HER EXPERIENCE WITH ORPHAN LAMBS

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 14

HER EXPERIENCE WITH ORPHAN LAMBS

A farmer’s wife, with a good many years experience of feeding orphan lambs, was interested to read recently of farmer concern about the lack of a satisfactory ewe milk substitute and has written to tell of her system of treating these lambs, which she says has been successful in their case.

Knowing only too well the frustrations of reviving cold, wet orphan lambs only to have them die in a couple of days time, she says that she has made a somewhat amateurish study of the problem — she incidentally wishes to remain anonymous. She has gleaned information from articles in magazines and talks with their local veterinarian, as well, of course, from their own experiences over the years.

"So far this year we have had up towards 40 lambs bottle-fed for varying degrees of time from two days to a fortnight,” she says, “with no losses even after mothering on. “Lambs appear to be at their most vulnerable from birth to one week old — especially at night when it is extremely important that they be kept warm, i.e. in an inside pen. The long period between the last feed at night and the first feed in the morning is the crucial time, and it is essential that they are warm and dry for the first few nights to counteract the lack of food during those hours, which they would normally get if being mothered by a ewe.

“This year we have been feeding our lambs on pasteurised milk, although in other years we have tried several ewe milk substitutes with varying degrees of success. “Whatever type of milk we use though, if tne lamb has not had colostrum the following wellknown colostrum mixture is used for the first six feeds — one pint of milk, one beaten egg, one teaspoonful of codliver oil and one tablespoonful of glucose. After this the mixture is one pint of milk, 6 oz of water, and one dessertspoonful of glucose. For the first day or two the lambs are fed 4 to 6 oz five times a day and thereafter about 9oz four time s a day. “We have found that the most succcessful bottles and teats are the Truflo babies bottles and teats, which can be boiled if necessary', and also enable you to measure accurately the amount given

at each feed. We have found that it is a good idea to use well worn teats for new lambs. The new ones can be broken in with the pet lambs. “Occasionally the lambs suffer from scouring, particularly if they are being fed on the powdered ewe milk substitutes and it may be necessary to give a more diluted mixture than the

manufacturers state. There is also an excellent product available from veterinarians called Neo-

Sulphentrin Suspensioin, which clears up the problem very quickly. Scouring spreads quickly if several lambs are being bottlefed together, so it is important that bottles and teats are kept very clean and lamb pens are changed frequently. “This is basically the method we use for all our orphan lambs and as it has been successful for us, so we hope it may be of some use to others,” says this farming reader.