when to wean pet lambs

eorna

Have few pet lambs which i am not sure when to wean..in the past i weaned early enough and they where always very runty...they are sucking lamlac like mad yokes :eek::eek: which makes me tempted to wean early again but will i be better off holding on and wait until they are bit bigger??
they range from 4-6 weeks old..
they are on grass giving meal is not really an option as they are with main flock..

razor8

4 weeks is far too young, i would go 8 weeks but reduce milk from 6 weeks and get them eating meal and grass, make sure they have access to lots of water if they are eating meal

its simple enough to set up, leave them in shed for a day or two eating meal, then put a hole in a pallet for them to get meal, once they are used to that set it up in field and leave them to it

Username John

I just weaned a lamb just over 6 weeks... He had access to meal and was getting fed twice a day, but that was changed to once a day then past few days...

The reason he is weaned is cos he was the only real pet, and I have no more milk powder left, and I don't want to want to get another bag, for the sake of one more week...

I think Razors advise above is good. I think its not so much about the time, its more to make sure they are eating enough meal and / or grass...

tommy5678

i got 2 pet lamb for 4 euro each. i stuck them under a nanny goat a left them with her. sold in jully for 101 each 3 bags of ration for the 3 them. cost me 25.50 and 8 to buy.

razor8

i often thought a nanny goat or two would be very handy around lambing time, did you just have her? Where would you get one?

had a lovely pet lamb that the children reared this year and was over 40kg a month ago and was going to breed her, went out to field 2 weeks ago to find her with 4 legs in the air. I still havent told them what happened!!

Conmaicne Mara

A nanny for the pet lambs, there's a good idea, they're a scourge at the busiest time of the year.

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

i often thought a nanny goat or two would be very handy around lambing time, did you just have her? Where would you get one?

had a lovely pet lamb that the children reared this year and was over 40kg a month ago and was going to breed her, went out to field 2 weeks ago to find her with 4 legs in the air. I still havent told them what happened!!

Was she vaccinated, (hept P) ....found 3 three lambs dead on Friday morning here, 1 pulpy kidney and 2 pasteurella pneumonia......usually vaccinate but forgot....they're vaccinated now

Conmaicne Mara

rancher wrote: »

Was she vaccinated, (hept P) ....found 3 three lambs dead on Friday morning here, 1 pulpy kidney and 2 pasteurella pneumonia......usually vaccinate but forgot....they're vaccinated now

It's a dose, I had two die on me a couple of days before sale before.

I do them as early as I can. Says on the Hep P+ bottle lambs can be done from three weeks of age. Said that to vet who asked do I give pre lambing booster to ewes, said I do, he reckoned no earlier than 7 weeks old so.

Not sure which to do, might contact the company.

tommy5678

i had the goat already you might find 1 on donedeal. has any body done that before and how did they get on.

razor8

tommy5678 wrote: »

i had the goat already you might find 1 on donedeal. has any body done that before and how did they get on.

heard of a fella who used to have goats kidding same time as sheep and gave away kids, good idea i thought

razor8

rancher wrote: »

Was she vaccinated, (hept P) ....found 3 three lambs dead on Friday morning here, 1 pulpy kidney and 2 pasteurella pneumonia......usually vaccinate but forgot....they're vaccinated now

i never do my lambs and seem to get away with it, maybe one of two die each year in field but may have nothing to do with hep P,

but no this one wasnt done. Dangerous game i know!

rancher

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

It's a dose, I had two die on me a couple of days before sale before.

I do them as early as I can. Says on the Hep P+ bottle lambs can be done from three weeks of age. Said that to vet who asked do I give pre lambing booster to ewes, said I do, he reckoned no earlier than 7 weeks old so.

Not sure which to do, might contact the company.

Pre lambing vaccination covers the lambs for 6-8 weeks, and then vaccinate the lambs at eight weeks to cover them, Change in weather usually gives you a sharp reminder, (as in my case) but they really also die like flies if you get a bad outbreak at lambing, so its not either pre or post, it's both if you want to cover them completely,
I never seem to get away with not vaccinating.....intensive farming intensifies problems.

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

i never do my lambs and seem to get away with it, maybe one of two die each year in field but may have nothing to do with hep P,

but no this one wasnt done. Dangerous game i know!

how did the lambs do on the reseed.

Conmaicne Mara

rancher wrote: »

Pre lambing vaccination covers the lambs for 6-8 weeks, and then vaccinate the lambs at eight weeks to cover them, Change in weather usually gives you a sharp reminder, (as in my case) but they really also die like flies if you get a bad outbreak at lambing, so its not either pre or post, it's both if you want to cover them completely,
I never seem to get away with not vaccinating.....intensive farming intensifies problems.

I already do both, was just wondering as to the timing. Cost doesn't be long adding up with losses, makes a couple of bottles of vac look cheap then.

Conmaicne Mara

rancher wrote: »

Pre lambing vaccination covers the lambs for 6-8 weeks, and then vaccinate the lambs at eight weeks to cover them, Change in weather usually gives you a sharp reminder, (as in my case) but they really also die like flies if you get a bad outbreak at lambing, so its not either pre or post, it's both if you want to cover them completely,
I never seem to get away with not vaccinating.....intensive farming intensifies problems.

