Bottle Baby Lamb

[skeleroo]

Hi y'all.

I've recently acquired a little ewe lamb. Someone basically dropped her on my doorstep. I didn't have any information on her but it seemed like she was <24 hours when I got her.

So we've had her for two and a half weeks now. I have no idea what I'm doing but she's still alive and very bouncy so I think I'm doing something right, but I cannot for the life of me find any information on feeding her other than a thousand different ways of bottle feeding.

So here's my question. When do I put out sheep feed? She has access to hay and she spends time in the outside pen every day where she quite enjoys chewing on sticks and dirt. Can I introduce sheep pellets now or should I wait? If I introduce feed do I make sure the bowl stays full? Will she eat and make herself sick?

Please help. Thank you!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Never raised sheep.

With goats, you can completely wean bottle babies by one month, though it's best to wait at least six weeks before completely weaning. The goats imitate their mothers and nibble at grass by one week of age, but they're not generally actually eating any until two weeks, in my personal experience. You can introduce feed now--get her used to it. A goat wouldn't overeat while a preferred milk diet is being offered. Goats would be supplementing about 50% of their diet with solid feed by five weeks of age.

Has she had a tetanus shot?

 

[skeleroo]

@sylviethecochin
I'm not trying to wean her yet, she's still on the bottle. I just wasn't sure if she's supposed to have access to feed yet.

She hasn't had any shots. I've got the vet supposedly coming out soon, but with the holidays and whatnot it's been an issue.

 

[sylviethecochin]

@sylviethecochin
I'm not trying to wean her yet, she's still on the bottle. I just wasn't sure if she's supposed to have access to feed yet.

She hasn't had any shots. I've got the vet supposedly coming out soon, but with the holidays and whatnot it's been an issue.

I only meant to give you a general timeline. And concerning the tetanus shot, we lost a few kids to it once. Always been cautious since. She's a cute little girl. Incidentally, BYC has a sister site--Backyard herds? You might find that more useful than the poultry site.

 

[Mylied]

First of all, she's adorable and I'm super jealous. I too have goats, not sheep, but they are pretty similar. One exception is sheep are sensitive to copper, so make sure you don't get feed or minerals that are just for goats. You can introduce feed now. I wouldn't leave it out all the time. I feed my goats once a day with free choice access to Bermuda grass hay. Some people feed twice a day. I wouldn't figure she'd need more than a cup of feed, maybe even less right now since she's still primarily on milk. I do the ct&d vaccine for mine. You can get it at tractor supply. Good luck with your beautiful baby!

 

[Zoomie]

I used to raise sheep aaannnd... that looks an awful lot like a Jacob sheep. Maybe she isn't but they are a spotted breed and she does have the typical markings. If so, she is going to have horns, possibly multiple horns. They can have as many as 6 but 2 or 4 are more common.

You can put feed in front of her but make certain it is SHEEP feed. As already noted, sheep are copper sensitive. If they eat enough of the copper it can even kill them, so make certain you are not feeding some other formulation except what is for sheep. Put a little in front of her morning and night... with bottle babies it can take a while for them to "get" it. She's mostly going to waste it at first. Just only put a little bit. Let her have access to hay all the time. With mineral, again, make certain it was formulated for sheep. And do NOT go with the guy at the feed store saying, "Oh yeah, we fed our sheep horse feed all the time!" etc. to try and get you to buy what they have instead of what you need.

Do you have other sheep? If she becomes too attached to you, it will be hard for her to relate to other sheep socially. I'm just guessing here: you probably don't want a full-grown sheep that has 4 horns on its head living in your house with you. You might try and find another sheep for her to have a sheepy buddy to stay out in the barn with.

That's amazing if she is a Jacob. They are a very cool breed, very smart and wary (for a sheep, that is) and more goat-like than most sheep. Congratulations on getting her! And welcome to BYC!

 

[cassie]

I weaned my kid goats at eight weeks. They had access to hay and grain from the time they were a few days of age. Have you vaccinated this lamb for entero yet? If not get a vial of CD/T from the feed store or livestock supply and give her a dose at once. CD/T is for clostridium perfingens (entero) and tetanus. Entero can strike suddenly at any time without warning and it kills very quickly. Sometimes the only symptom is a dead kid or lamb. I vaccinated my kids the day they were born and then every three weeks until they were three or four months of age. After that they got a booster shot once a year. The same would be true for your lamb.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hi y'all.

I've recently acquired a little ewe lamb. Someone basically dropped her on my doorstep. I didn't have any information on her but it seemed like she was <24 hours when I got her.

So we've had her for two and a half weeks now. I have no idea what I'm doing but she's still alive and very bouncy so I think I'm doing something right, but I cannot for the life of me find any information on feeding her other than a thousand different ways of bottle feeding.

So here's my question. When do I put out sheep feed? She has access to hay and she spends time in the outside pen every day where she quite enjoys chewing on sticks and dirt. Can I introduce sheep pellets now or should I wait? If I introduce feed do I make sure the bowl stays full? Will she eat and make herself sick?

Please help. Thank you!

View attachment 1237579

Generally when they are still on a bottle they will mostly mouth things and won't do any real eating until they are a bit older. I would put out about a handful a day of a sweet feed. Most don't start nibbling until 5-8 weeks of age. Don't put out a lot, and encourage the eating of hay more to develop the rumen. When it is weaned you can slowly increase the ration a bit.

I generally don't wean until 8-12 weeks. I raised a few bottle lambs about 30 years ago. The first one was very tame and followed us around like a dog. She even played with the dogs and enjoyed an occasional milkbone.