Housed lambs won't eat!

DJ98

Have lambs housed but a couple stand back from the trough and won't eat, they have loads of room so that's not the issue, they nibble at hay while the others have put on weight these have lost it. I separated them yesterday from the rest and they are still just nibbling at hay, drinking lots of water but won't eat nuts. They have been dosed for fluke and minerals.

rangler1

DJ98 wrote: »

Have lambs housed but a couple stand back from the trough and won't eat, they have loads of room so that's not the issue, they nibble at hay while the others have put on weight these have lost it. I separated them yesterday from the rest and they are still just nibbling at hay, drinking lots of water but won't eat nuts. They have been dosed for fluke and minerals.

lambs here that don't eat nuts,usually do eat coarse ration, never had one here that didn't eat coarse ration......might be worth a try

White Clover

DJ98 wrote: »

Have lambs housed but a couple stand back from the trough and won't eat, they have loads of room so that's not the issue, they nibble at hay while the others have put on weight these have lost it. I separated them yesterday from the rest and they are still just nibbling at hay, drinking lots of water but won't eat nuts. They have been dosed for fluke and minerals.

Keep the hay back from them for a day or 2.

MayoAreMagic

Agree with rangler, a bag or two or ration generally gets those shy ones moving along. Once they get the idea they usually come around to eating nuts too.

Nuts can be a troublesome when you are trying to teach lambs to eat. For this reason I would feed the entire group ration from the start. They are all eating after a couple of days - saves you hassle.

sonnybill

I have 10 ewe lambs outdoors and I tried them with ration in field and no use, dosed them and locked them in pen with fresh ration again yesterday and no use, will have to try a 3rd time and hope it doesn't rain on them. They must not be hungry if not eating or are they just stupid ?

ouxbbkqtswdfaw

They are fed up with the food you are giving them. Try feeding them with something new.

wrangler

sonnybill wrote: »

I have 10 ewe lambs outdoors and I tried them with ration in field and no use, dosed them and locked them in pen with fresh ration again yesterday and no use, will have to try a 3rd time and hope it doesn't rain on them. They must not be hungry if not eating or are they just stupid ?

I'd always use a creep feeder for training them....it won't happen overnight......your neighbours might have a creep feeder they'd lend you fr a few weeks,
At least it won't get wet, just put a small bit in it at a time, keep the meal fresh
Always better to have them trained to meal before they go in, they never forget how to eat it once they learn

Ard_MC

sonnybill wrote: »

I have 10 ewe lambs outdoors and I tried them with ration in field and no use, dosed them and locked them in pen with fresh ration again yesterday and no use, will have to try a 3rd time and hope it doesn't rain on them. They must not be hungry if not eating or are they just stupid ?

If you have a shed put them in for a few days..or use a ration and gently keep them turned into the feeder..if 1 or 2 starts nibbling ur away!

arctictree

Have the same here with a batch of twin bearing Ewes in a field. The same 4 will never feed, they just stand back.

Sheep breeder

Start the lamb with a molasses based ration to start them to feed and then when eating switch to what ever you want to feed, for years we always started young lambs on Connolly’s red mills lamb creep in small amounts and found it great to start lambs.

sonnybill

I've no shed out where they are but tomorrow is dry I'll turn them into cattle crush fit the day and gave them a little fresh ration