# lambs nibbling dirt?



## patandchickens (Apr 11, 2011)

I notice that the two lambs who are on the loose now (aged 4 days, and 1 week) are nibbling and apparently sometimes actually consuming "dirt".

(It is very humusy, black, composted old hay from probably 8-10 years ago. Most of the yard is covered in coarse stemmy wasted hay, but where the composty dirt sticks out, they nibble at it. Not fulltime, but enough that I've seen them doing it at least a little maybe half the time I go out to visit them.)

How much of a problem is this; and should I be doing something about it (could it be from iron deficiency or something) and if so what?

Anyone know?

Thanks,

Pat, having just banded the two younger lambs' tails and scrotum and once again feeling guilty about it


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## aggieterpkatie (Apr 12, 2011)

Eh, I've seen mine do that and I don't really worry about it. I just chalk it up to them testing out what's food and what isn't.


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## Bossroo (Apr 13, 2011)

The soils and or feed that is on the property is short of a trace mineral. Test the soils, feed and the  composted hay to compare, then add the whatever mineral is lacking to their feed. Oh, have no guilt for tail docking and castrating... feel good    as you removed future fly strike canabilization horrendous pain when the flies lay their eggs on wet manure on their tails/ behinds/scrotom and when the maggots hatch out and  start to eat their living flesh.    Here in Cal., we always docked the tails no longer than 3/4 inches from the base of the tail (docked between 1 day to 1 week old leaves about 2" tail at 5 months of age) for best results.


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## patandchickens (Apr 13, 2011)

Bossroo said:
			
		

> The soils and or feed that is on the property is short of a trace mineral. Test the soils, feed and the  composted hay to compare, then add the whatever mineral is lacking to their feed.


Huh, a good idea in theory, but my husband would have a catfit if I wanted to have allllll those samples sent off at $20 a pop just for our wee flock of five-sheep-and-four-lambs. And I do not even *have* any more of the hay they ewes have been eating til about a week ago (used up winter supply, got few more bales from my hay guy but they are from a totally different property of his), or the grain that the ewes were eating til about 2 weeks ago (started new sack from different source). So, maybe I am just not going to know.



> Oh, have no guilt for tail docking and castrating


Oh sure, I know, I am mostly just poking fun of myself when I say that  

Tho admittedly only _mostly_, because I *do* feel kinda bad for doing something uncomfortable to them and because as a horse (not ruminant) person I am not used to intentionally causing gangrene and sloughing off of perfectly good body parts, no matter how good the intention  

But yes, I know it IS beneficial, and I think I did an ok job of it (tails were done a bit longer than you describe, I was shooting for them to just cover the lower tip of the vulva, but I think that's ok).

And I must say I am relieved that it does not seem to bother them (behaviorally anyhow) THAT much. The formerly-ram-lamb was walking funny for the rest of the day but is back to normal today; and the banded lambs all seem to waggle their tails around more than the one unbanded lamb does (the pure shetland, who did not require anything done to the tail, being a naturally short tailed breed) but they do not seem distressed about it. Whereas maggots eating into them would *definitely* be distressing, to me too!

The twins are out of the jug today (the formerly-male one seemed a bit thin and 'young' so I waited til day 4 to uncork 'em) and it is really neat seeing all the little lambies playing together. 

I guess that last sentence qualifies me as just a pet sheep person not a practical farmer, but, ya know 

Thanks,

Pat


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## Bossroo (Apr 13, 2011)

In that case just get a mineral block without copper, and call it good. I always greatly enjoyed a few dozen lambs romping circles around the ewe flock,    so does that make me a hobby farmer?     Then I get very practical when the feed bill    and the sheering bill     comes due.  When you castrated the ram lamb, and docked all of the lambs' tails, you became well on your way to being a practical farmer.      Your next test will be to send the weather and any less quality ewe lamb to freezer camp right after weaning.   Hubby will be very impressed    and thank you for all of the yummy dimmers.


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## patandchickens (Apr 13, 2011)

Bossroo said:
			
		

> In that case just get a mineral block without copper, and call it good.


Actually they do get loose minerals (the sheep version) more or less free choice (i.e. I chuck a handful into the mineral feeder every few days and they eat whatever they choose of it).



> I always greatly enjoyed a few dozen lambs romping circles around the ewe flock,    so does that make me a hobby farmer?     Then I get very practical when the feed bill    and the sheering bill     comes due.


Heh, there is an Australian sheep rancher on the Sheep-L list who says his favorite thing is to sit on a hill overlooking the lambing paddocks and just watch things for hours. 



> When you castrated the ram lamb, and docked all of the lambs' tails, you became well on your way to being a practical farmer.  Your next test will be to send the weather and any less quality ewe lamb to freezer camp right after weaning.   Hubby will be very impressed  :and thank you for all of the yummy dimmers.


No actually hubby will be horrified and disgusted and consider me a callous redneck kind of person -- that's how he feels about me raising and slaughtering our poultry myself -- but he WILL enjoy the resulting lamb chops as he does not let his "moral scruples" or ideas of how civilized classes of people should act stand in the way of a good meal  (oh well)

Pat


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## TeamChaos (Apr 19, 2011)

I've been a sheep owner for, oh, two months now  but our little bottle babies eat the dirt when they're in the paddock too. So, for what it's worth, we've both got weird lambs.


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## Ariel301 (Apr 19, 2011)

Goats, sheep (and other livestock) all seem to have a dirt eating phase from a few days to a couple of weeks old. I've seen them all do it. It doesn't hurt them.


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## rockdoveranch (Apr 19, 2011)

Sounds to me like they are just exploring their world.  We have loads of trees and our babies like nibbling on the bark.

We have had babies pick up and gulp down bird feathers in a matter of seconds.


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## freemotion (Apr 20, 2011)

I read somewhere....don't remember where....that they are getting bacteria for their gut in preparation for eating solid foods.  Now I find a place with "clean" dirt for my kids at this stage....I run them through the paddock around the barn and right to the garden where I am turning soil this time of year.  They stuff their faces.

I read that confined piglets will thrive if given a container of dirt, especially if it comes from an upland forest where the dirt will be very rich and clean.

Baby horses eat dirt and their mom's poo.


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## patandchickens (Apr 20, 2011)

Thanks y'all! 

As an update since the thread is still up here -- the older two lambs, 2.5 and 2 wks old now, have basically quit with the dirt and instead when they want to nibble something they pick at their moms' hay. The twins, only 1.5 wks old, are still in the dirt-nibbling phase but are beginning to show some interest in hay.

FWIW, when I asked this on a 'real' sheep list I got a diversity of advice from 'yeah, they do that' to 'make sure the ewes have loose minerals available' (mine always do) to 'lower the loose mineral feeder so the lambs can access it'. Nobody seemed particularly concerned about deficiency-driven behavior, not even the list owner whose mention of it in his book was what made me first go Hmmm.  So, I am figuring it must be pretty normal.

Man oh man are lambs ever fun to watch 

Pat


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## rockdoveranch (Apr 20, 2011)

I have also read that babies investigating their environment with their mouths is important to gut development due to the intake of bacteria.   

However, when pasture grasses are low, and same would go for sheep eating pasture dirt, be wary of exposure to, and overload of, parasitic worms and step up your worming schedule.

Turning babies loose in a garden is a good idea because there has been little sheep poop activity there.

Having hair sheep we normally do not worm until we see the first sign of bottle jar.  Being in the 3rd drought in as many years and having horrible grasses we keep a close on the sheep's jaws.  We usually worm with pellets, but if someone shows signs of bottle jaw not long after worming we shoot Ivermectin down their throats.


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