feed a Lamb

This is the most important part of this article. Above, I’ve discussed a few options to feed. Any of those are great options but you will not find success in any of them if you don’t feed it correctly.

So, basically the safest bet is to go by the weight of the lamb. The rule of thumb is about 20% of their body weight. If you need a scale to purchase to weigh lambs, here are a few options:

So, with that said, here are some feeding recommendations I use:

1-2 day old lambs should receive 4 to 6 ounces 4 times per day.
3-7 day old kids: 8-10 ounces 3 times per day.
1-2 week old kids: 12-14 ounces 3 times per day.
3-6 week old kids: 16-20 ounces 2 times per day.
7-8 week old kids: 20 ounces 2 times per day. This is a full bottle.

And at the 8-week mark, the lambs are ready to be weaned. You can gradually begin to cut back on milk as long as the lamb is eating feed and hay and drinking plenty of water.

Finally, allow two weeks of gradual decrease in milk before fully weaned. Slow is better when it comes to weaning a bottle baby. Lambs can be really stubborn, but as long as they can become independent from milk, they will be fine.

Stubborn Lamb

So, we’ve discussed what could happen to cause a lamb to become unwanted or orphaned. Things just happen. And what makes it worse is when that lamb will not for whatever reason take a bottle from you.

Stubborn lambs can be difficult to start on a bottle. No matter what age, if the lamb has had mother’s milk, that’s what it will want. Because, I mean, there’s nothing better than mother’s milk, right?

So, you need to be just as stubborn. Because baby has to eat to live.

Therefore, be strict and firm but gentle when encouraging the baby to eat from a bottle:

Hand Placement: Cup the head with one hand. Be sure fingers are on the throat gently so you can feel if the lamb is swallowing. With the other hand, hold the bottle and gently push the nipple into the lamb’s mouth. Use your fingers to hold it in.
Let the lamb take breaks every so often. Then, try again.
Keep trying until the lamb has drank it’s recommended amount of milk. See above recommendations.

Also, when you’re transitioning a lamb onto a bottle, you need to have some probios on hand. Give about 2 CC every 6 hours to keep the tummy bacteria balanced.

Finally, a bottle lamb should be cared for properly. Next is some tips for housing a bottle lamb.

Where Should a Lamb Be Housed?

So, we’ve discussed how to bottle feed a lamb:

What to feed
How to feed
Why to feed
When to feed

Now, I want to discuss where. What else a lamb may need to be comfortable. If it’s cold out, keep in mind that the lamb will have no one to snuggle with. You really shouldn’t put an orphan lamb into a pen with mothers and babies. Why? Because it could get butted around and hurt. Maybe even killed.

It’s best (in my opinion and experience) to keep orphan babies separated from the rest of the herd. Bottle babies should have a small and draft free place to stay warm and safe.

Also, provide warm and clean bedding for the lambs. The place that is best for you and your lambs. I have a special place in our barn, but in extreme cold conditions it’s not the best locations.

In extreme situations where a lambs is cold, I’ve had babies in the warmest place I know I have: My kitchen. I use a large kennel like this one with bedding to house it for a couple of weeks until I know it can regulate it’s temperature on it’s own.

I’ve also housed lambs in a large kennel in the basement. Another warm place to just protect them from the cold weather that could kill them if they become hypothermic. So, now you can use what you have to find the best housing option for your bottle baby lamb.

Finally, Have Fun With Your Bottle Baby Lambs!

Because they are fun! There’s nothing more bouncy and fluffy than a bottle baby lamb running to it’s bottle.

And the hardest part isn’t how to bottle feed a lamb. The hardest part is getting it started. Or knowing how much to feed it. So, I hope that what I shared with you today will help you learn all there is to learn about how to bottle feed a lamb.

Good luck and enjoy the journey of raising hair sheep! And all that comes with it.

~ Much Love ~

How Often to Bottle Feed a Lamb?

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Bottle Lambs Success Guide (milk replacer, feeding schedule & best tools)

Certain circumstances cause farmers to raise lambs on a bottle. Either the mother dies during labor and delivery, does not have sufficient milk, or a ewe may reject her lamb. In this article, we’ll go over how to raise healthy bottle lambs and discuss what good lamb milk replacers should provide nutritionally. We’ll also cover how often to bottle feed lambs at every stage of development, the amount of milk they should get at different ages. We include the tips and tools to create a bottle-feeding schedule that doesn’t keep you up at all hours of the night.