I already do both, was just wondering as to the timing. Cost doesn't be long adding up with losses, makes a couple of bottles of vac look cheap then.

razor8

rancher wrote: »

how did the lambs do on the reseed.

They did great, had alot of lambs put on 10kgs in under 2 weeks (couldn’t believe it, thought was something wrong with scales) but gain has tailed off now, I have only a few lambs left and less after tonight’s sale, 25/30 I think. I was drafting lambs every week which I never had the pleasure of doing before, usually only draft every 3 weeks and 2 at best.

More reseed planned for next year I think, nearly pay for itself if i didn’t have to do any drainage

Have you many left yet?

sea12

razor8 wrote: »

They did great, had alot of lambs put on 10kgs in under 2 weeks (couldn’t believe it, thought was something wrong with scales) but gain has tailed off now, I have only a few lambs left and less after tonight’s sale, 25/30 I think. I was drafting lambs every week which I never had the pleasure of doing before, usually only draft every 3 weeks and 2 at best.

More reseed planned for next year I think, nearly pay for itself if i didn’t have to do any drainage

Have you many left yet?

Dropped a load of lambs to factory yesterday evening. Some amount of lambs from the north being brought in. Anyway only a few stragglers left now hopefully a bit of meal will clear them before Christmas.

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

They did great, had alot of lambs put on 10kgs in under 2 weeks (couldn’t believe it, thought was something wrong with scales) but gain has tailed off now, I have only a few lambs left and less after tonight’s sale, 25/30 I think. I was drafting lambs every week which I never had the pleasure of doing before, usually only draft every 3 weeks and 2 at best.

More reseed planned for next year I think, nearly pay for itself if i didn’t have to do any drainage

Have you many left yet?

160 lambs left or 20%..... had to meal everything this year to finish them, can't figure out why......used to be able to get 60-70% away without meal up until two years ago.

razor8

rancher wrote: »

160 lambs left or 20%..... had to meal everything this year to finish them, can't figure out why......used to be able to get 60-70% away without meal up until two years ago.

it cant be worms on your end anyway! have you tested for anything else?

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

it cant be worms on your end anyway! have you tested for anything else?

Did blood tests and forage tests last year, high mol showed up in the forage but didn't affect the copper levels in the blood, cobalt was a small bit deficint in the lambs, gave them all cobalt boluses this year(animax), might give them copper with it next year, got good results last year from giving copper as well to the ewe lambs (even though there's a good bit of texel in them)
Just after weighing now, 75 fit, so only april born lambs out of ewe lambs left now

razor8

cant do much more so

thats a good draft, must be going well now, the price has held up for this week

have 30 ewe lambs now left to sell

did you let the bosses out yet?

eire23

rancher wrote: »

160 lambs left or 20%..... had to meal everything this year to finish them, can't figure out why......used to be able to get 60-70% away without meal up until two years ago.

Rancher, this is only a long shot but did ya ever hear of land being sheep sick?Heard people on about it before but dont know if theres anything to it. Also have you cattle as well?people about here that have mixed grazing seem to get on better wit their lambs

rancher

eire23 wrote: »

Rancher, this is only a long shot but did ya ever hear of land being sheep sick?Heard people on about it before but dont know if theres anything to it. Also have you cattle as well?people about here that have mixed grazing seem to get on better wit their lambs

Yea I've heard of sheep sick years ago, I thought we'd have more scientific reasons nowadays. Used to have sucklers/sheep here up to 2003 and would have all the lambs gone by end August but I'd always use the cows to graze out paddocks and maybe skip a paddock if it was too strong for the sheep, which meant that the lambs really did a good thrive.
The new M6 (Dublin-Galway motorway) then came through the cattle yard so I went for all sheep then.

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

cant do much more so

thats a good draft, must be going well now, the price has held up for this week

have 30 ewe lambs now left to sell

did you let the bosses out yet?

Lleyn rams went out with a third of them on 4th oct . some vendeen rams went to another third yesterday and the ewe lambs will be around 7th nov

razor8

rancher wrote: »

Yea I've heard of sheep sick years ago, I thought we'd have more scientific reasons nowadays. Used to have sucklers/sheep here up to 2003 and would have all the lambs gone by end August but I'd always use the cows to graze out paddocks and maybe skip a paddock if it was too strong for the sheep, which meant that the lambs really did a good thrive.
The new M6 (Dublin-Galway motorway) then came through the cattle yard so I went for all sheep then.

ive heard of land sheep sick several times but there is always a underlying reason IMO. Nearly all sheep on farm here for going 30 years and still managing, you just need to be ahead of things more
on other side sheep do a great thrive when put to cattle ground, guess there is no worm burden to fight off, would imagine it maybe same with putting cattle to sheep ground

tommy5678

would there be pet lambs for sale around christmas our jannuarry and would they be deer that time of year. i saw them making 50 euro last year.