Newborn lambs need to be fed every 2-3 hours for the first two weeks of life (the night feeds can be stretched to 4 or 5 hours) and then every 4 hours for the next few weeks, depending on how well they are doing.
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.
First and foremost is to make sure that the lambs are getting enough to eat. Typical lamb behavior is to stretch when they get up, ears should be alert and they should readily seek the udder. Lambs that cry, stand around hunched up, or simply don't get up most likely need more to eat.
Lambs prefer less volume of milk in more feeds during the day as it is closer to their natural suckling behaviour. If feeding using multi lamb feeders or bottles be prepared to feed lambs 3-4 times a day (depending on your system and age of lambs).
Offer the newborn lamb a feed every 2 to 3 hours during the day for its first 2 weeks. At night, you can feed every 4 to 5 hours. You can work out the amount to feed every time by dividing up the total amount of milk needed per day.
Newborns who sleep for longer stretches should be awakened to feed. Wake your baby every 3–4 hours to eat until he or she shows good weight gain, which usually happens within the first couple of weeks. After that, it's OK to let your baby sleep for longer periods of time at night.
Babies wake to feed at night in the early weeks and months (and often beyond) for a number of important reasons. Breastfeeding at night is a vital part of establishing and maintaining a good milk supply and ensuring that newborn babies get all the milk they need to grow and thrive.
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.
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.
They eat grasses and other low-growing vegetation and ruminate (chew the cud). They spend most of the day alternating between periods of grazing and resting/ruminating. Sheep only sleep for around 4 hours per day.
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.
First things first, lambs will be born when they are ready and that means it could be any time of the day or night. While most of our lambs are born between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., there are always a few born during the night.
However, evidence with sheep is less clear; one study demonstrated feeding did have an effect (1): 65% of lambings occurring within 4 h before, and 8 h after feeding – therefore feeding in the morning was recommended.
Lambs need to be kept warm, with a clean dry bed to sleep in. New lambs sleep most of the time between feeds. You can put your lamb outside when it is warm and sunny, but otherwise keep it inside out of the cold wind and rain as it has no mother to snuggle up to, to keep warm.
Water: provide access to fresh, clean water from day one, and at a height which is easily accessible to lambs at all times. Creep feed: top quality creep feed should be introduced from one week of age, and offered fresh at least once a day. Refusals can be fed to the ewes.
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.
Cold, wet weather is especially problematic for small, newborn lambs that lose heat quickly. This can be fatal if they don't have enough energy reserves to burn to keep warm. Minimising stress and time off feed is crucial, especially in cold, wet weather.
Deworming Lambs
Begin worming your lambs when they are about 8 weeks old, and continue monthly (or at the very least bi-monthly) until they reach a year in age. Ivomec and Cydectin are recommended for lambs, and Valbazen should be used to treat tapeworms.
It is normal for new babies to sleep a lot – newborn lambs will sleep for 12–16 hours a day.
Lamb Shaking after a feed
If a lamb shakes following bottle feeding it could simply be a sign that the milk is too cool rather than a lamb fever. The change in temperature when the cooler liquid enters the body compared to the normal body temperature can cause the lamb to shake.
When feeding lambs inside: 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.
There's no hurry to phase out night feeds. You can choose what works best for you and your child. For breastfed children, night weaning might be an option from 12 months. For formula-fed children, you can consider phasing out night feeds from 6 months.
Newborn babies need to feed every few hours until the age of 3 months. After this, it is normal for infants to feed once or twice during the night. Most infants can sleep for 6–8 hours without a feed by the age of 6 months. Once they are 9 months old, most infants can sleep for 11–12 hours without a feed.
For the purpose of this outline, understand that we refer to your baby's "nighttime" as a 12-hour period, such as 7 pm - 7 am. Additionally, you'll see that breastfed babies will need to eat more frequently than formula-fed babies as a general rule.