# bottle feeding lamb project questions



## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

The daughter has an interest in spending a spring/summer bottle feeding a lamb or two as a farm project. Before I consider it, there are a few things I was curious about. 

I don't have the time or passion to "do fiber" as a regular thing. I did fiber arts 4H as a kid so I know the whole process from sheep to sweater, but we don't intend to keep these sheep permanently. We're also not fond of the flavor of lamb, so when the sheepies his maturity the kids will be selling them and pocketing the profits-- it's a farm business project/money earner for them. Not a pet.

We've been doing the farm thing for a couple years and they are ok with the lambs going off to someone else's freezer when they're not "cute" anymore-- that seems more likely to me than someone buying a grown fiber animal so I explained that was probably how it would go down before the idea even got out of the gate.

What breeds should I consider/does it matter? 

The idea hinges on the fact that the girl will be able to bottle feed some of our excess milk into the lamb(s) rather than having to spend money on milk replacer. This is reasonable, right? 
Would goat milk (nigerian) be best or would cow milk (dexter) do? 

I'm thinking we would follow our regular milk routine, including pasteurize, chill and refrigerate-- then reheat to body temp for the bottle. 
Any flaws there? 

And so I can be unflinchingly honest with the kid-- what is the actual feeding schedule? how much sleep will she miss out on? (She does homeschool so school hours are not a factor)

She doesn't want me to help her, she wants to do it all herself and keep all of the profits.... shrewd little business lady!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I'd think the first problem would be to find the bottle baby, then worry about what breed. For what you want, the breed really won't matter much. Top dollar at sale time will come from a meat breed though. 

The feeding schedule is pretty intense - every couple hours they need a couple ounces the first few days. Then you can feed them more at a time with further time inbetween. That's around the clock. If you watch lambs they run to mom for a nip of milk here and there rather than stick around for a long drink.

Here's a schedule I found
For the first 24 hours of life, give the lamb colostrum. Feed it every 2 hours if possible through the first 24 hours of life. In the next 24 to 48 hours of the lamb's life, begin gradually mixing the colostrum or colostrum substitute with lamb milk replacer. By day four of the lamb's life, it should be receiving nothing but the lamb milk replacer according to the schedule listed below.

Follow the schedule listed below after the lamb is over 24 hours old:

Day 2 through 3: every 3 hours 
Day 4 through 7: every 4 hours 
Day 8 through 21: every 6 hours 
Day 21 through 35: every 8 hours 
Day 25 until weaning: every 12 hours.
Don't overload the lamb's stomach by giving it too much milk at one time

Since you have a choice, go with the goat's milk. I'd even freeze some of the colostrum when a goat freshens if you can. Then you will be able to ensure them the colostrum they will need. If not, feed them purchased powdered colostrum. The colostrum is very important. I wouldn't pasteurize the milk before feeding it unless the goat has CL.


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## cjean (May 1, 2007)

Goat milk is better, but I've heard of many people raising them on raw cow milk. Either one is way better than replacer.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

My plan for "finding" the bottle baby was going to be beginning posting a "wanted" add in the livestock section on craigslist and keeping it current leading up to and through lambing season-- The idea is that the sheep farmers will know of the add in passing before the lambs ever hit the ground and then call me up for pickup when the situation arises. 

We've been pasteurizing our cow milk because I'm still new to dairy and wanted to get the handling down pat with less margin for error. I'm sure we could just run a jar of raw goat milk for the lambs no problem.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Is there some reason she can't buy weaned lambs? Or a pregnant ewe?


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## Barn Yarns (Oct 7, 2012)

all shepards have bummer lambs and are happy to part with them for little or no money ($50 or less) I have a small flock, so It doesnt bother me to keep one myself. 

Different breed hold different flavor. If you do some reading on the American Lamb Board website, you will find a whole list of non-wool sheep called Hair sheep. I have no problems with putting one of my 4 year old Katahdin ewes in my freezer and serving it up as 'lamb'. Ill be putting a couple rams in my freezer this winter...one will be ground up, the other will be cut as 'lamb'. 

I think i would do a search to find out what breeds are around you, and contact them. they will be able to tell you if they will have bummers or not. might be easier to have them call you when they do have a bummer rather than letting them try to find your ad on craigslist. 

