When can you feed lamb milk replacer. Lambs can begin being fed milk replacer at around a day old. Newborn lambs should always receive colostrum as soon as possible after birth, preferably within the first 6 hours of life. This should be continued for the first 24 hours.
A lamb should be fed with an 8-ounce baby bottle with a rubber nipple. Initially, you should fill the bottle with 10% of the baby lamb's weight in colostrum and feed this to the lamb within its first 24 hours. Feed the lamb every two hours, if possible, during this timeframe.
Lambs and kids may do all right on other milk replacers or milk, but will do best if they are a fed species-specific milk replacer. Milk replacer powder should be reconstituted (mixed) according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Research has proven that whole powdered cow milk can be a cheaper and safe alternative for feeding lambs. If it can be obtained, goat's milk is another option for feeding lambs. As with cow's milk, additional fat or oil should be added.
Lambs will perform satisfactorily on some calf milk replacers that are on the market. However, most calf milk replacers do not contain enough fat to be used successfully with lambs.
Waste milk feeding rates
Cow or goat milk may be used in the feeding of lambs, when available.
Without these antibodies rather minor diseases can weaken a lamb, make it sick or let it die, even later on and not just immediately after birth. This colostrum must be consumed by the lamb ideally within the first 12 to 18 hours but no later than 24 hours after it was born. There are two reasons for this time limit.
The best colostrum is from their dams. If that is not available, give colostrum from another ewe or doe on the farm. Lambs can get goat or cow colostrum if sheep colostrum is unavailable; however, lambs need a larger amount of cow colostrum since it has less fat than sheep colostrum.
Lamb milk replacer is higher in fat than calf or kid milk replacer, so the latter should not be used to rear lambs. An example of a good milk replacer is one containing 22% protein from milk sources, 28% fat from animal sources, and 24% lactose.
The concentrations and feeding schedules for lamb and goat kid milk replacer are completely different. While both require high concentrations of nutrients, goat kid milk replacer is fed at 16-18% dry matter, the lamb milk replacers are fed at 20-24% dry matter.
All lambs need colostrum. While it is possible for lambs to survive without colostrum in a relatively disease-free environment, the likelihood of disease and death is much higher in lambs that do not receive colostrum. The ideal colostrum source for supplemental feeding of lambs is from healthy ewes in one's own flock.
Mixing Instructions:
Mix at a rate of 2lbs. per gallon of warm water (110°F) or one 4 ounce cup* of Lamb Milk Replacer with two cups of warm water. Milk will stay fresh up to 3 days due to acidification.
Lambs less than 30 days of age will need a liquid diet until about 60 days of age. They will start to nibble lamb ration pellets at about 30 days of age. Provide fresh drinking water at all times for the lamb in a clean bucket that the lamb can easily reach.
Baby lambs nurse milk from the ewe's udder. They instinctively know how to find the udder. Even if they are born outside in the cold, a lamb can stay warm if its mother dries him off and allows him to nurse warm milk soon after birth. The first milk a lamb nurses is called colostrum.
Lambs should be fully weaned by 13 weeks when they can continue to enjoy a diet of hay, grass, and water. Earlier weaning is possible if the lamb is introduced to solid starter feeds (pellets or crushed grain mix).
A newborn lamb should receive 210ml of colostrum per 1kg of bodyweight. So, for example a 4kg lamb will need 840ml of colostrum. A single lamb reared away from the ewe to weaning (at an average of 35 days of age) will require a minimum of 9.5kg of Lamlac (equating to 47.5 litres of reconstituted ewe milk replacer).
“And like a lot of quick fixes, it's not going to do the job properly.” And if ewe colostrum is not available, goat or cow colostrum – ideally harvested from animals on the same farm – is the next best option, he said. “Goat colostrum should be as good as sheep colostrum,” he said.
ProfeLAC SHEPHERD is a non-medicated milk replacer for lambs, kids, crias. It is easy to mix and consistently performs under all systems. It is specifically designed for rearing lambs, kids and crias however is a suitable milk replacer for multi-species including fawns, piglets, pups, calves and foals.
Synthetic colostrum: mix 700ml of cows milk, 1 egg, 1 tea spoon cod liver oil, 1 heaping table spoon of sugar. Generally lack of milk production / colostrum at parturition is because of inadequate nutrition during the last 8 weeks of pregnancy.
Orphan lamb health
Ensure lambs always have access to fresh, clean water, clean bedding, short green pasture or hay and a high protein (20%) dry food from 2 weeks. Feed and bedding must be fresh and renewed each day.
Benefits of bucket feeding:
Several lambs can be fed at once. Milk can be fed warm or cold. Milk is consumed 'little and often', which means less risk of digestive upsets. Less labour intensive as the milk is made up in bigger volumes.
Lambs less than five hours old will usually respond to warming alone. This is best done with a heat lamp or a hot box, however, care must be taken not to overheat lambs. Stomach tubing with colostrum will hasten the response. This is a relatively simple procedure and definitely saves lives.
If the lamb/kid is too weak to stand and nurse, milk out colostrum from the mother (best) or use a colostrum replacer and bottle-feed the lamb/kid 2 ounces every couple of hours until it is strong enough to nurse on its own.
Lambs born during a heavy cold snap can exhaust their energy stores just trying to keep warm. They quickly become too weak to feed off their mother and so they can starve and die. But injecting a 20% mix of dextrose directly into the lamb's abdomen can give them the energy boost they need to survive.
Do not help to lamb (or help cattle or goats to give birth either) No contact with new-born lambs, kids, or calves. Don't have any contact with the placenta or any other birthing materials. Don't touch any equipment, bedding or clothing that has been in contact with newly born lambs, kids, calves or pregnant animals.