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pet lambs

jimini0

Looking for some info on getting pet lambs.
Firstly I have a small farm a few suckler cows. Its only fenced for cattle. So not suitable for sheep yet.
I want to get a couple of lambs for a couple of small fields and large lawns. One field is well fenced cos I had pigs in it for a couple of years. My sister has a large lawn that is split in two and half fenced so i need to finish that fencing. I have no experience of keeping sheep. Apart from helping neighbour out while he was at work. My 4 year old is interested in farming so I want to get him more interested in it. So I was thinking of pet lambs.
1. Do I need a flock number?
2. Is it possible to buy lambs that have had a couple of weeks of bottle feeding already?

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davidk1394

You need a flock number to have sheep. You can pick up lambs off done deal. We sell all our pet lambs on done deal after a week old

weatherbyfoxer

Only person who does well from pet lambs is the fella selling them..lots of work with them and if they can find a way to die they will..you would be better of chatting to a local sheep man and letting him put a few ewes on your grass

jimini0

I will apply for the flock number. I intend to buy a few sheep later in the year once I get a better fencing job done. I just wanted a pet lamb or two to get the young fella interested. He would be able to bottle feed a lamb. Plus when they get older I might keep them and breed them. I know a couple of sheep farmers that I can get sheep off.

IH784man

Get yourself a bucket feeder and it will be easy enough.You won't need a number for them until you have to sell,you can apply for one of your herd number anyway as far as I know.

J.O. Farmer

IH784man wrote: »

Get yourself a bucket feeder and it will be easy enough.You won't need a number for them until you have to sell,you can apply for one of your herd number anyway as far as I know.

Once you have a herd number it's a case of getting it activated for sheep by informing your local dvo in writing. You would be supposed to have the number before buying sheep.
The pet lambs are supposed to be tagged when leaving the farm and in your case they would definitely need to be as you have no sheep and it's unlikely that any of your sucklers gave birth to the lambs.

jimini0

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

Once you have a herd number it's a case of getting it activated for sheep by informing your local dvo in writing. You would be supposed to have the number before buying sheep.
The pet lambs are supposed to be tagged when leaving the farm and in your case they would definitely need to be as you have no sheep and it's unlikely that any of your sucklers gave birth to the lambs.

I only got the herd number changed to my name recently. A farm advisor did the paperwork for me. He asked did I want the flock number but I said no. I will get on to the dvo.
So if I get 2 lambs a couple of weeks old. I will get a small bucket feeder, milk replacer and some meal. What's the likelihood of them getting sick? I would bloody hate for them to die I would be devastated.

IH784man

Not to high,give them 1cc of heptivac,covers a lot of diseases in lambs

MayoAreMagic

Not sure your idea is one I would be going for to be honest. Less hassle just buying 2-3 sheep with lambs and rotating them between these small fields. Bottle-feeding lambs can be troublesome, you can be doing everything right and it can still go wrong, what would the lambs keeling over do for your son's interest?! Even if they did go well, people generally only sell ram lambs anyway, which means they go to the butchers - how do you explain that to a 4 year old?!

This way you keep the interest ticking over with minimum input while you fence the rest and get up and running properly. Plus it is a much better way for the two of you to learn about keeping sheep

jimini0

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Not sure your idea is one I would be going for to be honest. Less hassle just buying 2-3 sheep with lambs and rotating them between these small fields. Bottle-feeding lambs can be troublesome, you can be doing everything right and it can still go wrong, what would the lambs keeling over do for your son's interest?! Even if they did go well, people generally only sell ram lambs anyway, which means they go to the butchers - how do you explain that to a 4 year old?!

This way you keep the interest ticking over with minimum input while you fence the rest and get up and running properly. Plus it is a much better way for the two of you to learn about keeping sheep

My young fella knows where his food comes from. We have veg patch, hens and we do have pigs that he used to feed. He says pinky and porky made good sausages. So if the lambs go away and arrive back in boxes he knows all about where they came from.
I have been thinking about it after all the advice and decided to get 2 in lamb ewes in April or may. A man that works with me will source them for me. Either from his own flock or someone else's.
In the mean time ill get on with gettin flock number and fencing.

jimini0

Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

PaddyPerfecto

How did the inlamb ewes go after?

farmer2018

Would please advise on buying pet lambs at 5 months? Are there pros and cons?

Asus1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653036#Comment_123653036

Would they not be far off slaughter at that age,any specific reason for buying them

farmer2018

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653362#Comment_123653362

Cleaning up fields, I'd be thinking they'll stay quiet

Asus1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653575#Comment_123653575

They might do.I did 10 this year and after 6 weeks out with other sheep they are just as cautious around me as others bar 1 who'd still come up for a rub.

White Clover

How many litres of milk are your pet lambs drinking? On ad lib cold milk here and the batches are varying from 2 litres per head to 3 litres per head per day.