[Jacob-list] feeding lambs

[gordon johnston]

 <<<Saves a lot of time although of course there is not as much bonding with the lamb.>>>

I think it's important not to bond with the lamb as it just creates problems later on - with a huge smelly sheep bawling outside the kitchen window once the cute little lamb has grown up.  When we have bottle fed lambs we have been lucky enough to be able to keep them in with others so they still have sibs and a mother, but just get their milk from us.  Once they no longer run up for a feed (as long as they are growing well) is when to stop offering the bottle, although we go on trying for a few days more, and observe carefully that the lamb is feeding well and not scouring .
The idea of the surrogate mother (woolly toy) is a good idea too, although a piece of terry towelling is enough and can be washed. I would not keep a lamb in the house after it has warmed up and fed - it needs the sounds of other sheep round about and will transfer back into the flock all the better if it is familiar with the calls of others.  It will be a lonely and poorly socialised little creature without friends to gang up with.
How much to feed -  we start off with a good dose of colostrum, perhaps repeated after 4 or 5 hours.  If the lamb is sucking well and is not going to be returned to a ewe then this can be given by bottle, otherwise it should be tubed.   Milk replacer is then given 4 or 5 times a day for the first week, about 1/4 to 1/2 pint  per feed - I give as much as the lamb will take. (if it is very weak then it may need to be tube fed initially until it has gained strength, in which case go by the amount suggested on the bag - there is usually a range so with American Jacobs use the lower figure - here in Britain our Jacobs seem to be a bit bigger, so we would opt for a middle amount).  If it was hungry before the next feed was due then I would give it more. Basically, this is increased as the lamb requires up to about 1 to 2 pints twice a day by 28 days.Go on feeding this for about a month then start to decrease the amount as the lamb takes other food - grass is the best, hay and a little concentrate if the grass hasn't come in yet, but do not bottle feed beyond about 4 months.  We had a sad experience when a student working here had been in charge of feeding a Jacob lamb who was too greedy.  She did not want to reduce down his feeds as he grew older so he was getting a full bottle plus all the concentrate he could stuff in - when he was 4 months old, on the students last day here, Harry was found lying dead of no obvious cause, but we think over feeding was the culprit.  We have heard of one lady who was still bottle feeding a pet lamb at a year old (because it cried !) - it was like a butterball and seriously ill by the time the vet was called.
We have found that bottle fed lambs never do as well as those reared by a ewe, so the ideal is to try to foster the lamb onto another ewe. In one case we fostered a Jacob lamb onto a ewe who already had 2, but as she normally reared 3 we felt she would cope.  The lamb was small but did fine with his foster mum for about 3 weeks when he was pushed out by his bigger foster sibs, so we started supplementing him with a bottle, but he stayed in the field with this family and is now a fleece wether and definitely a pet, but not pushy or noisy.
Juliet in Scotland
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