FEEDING PROBLEMS
What to Do When Your Lamb Won’t Eat
When you notice that your lamb has left food in the feed trough, this is what we call “Off Feed”. The term “Off Feed” is basically losing an appetite. Animals can lose their appetite due to a variety of reasons. The steps below are organized to identify what may be causing the lack of appetite.
A simple reason can be attributed to the high quantities of protein in their grain which causes too much energy that burns out their appetite. It would be like you eating too much meat or candy. After a while, you would most likely lose your appetite. Most lambs will clean up their feed ration in 12-18 minutes. If your lamb is eating slowly or leaving too much food, perform the checklist below. Start with the easy to fix environmental checks and then move into the health checks. Sheep gain a little weight every day, so each day of off feed can really add up to missed weight goals!
EVALUATE THE BASICS
Amount – Check to see that the correct amount of feed is being fed. Overfeeding will not cause your lamb to eat more. Overfeeding will cause the leftover feed to sit in the bucket and dry out and loose its freshness.
Quality – Check to see that the feed is fresh and good quality. Feed should not smell rancid or stinky and it should not be moldy or dirty. It should smell fresh. Also before you buy feed at the feed store, check the bag or tag for a production or shelf life date. Make sure your feed isn’t several months old, because once liquids such as molasses or other oil supplements are added to a grain mix, they shorten the shelf life.
Water – Check to see that the water is good, clean and cool. It should not be dirty, smelly, wormy or moldy. Check to make sure no rodents or trash is in the bottom of the bucket. Sometimes birds of prey will drop pieces of their lunch in the water bucket! Yuck!
Illness – Check for – fever, injury, bloat, straining to urinate or grinding teeth. Review the Health Check List to make sure there isn’t an illness that is the cause for the eating change (like Enterotoxaemia – Overeating disease, Acidosis, Urinary Calculi, Coccidiosis or bloat).
RE-ENERGIZE THE FEED
After running through the Health Checklist and the lamb shows no signs of illness or stress, and the feed and water is good, it may be that the lamb is over stimulated with the high energy feed or has lost interest. Sheep are very curious and energetic eaters.
Protein Adjustment – Feed a grain with lower protein levels. Example: 18% down to 16 % protein. By pulling back the protein level and simplifying the feed ration, it may help encourage eating.
Sweeten Up the Green – If your feed is green pellets, sometimes adding a sweet feed as a top dress may be enough to get them eating again. Sweet feeds have mollasses and other sweet ingrediants.
Watch – Watch them eat. They should clean up their ration in 20 minutes or less. If they are slow to eat and do not finish eating or show enthusiasm for their standard ration of food, perform the following steps:
Day 1 – Perform the Daily Health Assessment Chart and look for any symptoms. Then using Probiotic Paste, Baking Soda, Ammonium Chloride & Sweet Feed Top Dress, add to the feed –
- Give Probiotic Paste per listed weight & dosage instructions. See article Probiotic Therapies for Goats, Sheep & Swine
- Feed ½ portion of feed with ½ tsp Baking Soda & 1 cup sweet feed mixed in.
Day 2 – Re-Evaluate Eating– The next feeding, perform the Daily Health Assessment Chart and look for any new symptoms. If no change:
- Give 2nd dose of probiotic paste.
- Mix into feed ration, 1/2 tsp Ammonium Chloride, 1/4 tsp Baking Soda, 1/2 portion of feed with 1 cup sweet feed.
- Hay – Give a handful of Alfalfa hay each feeding. Once they have had 20 minutes to eat their grain, scoop out and bag any remaining feed (grain). Leave the hay to nibble on.
- Scoop Out Feed – Once they have had 20 minutes to eat, scoop out and bag any remaining feed. The remaining feed can be added into the next feeding. This prevents the feed from becoming rancid or infested with flies.
Day 3 – Re-Evaluate Eating – The next feeding, perform the Daily Health Assessment Chart and look for any new symptoms. If no change:
- Give 3rd dose of probiotic paste.
- Mix into feed ration, 1/2 tsp Ammonium Chloride into 1/2 portion of feed with 5 cups sweet feed. Remove any fat supplements from the feed ration. Sometimes high fat supplements will burn out appetites.
- Hay – Give a handful of Alfalfa hay each feeding. Once they have had 20 minutes to eat their grain, scoop out and bag any remaining feed (grain). Leave the hay to nibble on.
- No Improvement – If there is no improvement, call your adviser for further evaluation.
Goal – They should clean up the feed in 12-20 minutes; this usually means that things are back on track and supplements can be slowly added back into the ration at ½ the supplement dosage and increase over the next two days.
FEED APPETIZERS
Probiotic Paste (Give 1/3 of the tube every feeding for 3 days)
Textured Sweet Feed as a Top Dress
Baking Soda ¼ tsp mixed in the grain with each feeding for 3 days.
Ammonium Chloride – 1/2 tsp mixed into each feeding for Urinary Calculi or bloat
Vit-B Complex (crumbles, powder, paste or injectable)
Bloat – Mix 2 tsp Baking soda in 2 oz water & use a Drench Gun to administer.
Note: Sheep are Enthusiastic Eaters! If they are not greeting you at the gate … something needs to be fixed or changed!
If the lamb is still off feed or is only eating the sweet feed, it may be that he lost interest in the basic feed. There are many good quality feeds that smell and taste good. Some animals may be picky! Don’t be afraid to switch feeds to increase their appetite. Reference “How to Safely Switch Feeds”.
If they are still not cleaning up their feed, contact your adviser for more evaluation help. There are other strategies like Vitamin B that can be given to increase appetites.