Deciding to Keep a Bottle Lamb

Once you realize a lamb will have to be fed by bottle, you must decide whether or not to keep it. Farmers with large-scale operations without the time to bottle feed sometimes give away these lambs, or even sell them. Bottle lambs make good pets and often go to kids starting out in 4H whose parents want them to have the experience of raising a lamb.

Those with small operations will probably decide that keeping the lamb is a good financial decision. A lamb that has been nursing from its dam for a number of days might have difficulty getting it to accept a rubber nipple. In such cases, you should continue trying to teach the lamb to accept the rubber nipple.

I’ve had really good luck getting lambs onto the Premier 1 Lamb bottle with a Pritchard teat (Amazon link).

Bottles vs Bucket

Once the lamb is accustomed to rubber nipples, you may decide to move it on to a bucket with nipples placed around the bottom. You can get these nipples as a special kind of unit. It should include a ballcock, to avoid leaks.

Teaching the lamb to drink from nipples at the bottom of the contraption accustoms them to feeding themselves, like from their mother’s nipples. Also, it will make it easier for you when you need to put them back in the barn.

If you have an indoor pen for a lamb (like in your kitchen), be prepared for messes. Lambs urinate quite often. Make sure you have cleaning equipment, like a simple mop and bucket, on hand. This will be necessary even if you use absorbent mats.

My advice is to keep the lamb outside as much as you can – a good heat lamp and dry bedding and most lambs who are eating will do just fine.

If you have a single set of bottle lambs, a bucket probably isn’t necessary – you’ll be feeding them by bottle 3 times a day most of the time until weaning, which is manageable (morning, afternoon, before bed). For large operations with a lot of bottle lambs, definitely train them on a bucket.

Nutritional Requirements for Lamb Milk Replacer

If your lamb was never fed by its dam, that means it has never had colostrum. The first 24 hours after a lamb is born is critical for them to get this special fluid. Colostrum comes from the mother’s mammary glands and is full of important antibodies and minerals. It always appears before true milk is produced.

The lamb’s intestinal tract is only able to absorb the crucial antibodies found in colostrum during the first 24 hours of the lamb’s life. Sooner is better. It’s preferred to give the colostrum to the bottle lamb during the first 12 hours of its life.

If you can get frozen ewe colostrum, that is ideal. However, frozen cow colostrum should provide enough antibodies for your lamb to be healthy. Lambs should be kept in a dry, warm, and enclosed area.

My advice is that every year you have lambs on your farm you take a bit of extra colostrum from your ewes and freeze it in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, store the cubes in a plastic bag so they’re ready in case you ever need them.

Another good idea is to buy some lamb colostrum replacer before lambing season begins. Milk & Co. makes a good one (Amazon link).

Make Sure Lambs Get Proper Nutrients

If you do set up a milk bar or bucket for your lambs, you should never put extremely young lambs together with older lambs in the same pen. Very young lambs might not be getting enough milk replacer, as the older lambs will shove them out of the way and drink most of it themselves. If you do keep them with older lambs, just make sure you supplement the youngest ones with a bottle a few times a day.

When lambs are put in the nursery, they should be given shots of certain supplements:

Vitamin ADE
Iron-dextran
Combiotic

If you have a lamb that needs to have a colostrum replacement because it never received it from its mother, make sure that you administer it. Some experts recommend using a Pritchard Teat and a high-quality feeding bottle to do this. You should make sure the lamb gets colostrum during the first 18 hours of its life. After that, you can move on to warm milk or milk replacer.

Choose the Appropriate Milk Replacer

When budgeting for the cost of bottle lambs, one bag of the appropriate milk replacer is about $30. The size and appetite of your lamb will vary, but I’d budget for a minimum of 35 pounds of milk replacer per lamb to get them weaned. Manna Pro makes a good one (Amazon link), and so does Sav-a-Lamb (Amazon link).

When choosing a milk replacer for your lambs, you must carefully review the composition of the replacer. Many commercially produced lamb milk replacers are available, and while many are marketed as multi-species milk replacers, I encourage you to get lamb-specific milk replacers for your sheep. They’re specifically formulated for lambs.

What to Look For in a Lamb Milk Replacer

Below are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to lamb milk replacers:

Look for milk replacers that have 30 percent fat minimum. Lambs must have enough fat. There should be 25 percent milk protein in the milk replacer.
You can add fat to milk replacers if that is necessary. This can be done with butterfat or white grease. Never use any kind of vegetable oil.
Dilute the milk replacer with water so that is a minimum of 20 percent dry matter. There should be two pounds of milk replacer for each gallon of water.
Before you feed lambs, make sure to properly mix the replacer. Stay away from milk replacers that won’t remain in suspension. Once you have mixed the milk replacer powder into warm water, immediately cool it down to approximately 33 degrees Fahrenheit. Doing this will help to cut out the issue of ingredient separation that can happen in storage.
To prevent scours and other types of digestive disorders, ensure that there is a high level of antibiotics in the milk replacer.