Id have to dig up my book to make sure, but I think after about the first week, I feed room temp replacer. They dont gourge themselves as quickly. I also stimulate under the tail while they are feeding too. 

You also need to make sure that any colostrum and replacer that you purchase is labeled for sheep. There are many out there that have copper in them. not all label that they arent intended for sheep.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Milk changes as the baby gets older, just like humans. If I were to bottle feed milk from my own herd I would use milk from a ewe who has lambs the same age as the bottle fed lamb. If you pasteurize you will be killing enzymes that help to break down the milk for easier digestion. I would go from teat to bottle. Any excess should be immediately frozen and labeled as to date and age of ewe's lamb at the time.


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## Kato2010 (Jun 24, 2012)

I raised ten lambs last spring. First important thing is to make sure the lamb gets a good intake of colostrum from it's mother before you take it. The best success comes when you find lambs who come from a good home where their mothers are vaccinated properly.

I raised mine on a bucket with nipples on it, and used ice cold milk replacer. It's important to keep it cold. That way it doesn't go bad, and the lambs tend to just sip it, and come back often for small meals. I mixed milk twice a day and put frozen bottles of water in it to keep it cold. It took a little over a bag of replacer for each lamb, and they did as well if not better than if they'd been on ewes. I sold two wethers at about 130 days old, and they weighed 100 pounds. I kept the ewe lambs, and they'll be turned out with the ram next month.

It's important to keep the equipment clean, and make sure the lambs are vaccinated twice with 8 way vaccine. The pails are taken apart and washed every day.

This method would work well for a youngster in school. She could mix milk before and after school. She could also have more lambs with no more work.


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## ewe2 (Nov 8, 2012)

I normally don't have a problem parting with ram lamb twins - parting with one of them - if they would be market lambs rather than breeding stock. I would HIGHLY recommend, however that any ram lamb that she feeds be castrated or that there is 100% assurity it will be slaughtered. Bottle fed ram lambs can be very, very dangerous when grown. 

Normally when I sell off a twin, I leave it with the mother for the first 3 days if at all possible before selling. The feeding interval goes down & the lamb gets the immunity it needs.


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## ewe2 (Nov 8, 2012)

BTW - you can also fit a 2L "coke" bottle into a calf feeder & as mentioned about, you can leave that in with the lamb all day - adding ice if necessary to keep it cool - so that the lamb/lambs can nurse at will rather than less often big feedings.


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## bknthesdle (Mar 27, 2011)

What about a Katahdin lamb? It's hair...so it shed's its coat each year..(mostly..so no shearing.) Some friends of mine butchered a year and a half old ram that they got from me and they said he tasted like mild beef rather than have the sheep/muttony flavor. If you happen to keep your lambs, Katahdins make excellent mothers.

Raising lambs isn't that hard. That's what I did for two years prior to getting my flock of Katahdins. I have a sheep guy who gives me his bum lambs for $10-$15 dollars both years. My first year (and not knowing anything) I raised all 5 without a hitch...they were all girls and they went to some younger guys about 20 miles from me to raise lambs in his flock.  I think I sold them that fall (Sept/Oct) for about $180 each. It took about 1 bag of MR each to raise them. These were my girls that summer. (a few months before I sold them.)









The second year, I got 6 lambs, I bought them for $10/piece. I had them for just about a month..I went through only 1 (or 2..I can't remember) bags of MR plus a bag of lamb creep....then I sold all but one for $125/each. The one I didn't sell ended up with this weird bloat that I couldn't treat and the vets couldn't treat and when they did exploratory surgery on her, she didn't make it.  Here is my flock of lambs taken a week or two before I sold them.









But this coming year, I have my own Katahdin sheep to lamb out. As a matter of fact, I just started breeding for April babies. I'm super excited. But I'm glad I had the experience I had from my first two groups of bum lambs.

As for your questions...I would use the nigerian goat's milk. I wouldn't even bother pasturizing it if your sure your goats are clean. When I got my bum lambs they were all just over the 24 hr mark. I fed using the above schedule EXCEPT I didn't feed during the night. I think I my last feeding was always 11 p.m. and my earliest morning feeding was always 7 a.m. After they hit they 30 lb mark, I weaned them all off milk.

If I would have had a way, and was doing bum lambs again, I'd try the above method where you keep cold milk with them 24/7.


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