|
|
Post by megzly on Apr 6, 2008 19:20:26 GMT 7
|
|
|
|
Post by Peter on Apr 9, 2008 5:54:06 GMT 7
They are cute!
Poor little things though, Hope you are able to find more before the preditors do.
how many times a day do you bottle feed?
|
|
|
|
Post by silkiechick on Apr 9, 2008 13:38:01 GMT 7
they are cute its a shame they have to grow up sometimes!
|
|
|
|
Post by megzly on Apr 9, 2008 19:08:35 GMT 7
i start of feeding 4 times a day since they are only used to taking small amounts of milk, i then cut it down to 3 feeds a day when they can take enough to sustain themselves for a six hour period, after about three weeks they get cut down to two feeds a day with creep pellets, water and hay for supplementary feed at all times- weaker or lagging lambs get fed more often and with a slightly different milk mix as with younger lambs that still have not built the capacity to take large amounts of milk in one feeding.
we have seven at the moment and only one is still on four feeds since she has something that resembles epilepsy and is a bit weak- if she doesnt improve she will be put down.
Silkiechick- i know i wish they stayed little forver but if kept as pets they stay really friendly- our spud is gorgeous and thinks he is a dog, tried to jump on the back of the ute when we go to drive around hehe
|
|
|
|
Post by silkiechick on Apr 14, 2008 13:04:41 GMT 7
lol funny buggers!
|
|
|
|
Post by Matt on Apr 15, 2008 6:34:34 GMT 7
They are cute as! Do you keep them all?
|
|
|
|
Post by megzly on Apr 17, 2008 21:44:23 GMT 7
We keep some, if the ewe lambs stay friendly we keep them and breed from them but if none stay friendly they all go to the market. Because they are cross bred (merino x poll dorset and some merino x suffolk) their wool cannot be mixed with the Merino's wool and we do not have enough of them to make a full wool bale quickly, the wether lambs (castrated male) also dont have much of a use- they can be used as teasers but we dont need anymore of those at this time, if the ewes are friendly and will breed readily we wil keep them, i try to find them pet homes or hobby farm homes before they go to market because i do get attached to them and feel bad for sending them away. We have kept a few of the other lambs from previous years that have stayed very friendly, namely my spuddy boy!  |
|
|
|
Post by Silvercloud on Apr 30, 2008 8:31:52 GMT 7
Megan you need an alpaca or two as herd guards. There will be a big increase of lamb survival rates if you do as alpacas hate foxes and will chase them off. If they corner them they might even kill them. By the way the lambies are gorgeous.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jen on Apr 30, 2008 17:52:42 GMT 7
Definately Alcacas are awesome. Have read some studies into Lamb survival rates over a number of years and the percentages of survival increased dramatically when an Alpaca was added to the flock. The lambs are very cute. I had two when I was little called "salt & pepper" We don't have any sheep here or in surrounding farms apart from one neighbour that has a small hoppy farm and has about 10 old sheep wandering around so not much chance of us having lambs here unless we buy a couple and as the dogs not good with sheep only cattle I think we will just stick to the odd calf or two
Jen
|
|
ussually wed have 50 by now!!