How to Feed Milk Replacement to Lambs

You don’t want the lamb to gulp the milk too quickly, as this may lead to digestive upsets. A nipple feeder pail can help with this. Always keep the valves and nipples thoroughly clean. If you don’t, your lamb could end up with a bacterial infection.

The pails must be kept extremely clean, even as clean as a dish you would use in your kitchen.

Cold milk may be better than warm milk. Research indicates lambs may do better with cold milk (milk between 35 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit) than warm milk. This is because cold milk is not as likely to sour.

At each nursing session, a lamb will drink just a small amount of the milk replacer. Keeping the milk cold (at the temperatures we mentioned) will reduce the likelihood that it will begin to go bad.

We always mixed and kept a few bottles in the fridge, warming them in a pot with water on the stove just before feeding the lambs.

Bottle Feeding Lambs at Different Stages of Development

Lambs that you are going to bottle feed will need to learn how to suck from a bottle. It may sound a bit odd, but some sheep farmers will do this using pop bottles. You can put a nipple that has been made in a size to fit the lamb’s mouth on the end of the bottle.

When the lamb is about one week old, it will probably start being interested in nibbing at foods such as cracked corn and hay. Make sure the animal has small amounts of this kind of food accessible in a creep environment (a pen that lambs can access but mature sheep cannot).

Weaning

Remember that a ewe will begin to naturally wean lambs when they are a month to six weeks old. When you bottle feed lambs, aim to wean them around the same time. You may be surprised to hear this, but bottle fed lambs can often go back to the barn as young as a week or two weeks old. In mild weather, your lambs may never come inside and may be in the barn from birth.

You should aim to get them weaned by 45-50 days through gradual reduction of how many milk feedings you give them (while keeping the other food and water we mentioned available).

Some farmers will tell you to wean them after a month, but I think the extra fat content from the milk for a few more weeks helps to ensure the lambs growth isn’t stunted significantly.

Tips and Tools for Creating a Lamb Bottle Feeding Schedule

It’s quite easy to get enough sleep when feeding a bottle lamb, as there is no need to feed a lamb at night most of the time.

During the first few days, you’ll probably want to get up and make sure the lamb gets food every 6 hours at a minimum, but within a week or two you can stretch this timing out so that you do morning, daytime, and evening bottles.

With very young lambs a trick to tell if they’re getting sufficient food is to stick your finger into their mouth. If it’s warm, the lamb is ok … cold, and they need more calories.

At most stages, if the lamb is properly fed, it will be fine if you leave it overnight without feeding. You will find that the baby animal is just extra hungry and more eager to eat in the morning.

The lamb milk replacer you choose will have a feeding schedule on the back of the bag. Follow it, and time your feedings to fit your schedule so that you can minimize the impact on your day-to-day life.

Lambs Need Warmth and Social Interaction

As herd animals, lambs need social interaction. When they cannot have that with others of their species because of circumstances, humans can fill that gap. During the time that you bottle feed the lamb, interact with them and let them sit with you (or on you) when you go about your day.

Spend time cuddling with the lamb. The warmth of your body will help provide it with the warmth that it needs and will make it feel safe, contributing to health and happiness. Talk to the lamb when you spend time with it. It will find the sound of your voice soothing and reassuring.

The Long-Term Impact of Bottle Feeding Lambs

Ewe lambs raised as bottle lambs tend to remain social and friendly for the rest of their lives. They’ll often come right over to you in the field or barn for a scratch.

Ram lambs are the same way, but once they mature and their testosterone kicks in this friendliness can often make them aggressive. Keep this in mind if you’re considering keeping a ram raised by a bottle.

Raising Healthy Bottle Lambs is a Lot of Work (and fun)

Bottle feeding a lamb is easy once you’re out of the woods during the first week, and it’s usually no more than a 2-month commitment, but for those two months you’ll be tied to your farm in a way that you may not normally be.

In my experience, raising a bottle lamb is a commitment that is manageable because it always happens at a time of year when I expect to stay close to the farm to be on call for lambing and to do more frequent monitoring of the health of my flock to ensure my new lamb crop is thriving.

