Sheepshape
Herd Master
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- Oct 19, 2012
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Well done, spish, for your perseverance. Young lambs can be very difficult to get onto the bottle if they have fed from the mum for a while.
Lola is probably beyond the point where the colostrum will be a great dal of help to her ( antibodies not absorbed much after 6 hours, and not at all after 24-36 as indicated by Purplequeen). I have raised a number who have had no colostrum, and they have done fine.
Providing the temperatures are not low (50 degrees plus) by day, Lola would actually be OK outside providing she isn't a tiny scrap with virtually no fleece. I personally keep them in for a day or two, though.
I feed the tiny lambs about 6 times a day for the first couple of days and then drop the feed numbers down quite quickly. They grow VERY fast.
As to how much they need at a feed...well very much depends on the type of sheep (you indicate a small breed) and there is a lot of individual variation. I currently have two bottle lambs aged 10 and 12 days. The 12 day old is a medium sized and he is taking about 1.5 litres a day, the younger guy is a large sheep and he is on 2 litres or so. I let them take as much milk as they want at a feed.
With regards to tail docking....well, I hate it, but accept that it is difficult to sell some ewes if they haven't had their tails shortened. Any ewes I keep for breeding myself do not get their tails shortened. I use a 'hot knife docker' which seems to give them very little pain at all and there is little bleeding either as the hot knife fries the blood vessels. Don't dock too short on ewes as this predisposes them to prolapse. As to when to do it...well it can be done from about 2-3 weeks. Generally I wait for 6-8 as the lamb is a bit stronger,but the downside is that the tail is bigger.
It sounds as though you are doing very well as 'adoptive mum'....they will,of course, see you as mum, and try to follow you everywhere.
Good Luck.
Lola is probably beyond the point where the colostrum will be a great dal of help to her ( antibodies not absorbed much after 6 hours, and not at all after 24-36 as indicated by Purplequeen). I have raised a number who have had no colostrum, and they have done fine.
Providing the temperatures are not low (50 degrees plus) by day, Lola would actually be OK outside providing she isn't a tiny scrap with virtually no fleece. I personally keep them in for a day or two, though.
I feed the tiny lambs about 6 times a day for the first couple of days and then drop the feed numbers down quite quickly. They grow VERY fast.
As to how much they need at a feed...well very much depends on the type of sheep (you indicate a small breed) and there is a lot of individual variation. I currently have two bottle lambs aged 10 and 12 days. The 12 day old is a medium sized and he is taking about 1.5 litres a day, the younger guy is a large sheep and he is on 2 litres or so. I let them take as much milk as they want at a feed.
With regards to tail docking....well, I hate it, but accept that it is difficult to sell some ewes if they haven't had their tails shortened. Any ewes I keep for breeding myself do not get their tails shortened. I use a 'hot knife docker' which seems to give them very little pain at all and there is little bleeding either as the hot knife fries the blood vessels. Don't dock too short on ewes as this predisposes them to prolapse. As to when to do it...well it can be done from about 2-3 weeks. Generally I wait for 6-8 as the lamb is a bit stronger,but the downside is that the tail is bigger.
It sounds as though you are doing very well as 'adoptive mum'....they will,of course, see you as mum, and try to follow you everywhere.
Good Luck.
