# Bottle fed lamb help



## Junior (Aug 29, 2021)

One of our ewes busted her bag last year. We sewed it up and thought she was fixed. This year she had a lamb and is looking after it but after a day or so we realised the lamb wasn't looking so good. We brought her and baby into the yard and tried to milk her and she enough she had none. She's a good mum so we kept her in the yard with baby and it's been my job to feed him. 

He's now 5 days old but isn't drinking as much as he should. He's also pretty shaky when he stands up. He didn't get any colosterome so I'm pretty sure that's what's wrong. Is there anything I can do for him? What can I do to build his strength up? It'd be too late to give it to him now isn't it?

Cheers. And thanks for the help in advance.


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## Alaskan (Aug 29, 2021)

How is he doing today?

You can get powdered colostrum, you can also get pro biotics in a paste.

I would try both.


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## Junior (Aug 29, 2021)

I’ve dropped the time between feeds down to 2 hours (previously 4). One of the feeds last night he didn’t drink anything so I brought him inside in front of the fire. He stopped his shivering and drank a little bit but it’s not enough to keep him alive. He went back out with the ewe this morning but I put a dog coat on him to keep him that little bit warmer. He’s been eating a bit and pooping heaps so hopefully that might clear him out a bit. We’ve decided to monitor him today for a few hours and if he’s not better we’ll call the vets to see if they can check him out.

I might check out to see if I can find any probiotics around this area and it might help.


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## Baymule (Aug 30, 2021)

Keep him warm. If he is cold and shivering, he can’t digest the milk. I had 2 bottle lambs last winter, my first ones. I kept them in a dog crate in the house.
For a quick check, stick your finger in his mouth, if cool or cold, warm him up before feeding. Put him in a laundry basket, cover with a towel. Make sure his head is sticking out so you don’t cook his little lungs. Blow a hair dryer on him and get him warmed up. If he is cold, he won’t thrive.

I used extra large potty pads in the dog crate.  I started with big towels, because that’s what I had, but it didn’t take long for me to figure out that wasn’t going to work. LOL I put diapers on them and blue painters tape to keep the diapers from sliding off.


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## Physhyr (Sep 1, 2021)

If he's not eating after you warm him up, you may have to tube feed him. I did that with a couple lambs last year that would have otherwise died.  You can aslo try a shot of vitamin B complex to perk him up, and electrolytes. Again, if he won't drink the electrolytes on his own, tube him.


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## Ridgetop (Sep 2, 2021)

I just saw this posting.  

It was a shame that you did not realize the ewe did not have any milk until a couple days later.  You are right that colostrum won't help him now, but there are other things you can do to help him get stronger. Paste probiotics are best since you can make sure he actually gets them down.  Vitamin B complex is good for stimulating his appetite. I'm not sure where you live, so can't judge your weather but definitely keeping him warm is paramount.  I would also vaccinate him now for CDT.

When you have a ewe that lambs net time, I suggest that you feed her lambs colostrum then milk out some of the colostrum (second day colostrum is fine) and freeze it for an emergency like this.  Do you intend to cull this ewe?  If you keep her and breed her you will need colostrum for her lambs.  Also order milk replacer in advance to be prepared to feed her lambs.

I am feeding a bummer lamb right now.  Her mama died.  She did not want the bottle at first but had nursed her mama about 36 hours so had colostrum.  I always add a little Karo white corn syrup to the bottle to sweeten the formula.  Putting Karo on the nipple also helps the baby to like the taste.  I started with a canning jar and ring nipple but she had trouble with that.  I changed to a plastic soda bottle with a pull on nipple.  That worked much better since I could actually squeeze the bottle a bit to encourage her to recognize that was where the milk was coming from.  I also add 2 ounces of raw goat milk (don't have sheep's milk) to the formula to encourage good gut reaction.  She is 

Depending on the size of the breed, you can judge how much they need to eat.  Starting with 4 ounces per feeding, they should be fed at least 4 time a day.  As they grow you can increase the amount of milk and at around 1 month decrease the number of feedings.  You want the lamb to be slightly hungry after each feeding.  The lamb should be anxious for it's bottle.  She is almost 3 weeks old now and is drinking 12 ounces 3 x daily.  She has hay and water in her jug but s not eating it.  In another 2 weeks she will go in the creep pen with several other lambs her age and their mothers.  Once in the creep she will mimic the other lambs and eat hay.   I will keep her on a bottle 2 x daily, and increase each bottle to 1 quart until she is about 3 months old.  Then I will wean her with the other lambs.


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## Junior (Sep 2, 2021)

Thanks for all the advice. He seems to be doing a lot better now. For every 500ml powder milk/ hot water I add an egg, a spoonful of yogurt and a bit of honey so it tastes a bit better. He's drinking around 300ml every 4 hours (12 days old. He is a small lamb and we're thinking she had twins but one got taken by a fox). He's still trying to drink from the ewe even though he knows I'm the one with food. I've got the dog coat on at night and take it off during the day as long as the weather permits. According to Google he'll start nibbling on grass soon am I correct? We've had sheep for years but we've usually left them to their own devices (last year was the first time I've had to bottle feed a lamb but he never really had much go and we lost him at about 2 weeks) so I don't really know too much about bottle feeding as we only stepped in when necessary.


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## Ridgetop (Sep 3, 2021)

Sounds like he will survive and grow just fine.  By now if he were not going to make it as a bottle lamb, he would not be improving.  Yi are doing it right!  

As to starting to eat grass or hay, he will copy his mother when she grazes and start nibbling grass or hay with her.  He won't really eat much until he is at least a month old but by staying with his mama he should start an interest in grazing around 3 weeks old.  

Our bottle lamb is an orphan and is not interested in nibbling hay even at 3 weeks old.  Once she is moved into the creep with the other lambs and given hay she will copy them and start eating solids.  At that point I will increase the amount of milk I feed but decrease the number of times I feed her.  Losing the mid day feeding will encourage her to eat roughage.


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## Baymule (Sep 4, 2021)

Raising my two bottle lambs last winter convinced me not to do that again unless the lamb is from blood lines that I want to keep. If I ever get another one, I’ll make sure lamb has colostrum and feed it for a week or two for a good start, then take to auction. We put more money in milk into those 2 babies than they were worth, but priceless to us. I weathered the ram and he is a spoiled pet. But just how many of those can I keep? The ewe is out of a ewe that I’m keeping her blood line, so it worked out. We did have lots of fun with them and they were a delight. We got so attached that we couldn’t let them go. Panda will have a job, hang out with weaned lambs to comfort and teach them to come when I call. He is always first to run to me. I wouldn’t take anything for either one, but I wouldn’t give 50 cents for another one. LOL

Having said that, I’m sure I’ll have to eat those last words. Haha


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