Bottle lambs won’t grow to their potential the way lambs raised on their mom’s milk will, but you’ll end up with a friendly lamb that you’ll bond with, and raising bottle lambs can be a great learning experience for young children.

Feeding the lambs. How to feed lambs at home without a mother. Feeding rates for lambs

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Pet food / Helpful information / Feeding the lambs

Lamb feeding is an important aspect of animal breeding. It is necessary to ensure proper care for fragile babies, especially if breastfeeding is carried out without breast milk.

It is not always possible to feed lambs with mother's milk, although it is considered the best food

Of course, the natural milk of a lactating sheep is the best food for cubs, but this is not always rational for livestock breeders. Today we will tell you how to make a nutritious diet for a lamb. After all, even experienced farmers find it easier to choose food for adult sheep and rams than to correctly calculate the right amount of food for their cubs.

To raise a healthy animal, it is necessary to strictly observe the dosage norms and feed the lambs with strictly defined types of feed

Care and feeding of newborn lambs

In a good scenario, the first feeding of the lamb begins 30 minutes after its birth. However, the natural instinct of the mother does not always prevail, and then the baby does not receive the food he is supposed to. This can happen for various reasons:

Mastitis in sheep.
Childbirth for the first time.
Birth of more than two lambs from one mother.
Death of a sheep due to fetal malposition.

If the slightest problem occurs, the lambs should be immediately transferred to artificial feeding. Their bodies are very delicate, so they need special care. Not without reason, according to statistics, the highest mortality among lambs occurs in the first days of their life.

What kind of milk to feed newborn lambs? The first food they should get is colostrum. It is produced by the mammary glands of sheep after childbirth. If possible, it is necessary to express the nutrient fluid and give it to the newborn. Consumption of colostrum contributes:

Strengthening the gastrointestinal tract.
Removal of remnants of stool.
Formation of intestinal microflora.
Protect the gastrointestinal tract from infections.

Even if more babies are born, you can express colostrum so that there is enough for everyone

Rules for artificial feeding of lambs

Here are the basic norms for feeding lambs in the first weeks of life:

Newborns should be fed exclusively with milk. You can use a goat, cow or other lactating sheep.
It is necessary to monitor the amount of food, as its excess threatens to stop the baby's stomach.
Lambs need to be fed every 2.5 hours for the first seven days.
From the second week the pups should eat 5 times a day.
From the 3rd to the 6th week, the daily rate is adjusted up to 4 times.
In the seventh week, the grown-up lamb can be fed 3 times a day.

In the video below, you can see how lambs eat, already trained to suck milk from a bottle. With a simple design, you can feed a large number of animals at the same time.

Bowl training should start after two weeks of bottle feeding

How to diversify the feeding of lambs

Let's look at what to feed the lambs at home, and what food supplements to use. Here is a table of possible complementary foods that can be introduced as the animals grow older.

Deadline	Type of feed	Nutritional considerations for lambs
2nd week	200 gr. thin oatmeal porridge	Once a day
2nd week	Dry leaf broom	Every day
3rd week	Grated or chopped vegetables and ground grains	One feeding - 30 g.
3rd week	Grated or chopped vegetables and ground grains	After one month, increase every day by 9 grams
28th day	Oat, bran and linseed meal concentrates	50 daily
2 months		150 g. every day
3 months		300 g per day
50th day	Whole milk	150g per day
50th day	Oatmeal	700 daily

Be sure to use mineral supplements that can be mixed into food (5 g each day). Chalk, animal bone meal and table salt will help strengthen bones

Milk consumption norms for lambs

If there is no lactating sheep on the farm, what kind of milk should be fed to the lamb? The best way out of the situation would be to use a cow product.

Lambs drink cow's milk with the same pleasure as sheep's milk

A few tips for using milk:

The first feeding can be carried out no earlier than 5 hours after sucking out the colostrum.
After boiling, the milk should be cooled down to 30°C.
Be sure to use a teat to simulate the mother's udder.

Number of meals for feeding lambs in the lactation period:

1-5 days - 5 times in 24 hours.
6-20 days - 3 times a day.
Day 20 and beyond - twice a day.

How much food should a baby eat per day? If feeding is carried out with cow's milk, then the calculation will be as follows:

1-7 days - 200 gr.
7-15 days - 400 gr.
15-20 days - 700 gr.
20-30 days - 900 gr.

