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.
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. They will initially need to be individually fed with a bottle before being transitioned onto a feeder from around 2 days old.
How Much Do I Feed? Market lambs should consume 2.5%–3.0% of their body weight daily in dry matter. Dry matter is the amount of feed the animal should consume without any water in it. All feeds have a portion of their weight as water.
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.
Ewe-reka replacer is mixed at 20% solids dry matter to mirror the solids level in ewe milk. “Ewe-reka can be mixed up warm or cold and is suitable for all feeding systems,'' says Dr Dunn. A lamb thrives best when fed little and often – three to four times a day during the first few weeks of life.
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.
Few pet lambs die of starvation (fortunately), but many die of overfeeding. New lambs need around 15% of bodyweight in milk over 24hrs, but in 6-8 feeds e.g. a 3kg lamb (this is an average size) needs 300-450mls of milk per 24hrs, but only 50-75mls per feed.
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 lamb that bleats all the time is probably hungry and not getting enough to eat. A healthy lamb usually stretches when it rises. Conversely, an unhealthy or hungry lambs often stands scrunched up.
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.
Tips and Tools for Creating a Lamb Bottle Feeding Schedule
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.
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. Other roughages such as cottonseed hulls or silage can be used in a similar manner. for rations that can be used in self-feeding.
Sheep water requirements: Between 4-14 litres per head per day. Stock water requirements litres/animal/day.
Keep the lamb pails as clean as the dishes you eat from. Recent research has suggested that lambs perform better on cold milk (35-40 degrees) than warm milk. Cold milk does not sour as quickly and lambs consume only a small amount of cold milk replacer solution at each nursing, but much more often.
Normally sheep should be treated every three to four weeks. Keep in mind that worms may develop resistance to a drug if exposed frequently. Lower stocking rates will reduce the intensity of the deworming program. Fewer sheep result in fewer shed worm eggs within a given area, and thereby reducing parasite loads.
General Feeding recommendations for lamb milk replacer
Do not increase recommended volumes as lambs are susceptible to bloating and/or scouring from overfeeding. If feeding adlib, do not dilute the concentration, as this will cause lambs to drink more and increase urination!
Lambs that cry, stand around hunched up, or simply don't get up most likely need more to eat. You can also pick up the lamb and check its belly for milk.
This is why at night you will often hear ewes and lambs baaing and bleating to each other, so that they can pair up. This is why they make such a lot of noise at night time. Some sheep are lucky enough to lamb outside without the close monitoring of the farmer.
A sheep will usually tell you if it is hungry!
Tame sheep who associate you with food will make a lot of noise whenever they see you, if you don't have enough grass on the field and they are standing around bleating and waiting for you you and not trying to graze, then they are hungry.
Short Keep lambs (35kg or more):
This group can often be finished off on grass alone, but only when grass quality is excellent and with supplementary concentrate to make up for the grass's declining energy levels until the end of October.
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.
Colostrum is the first feed for the newborn lamb and the key to survival. It is a highly nutritious energy source which helps the lamb to maintain body temperature and survive; it also contains antibodies which are vital to help protect the newborn lamb against disease.
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.
Without their mother present, you'll have to feed a lamb with a bottle, artificial nipple, or bowl for at least four weeks, though many sanctuaries continue to feed milk to lambs for at least two months. There are a few different options when it comes to milk.
From day 3-5 of age, the lamb should get warmed milk replacer or cows' milk as normal – do not add any yoghurt yet! From day 5-7 of age, the milk/yoghurt mixture should be introduced, gradually transitioning from warm to cold. The mixture needs to be fed cold; warm milk with yoghurt will not effectively prevent bloat.