# 3 month old orphaned lamb wont eat hay or grain



## J williams (Apr 23, 2017)

Abandoned lamb born  given to me on January 28. very small about 2 lbs. No colostrum from mom. raised in our home. Still on lamb formula . finally drinking up to 6 oz. per feeding. was only taking 1-3 oz. every 2 hours. was dewormed, guardia was found and panacur given x's 3 doses. Dosent eat hay. I have tried alfalfa hay, sweet meadow hay, horse hay,chopped alfalfa and timothy hay. For grains I have tried. sweet feed, cracked corn, lamb pellets. We have no other lambs or sheep or goats to be his role model. breed is a black belly barbadoes.  He had long white hair. which he has now shed and is all white.  He was also given a shot of seleium and vit E.  Can anyone give me suggestions on how to get him to eat SHEEP foood.


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## norseofcourse (Apr 23, 2017)

Good for you for taking this little one in!  He sounds awfully tiny, glad you've got him eating better.

Is there any way you can get another lamb to help him learn?  If not, maybe just being outside with you might get him nibbling on any green grass you have coming up.  Just time and the opportunity to taste test things may help.  There's other sheep folks here, they may have more suggestions.

Are you planning on keeping him permanently, or other plans?

Good luck!


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## Latestarter (Apr 23, 2017)

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Nice of you to take on the little one. It's really tough, especially when they don't get colostrum... I'll tag a few other experienced Sheeple who might have some suggestions. @Roving Jacobs @purplequeenvt @Sheepshape @mysunwolf and I'm sure there are many others I just can't remember offhand. Hope the little one makes it. Glad you joined us & hope you'll stay and let us know the outcome.


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## Roving Jacobs (Apr 23, 2017)

He's still getting bottles at 3 months? I'm guessing he's not still 2 lbs. Time to start cutting him off. If he's not all full of milk he might be more willing to explore the food you've given him. Brace yourself for a lot of complaining though. I'd spend some time picking at grass and weeds and hay and see if he'll copy you. Some people have good luck sprinkling a little of the milk replacer powder on the grain to help lambs get the hint too.


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## Beekissed (Apr 23, 2017)

Have you tried reculturing his bowel with probiotics?  Could be he can't digest these things comfortably due to having poor bowel colonies of beneficial bacteria.   I've helped bottle calves with scours get over them very quickly by feeding buttermilk in with their milk, could also work for sheep.  

Another old trick is to steal a cud from an adult cow or sheep and bolus it down the youngster's throat.


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## Sheepshape (Apr 24, 2017)

J williams......noble of you to take him on....can you post pics.?

He WILL start to take solids. The problem is that solids have been introduced later than normal. Healthy lambs start to mouth solids and then eat them within a couple of days of birth, so he is a 'slow starter'.

Many years ago, with my first lot of lambs, I didn't introduce lamb pellets until over 2 months and the lambs never got to eat them. If I intend to use them now, then they go into the field when the lambs are about a week old.

I suggest you try him with some broken up sweet biscuits. Sheep have a very sweet tooth and usually find them irresistible. Then leave him with a big array of various more appropriate sheep foods. Eventually he'll get the idea, particularly if you start limiting his milk.(Remember to give him constant access to water).Your lawn, flower bed, veg patch etc should also be of interest to him (provided there's no poisonous plants and you're prepared for a bit of trampling).

My avatar is LLeila who weighed about 12oz at birth. She never had full colostrum either. She is now a not-so-small hogget.

Over here , and if you should decide ever to be brave enough to take on another orphaned lamb who has not had colostrum, an injection of Betamox(amoxycillin), a broad spectrum penicillin, is suggested as soon after birth as possible as these little ones have not acquired passive immunity via colostrum.

If he's reached the 3 month mark he is likely to survive.....congratulations on your efforts so far.


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## Kristincritters (Apr 14, 2021)

J williams said:


> Abandoned lamb born  given to me on January 28. very small about 2 lbs. No colostrum from mom. raised in our home. Still on lamb formula . finally drinking up to 6 oz. per feeding. was only taking 1-3 oz. every 2 hours. was dewormed, guardia was found and panacur given x's 3 doses. Dosent eat hay. I have tried alfalfa hay, sweet meadow hay, horse hay,chopped alfalfa and timothy hay. For grains I have tried. sweet feed, cracked corn, lamb pellets. We have no other lambs or sheep or goats to be his role model. breed is a black belly barbadoes.  He had long white hair. which he has now shed and is all white.  He was also given a shot of seleium and vit E.  Can anyone give me suggestions on how to get him to eat SHEEP foood.



Hey I’m curious how this ended or what you did. I have a 3 months Barbados black belly that’s been in the house since she was 3 weeks old. She loves her bottles but will try to eat hay but it’s not successful. I keep her with the herd during the day but she sleeps inside at night. She poops normally. Her head hangs a little lower than the others and of course she’s WAY smaller only about 16lbs at 3 months. Just trying to help her. Any advice would be great!


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