If lambs develop diarrhea, be sure to increase the amount of liquid. This will prevent dehydration

Nursing lambs

Over time, the question arises of what to feed monthly lambs, because this age animals are already considered young. It doesn’t matter if they were mother-fed or artificially fed, from one to three months they need to be gradually weaned from milk and transferred to the main food.

You can buy feed, compound feed and feed additives from us:

Compound feed for sheep

Feed and compound feed

Feed additives

What to feed a two-month-old lamb in the period of growing up? The daily diet of animals must include:

Greens and roughage

Growing lambs feed on juicy grass and harvested hay. Stems of leguminous plants and meadow forbs are best absorbed. The optimal amount is a hundredth of the weight.

Often, young sheep are fed with cereal straw - about 2 kilograms daily. It is necessary to mix hay with it, otherwise the animals will become less well-fed.

Fresh hay is one of the favorite foods of young lambs

Succulents

What to feed teenage lambs? Their daily diet must include the following vegetables:

Potato.
Fodder beet.
Carrot.
Pumpkin and other gourds.
Silo.

Sheep should eat no more than 1-1.5 kg of this food per day.

Concentrates

Concentrated feed refers to cereals. Easiest to digest:

Corn.
Barley.
Peas.
Oats.
Vika.

The norm is 300-500 grams of concentrate per day.

Grain is an essential food for lambs of all breeds

To balance the protein component, lambs should also be given cake and meal.

Do not forget about walking the growing kids. Pasture is an integral part of the daily food intake

We looked at how to feed motherless lambs using natural food and nutritional supplements. Breeding sheep is a rather laborious activity, since their cubs need constant supervision and care. For the successful rearing of animals, it is necessary to strictly observe the established norms and monitor the dosage of feed.

Order lamb food in any convenient way

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Contents:

What to feed lambs at home?
What to feed a newborn lamb?
What to feed a lamb?
What to feed lambs without a mother?
Features of feeding from a week of age
Nutrition from 2 weeks
What to feed a month old lamb?
Two month old lambs
What should not be fed to lambs?

A healthy sheep or ram can only be raised if the lambs are properly fed. As the young grow, they should receive all the trace elements, vitamins and other substances necessary for development. The article will give recommendations on how to feed lambs of different ages and those that grow up without a mother.

How to feed lambs at home?

Photo of a sheep with a lamb in the pasture

Knowing how to feed lambs at home, you can develop a complete diet and contribute to the rapid development of individuals, their growth, and increase productivity.

Milk is the basis of any lamb's nutrition at first. Without it, the animal simply will not survive. In this case, you can replace sheep's milk, the main thing is to provide all the necessary nutrients.
Succulent feed includes grass, silage, root crops, gourds.
Roughage (haylage, straw, hay).

Interesting!

It is very important to give small amounts of mineral supplements to lambs. If they are lacking, due to concentrates and vegetables, the nutrients in their body will not be replenished, and the animal will start to get sick.

Concentrated feed (mixed feed and cereals).
Minerals and vitamins (premixes, salt, bone meal, chalk).

Every lamb's diet should also contain plenty of clean, fresh water, without which no living creature can survive. Change it 2 times a day or more often, as needed. The main thing is that it should be at room temperature.

What to feed a newborn lamb?

Every 2-3 hours a newborn lamb drinks mother's milk

Approximately half an hour after birth, healthy lambs stand on their feet and look for their mother's udder. The udder is given only clean, washed.

Important!

If the lamb does not have enough mother's milk (it may simply not be enough), you need to feed it separately, otherwise it will grow slowly, get sick, and even death is possible.

Every 2-3 hours a newborn lamb drinks mother's milk, then sleeps. If there is not enough food, this can be understood by behavior. When the lamb restlessly rubs at the mother, sucks her udder continuously, the young are fed.

How to feed a lamb?

Cow's milk is used for feeding

When the mother's milk is low, the lamb does not eat enough, it needs an additional source of nutrition. Cow's milk is used for feeding. But it's not quite the same as sheep's, so supplements such as fish oil and chicken eggs, which are simply added to cow's milk, must be used. The resulting liquid for feeding is heated to 35-39 degrees and only then it is poured into a bottle and given through the nipple to the lambs.

Feeding rates differ depending on the age of the young.

Until the 10th day of life, such top dressing is done 4-5 times a day in the amount of 100 g.
From the 10th to the 20th day, 200 g of milk should be given 3 times a day.
From the 20th day they feed no more than 2 times - 300-400 g.

Feeding should be introduced gradually, following the reaction of the young. And you can’t give them for a long time, otherwise it will be difficult for the lamb to switch to normal food.

