Aim to feed 200-300mls per feed. Do not be tempted to overfeed! It is best to keep the lambs a little hungry especially in the first few days. Overfeeding can lead to scours or bloating.
The animals may abruptly go off of feed and become lethargic. Affected animals may show signs of stomach pain, such as kicking at their belly, repeatedly laying down and getting up, laying on their sides, panting, and crying out. Diarrhea may develop; in some cases, there is blood visible in the loose stool.
This is the disease most commonly referred to as the “Overeating Disease”. Typically, it affects young lambs under two weeks of age or the weaned lambs that are consuming a high-carbohydrate diet (grain). However, lambs grazing lush pastures are also susceptible.
Lambs need 10-15% or their body weight of milk daily. Milk should be 35-40 degrees (which feels very warm). Should be fed at least three times a day until around 2 weeks old, then can be reduced to two times a day and once a day from 3 weeks old.
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.
Mix two tablespoons of ginger in a small amount of warm water and administer with a syringe. Ginger has traditionally been used for the treatment of gastro-intestinal ailments. Pain meds may also be given to affected lambs.
Producers who feed lambs year-round, or feed heavy lambs, usually prefer to place the lambs on full feed as soon as possible (10–14 days). Lambs can be started safely on self-fed, ground, or pelleted diets containing 60%–70% hay. Within 2 weeks, the hay can be reduced to 30%–40% when the ration is not pelleted.
Most of the time you don't need to feed a healthy lamb during the night. It will survive the night without and is all the more willing to drink early in the morning when it's hungry. If you have a very weak lamb, then you must feed it at night too.
Lamb Shaking after a feed
When heated, the milk should be at room temperature. Test a small amount on the back of your hand to check the temperature. A lamb shaking but not cold following a feed could, however, be a sign of a tummy problem causing pain and discomfort. In this case a vet visit may be required.
By 10 weeks lambs weigh about 25 kg and their intake of grass will be adding to pasture requirements significantly. Typically they eat around 4% of liveweight per day which is around 1 kg of grass dry matter, increasing by 0.1 kg /week due to weight gain.
Abomasal bloat is a condition that puts fear into the heart of any lamb rearer. It is one of the leading causes of sudden death seen in young lambs, as well as those around weaning, typically occurring within a couple of hours of a warm milk feed.
Enterotoxemia is caused by the C and D strains of the gastrointestinal bacteria Clostridium perfringens. These normally harmless bacteria can experience explosive growth when an un-vaccinated lamb or sheep's diet suddenly changes. This can be the result of a sudden surplus of available creep feed, milk or grasses.
Abomasal bloat seems to occur most commonly in lambs that are 2 to 4 weeks of age. It may occur later in goat kids, as they are typically fed milk for a longer period of time. The incidence is highest when lambs/kids are fed warm milk infrequently, e.g. twice daily.
Spotting hypothermia
Ms Erian says that signs of hypothermia include a hunched posture, hollowed out sides, excessive bleating, lethargy and dehydration. “In newborn lambs hypothermia usually results from exposure. In older lambs it is typically as a result of starvation.
Suggested feeding times: 8 am, 12 noon, 4 pm, 8 pm. For very young lambs 4 hourly is best. See feeding schedule overleaf. Initially they will only drink about 1/2 of a small soft drink bottle.
Lambs will consume around 20 percent of their body weight in milk per day. It will be beneficial to weigh the lamb to know how much to give. This would equate to about 38 ounces per day for a 12-pound lamb (12 pounds x 16 ounces per pound x .
Further research is needed to determine if these differences would lead to a better efficiency of milk consumption or heavier animals. It was concluded that tail wagging might have communication purposes between the lambs and their mothers while suckling.
Lambs will begin to nibble on solid food soon after birth and will be fully eating grass by 4- 6 weeks old. Hard feed such as Sheep Nuts TM or Multifeed TM nuts can also be fed. Weaning can begin as early as 6 weeks of age but most lambs benefit from milk feeding up to 12-14 weeks of age.
A creep pen is designed for young lambs to have access to additional feed concentrates separate from their mothers and other mature sheep. A lamb creep pen should be set up to allow the lambs continuous access to fresh creep feed and a clean and dry environment.
Whole grain feeding
It is usually the most profitable feeding program that can be used for grain-based finishing of feedlot lambs. Whole-grain diets consist of whole (unprocessed) grains, such as shelled corn or barley, mixed with a pelleted protein-vitamin-mineral supplement.
Bloat in sheep is simply a surplus of gas in the rumen. Bloat is typically caused by two culprits in mature sheep: excess grain or overeating fresh, lush grass in the spring.
Waterbelly is caused by stones forming in the bladder. If the stones are large enough, they can cause partial or complete blockage of the urethra, making the animal unable to urinate. Initial signs include reluctance to move and straining to pass urine.
The following are signs of a bloating sheep/goat. The most common sign is a distended abdomen, mostly on the left side, behind the ribs, high in the flank area. This may later progress to an enlargement of the entire abdomen. The distended area becomes taut and sounds like a drum if tapped.