Everything A Little Lamb Could Want For... Except A Mum... And Milk

26th May 2018
Bleating Hell
Last year we let the lambs wean naturally, which means just leaving them with their mums until they decide that grass is enough for them or until the ewe decides that enough is enough.
But with the lambing problems this year, far from unique to us, I decided to be on the safe side and take the lambs off the ewes on the early side rather than late so the ewe could build up their strength again.
Shetland lambs start nibbling at everything in sight within a day of being born, mimicking their mums. The four lambs who have been in with the sheep flock are already getting a large part of their nutrition from grass.

It is a different story for Flash and Rambutan though. Rambutan especially has never really enjoyed the taste of grass and has been very reliant on the bottle. Flash, though younger, has a more rounded diet.
But I am pretty sure that neither of them realised when they were fed this morning that it would be their last ever feed. From now on the lambs must be self-sufficient.

All penned up ready for worming and separation

While we were moving everything, we took the opportunity to worm all the sheep and to check them over. Then we carried the lambs up to the paddock by the farmhouse where they met Flash and Rambutan, who they have not seen in a long while.
We then moved the ten adult sheep (Rambo, four ewes and last years lambs) as far up the land as possible. The lambs can still hear the ewes calling and the ewes can still hear the lambs bleating, but the greater the distance apart the better.
Besides I don't like putting young lambs in the furthest paddock for this is where the sheep have previously been chased by dogs.

At the moment it seems that all is working out well. Flash and Rambutan are already eating creep feed and grazing, learning from their new friends. And the fact that these two are more settled down this end and not calling to their mums is helping the other four to settle in.

Settling in well and looking good

Cuddles still required for Flash and Rambutan

Flash tucking into his creep feed

edit This post got stuck in the unpublished pile for a while, so here's an update:
The lambs stopped bleating after a couple of days. Before that there was a constant bleating from the nearest paddock and a deep baaing from the sheep field. Even next door's sheep joined in.
Rambutan quickly learned to eat grass when he saw the others and realised that milk would no longer be on offer. All the lambs took to the creep feed too, a specially formulated pellet to help them make the transition from milk to grass.
The ewes' udders swelled to gargantuan and uncomfortable proportions - I was glad I changed my mind about moving them onto the lushest pasture. This is when mastitis can set in, but they have now subsided again so hopefully all is ok.

Flash and Rambutan have not been without their mishaps though. Little Flash picked up a nasty limp in his back leg. I was away for six days and when I left we were just hoping it would sort itself out - lameness usually does with sheep. And indeed upon my return Flash was walking about right as rain. But Rambutan had been in the wars.
He had got his horn caught up and then managed to rip it off. I wasn't there, but Sue said there was blood everywhere. Anyway, by the time I came back from my little trip everything had healed up nicely.

Weaning Day

Saturday 5th May 2012

Yesterday was a wearing day. Nothing to do with the smallholding, but I had work in the morning and another appointment at the hospital in the afternoon. Everything was OK, but it was an emotionally draining day.

So it was that I blearily woke up, still in my smarter work clothes, on the sofa at 4:20am! Apart from a few showers, the weather was pleasant enough to work outside today - and that's what I did, from half past 4 in the morning until weariness beat me at 7 in the evening. 

Weaning piglets

Main job for the day was to wean the piglets from Daisy, their loyal but worn out mum.

Last time I weaned the piglets off their mum was the first time I had done it and I didn't really know what to expect. I had an ingenious plan to erect an electic fence to create a new enclosure next to the wooden fenced pen. A gate could be unscrewed and Daisy tempted into the new area, then I could screw the gate back on and mother and litter would be separated. The plan actually worked like a dream!

Having never erected an electric fence before, I researched as much as I could and found a very friendly company in Scotland who answered all my questions. Out of interest, an electric fence does not need to run in a loop to make a circuit. It works by completing a circuit through anything that touches it, through the ground and into a metal rod driven into the ground at the business end of the circuit.

But still I was unsure of myself and so I put it off until it really had to be done. I started by connecting it up around the inside of the wooden fenced enclosure, so that the pigs could learn about this new boundary without being able to panic and pass straight through it. This resulted in a few shocked squeals until they learned, which did not take too long.

However, by the time everything was ready, the piglets were gone nine weeks old and Daisy was thoroughly fed up with them. Her teats were scarred (piglets have needle-like teeth) and she needed a rest. It is almost impossible to keep the sow's weight up when she is feeding a full litter, but it wasn't long before she came back into very good condition.

We had read all about providing the piglets with 'creep feed' to ease them onto a solid diet, but our enquiries suggested this was not necessary. In fact, from the age of about two weeks the piglets had been attempting to eat solid food, and by weaning they were all tucking in and competing enthusiastically, even with mum!

So we had learned from our first litter. Commercially piglets are weaned off the sows much earlier, but it is much better to leave them with her till 8 weeks. But we knew that we needed to be ready to separate them at this age and not beyond.

Daisy has stayed in relatively good condition with this second litter and I suspect that they almost weaned themselves anyway.



On the other side of the fence
I've sown the seeds
of a late autumn feast for the pigs.
Daisy has enough grass to be going on with
... for now.

Before tempting Daisy away from her offspring, I had a plan to make some adjustments to the route of the electric fence. This was a process which involved much walking up and down the fence, lifting and shifting the plastic posts which hold the wire.

The idea is to create an area where I can plant all the spare Jerusalem artichokes left from last year, as well as a few seed potatoes and maybe some other fodder crops. When the time comes later in the year, I will move the electric fence again so that these become accessible to the pigs. They will love being able to snout around and find food naturally. Besides, Jerusalem artichoke is a great food for pigs. Unlike potatoes, its nutrients are just as available to pigs when uncooked.

The Grass Really Is Greener On The Other Side

Daisy followed the feed bucket straight throught the gap before the piglets even realised what was going on. Once through, Daisy set about the task of munching every blade of grass she could get into her mouth, while the piglets could only look on from the other side of the fence!

And so it was that the piglets spent their first night in the ark on their own.