How to feed motherless lambs?

Photo of motherless lambs feeding

When for some reason a lamb cannot drink its mother's milk after birth (it is not available, the female is dead or sick), a suitable alternative must be found. Experienced breeders always keep another female in the next stall during childbirth, which has milk, in order to transfer the lamb there in time if necessary.

Colostrum is the most important food for a lamb for 48 hours after birth, if it does not get it, it will most likely die. It is colostrum that “turns on” the immunity of young animals, its protective mechanisms and contributes to the activation of organs and systems - their normal operation.

Important!

If the female is healthy and alive, but does not want to give the baby colostrum, you need to carefully milk it from her and give it to the lamb yourself!

When the mother of the lamb does not have milk, substitutes must be taken and the young must be fed artificially. The colostrum needed for a lamb can be bought at another farm - in the first 2 days of the animal's life, you need to give it at least once!

After the first risk is passed - the lamb survived, you need to start feeding it with sheep, cow or goat milk as a last resort. They give milk in a feeding bottle with a nipple, which is sterilized each time, and the liquid itself is heated to 35-40 degrees.

In the first week, the lamb is fed every 2.5 hours for a total of 6 feedings.
From the second week, the number of feedings is reduced to 5 times a day.

Important!

Sheep's milk is preferred for lambs. You can buy it from another farm or just take it from another female who recently gave birth to a baby.

Feed 4 times a day for 3-6 weeks.
From 7 weeks you can transfer the lamb to 3 meals a day.

Milk is stopped at about 2 months if the mother is not present. From this age, the lamb may well get by with simple food, the main thing is that it be of high quality - this will reduce the risk of diseases.

Features of feeding from a week of age

From a week of age, the lamb should be given high-quality hay

From a week of age, in addition to mother's milk and additional feeding with cow's milk (if necessary), the lamb should be given high-quality hay. They give it in the amount that a lamb can eat - that is, without restrictions. It is hay that allows the rumen to develop properly in the stomach of the lamb.

Important!

High-quality hay should be fed, because it is not very coarse, healthy and quickly digested.

Mineral food will not interfere with a weekly or maximum from the 10th day of life. This includes chalk, salt, meat and bone meal. They contribute to the proper development of the skeleton, building muscle mass of the animal.

In order for the teeth to develop properly and the stomach to work without failures (diarrhea, constipation are common problems in lambs), you can introduce a little sprigs of willow, aspen, birch into the diet from the 10th day. They are soft, healthy, well absorbed, contain many nutrients.

Feeding from 2 weeks old

Juicy food - a pleasant innovation from 2 weeks old

From the 14th day of life, the animal's diet changes greatly. What to feed 2 week old lambs? Juicy food is a pleasant innovation that needs to be given little by little and very carefully introduced into the diet. Each new type of grass, vegetable is given in small quantities, separately, and the body's reaction to it is traced. This allows you to avoid diseases, unpleasant consequences for the animal.

Juicy lamb food:

greens - in small quantities;
carrots, beets - chopped before serving;
it is better to give boiled potatoes, also crushed;
dried apples.

Interesting!

To prevent diarrhea in lambs, you can give them empty oats for the first time, without flour.

From 15 days you can gradually start giving concentrates, such as rolled oats and wheat bran. Up to a month, 50 g of such a nutritional supplement is needed per individual. From 2 months, 100 g is given, from 3 to 200 g, and for lambs older than 4 months - 300 g. Rolled oats are served in the form of a liquid porridge.

What to feed a month old lamb?

At one month old lambs are usually given compound feed

At one month old lambs are usually given compound feed. More and more vegetables and root crops are given every day (by 9 g), as well as greens - by this time you need to start teaching lambs to eat fresh grass. The amount of milk received should be less so that the nutrition is balanced, and it is easier for the animal to completely separate from the mother over time.

Be sure to give mineral supplements at this time. If illnesses or minor ailments are noticed, you should contact your veterinarian. If there is no illness, just weakness, he can prescribe some mineral or vitamin premixes.

Two-month-old lambs

Usually a lamb is kept with its mother for up to 4 months

At 2 months old, lambs already have a developed and well-functioning stomach, so you can gradually transfer them to normal, complete feeding for sheep. And yet, most breeders continue to keep them next to their mother for up to 4 months, because the longer they are with her, the better and faster they develop.

At four months of age, it is recommended that the lambs be completely weaned and held separately for some time. Lambs can be released to one pasture along with the uterus, only after 3 weeks of separation.