Safe Weaning 8-Point Checklist; Vet explains | Sez the Vet

* THIS VIDEO WAS MADE FAST-SPEAKING ON REQUEST. TO SLOW IT DOWN, ALTER THE PLAYBACK SPEED, BY CLICKING ON THE SETTINGS COG*
It's that time of year! Learn how to SAFELY wean your bottle-reared lambs and goat kids, to avoid deathly bloat and gut upsets. How young is too young? Do we wean gradually or cold turkey? Dr Sez talks you through a checklist to know you're ready, and the exact ins and outs of how to wean when the time comes.
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Note the opinions expressed are those of the authors, and this informative episode is not intended to replace individual advice given by a medical professional, for your specific case
Attributions
Orphan Lambs video attributed to Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Retrieved from • Orphan lambs . Video was trimmed.
A beautiful sunny though frosty morning to feed lambs outside video attributed to Zwartbles Ireland. Retrieved from • A beautiful sunny thou... . Video was trimmed.
New Years day 2017 turning out ewes and lambs video, attributed to Zwartbles Ireland. Retrieved from • Turning Out New Lambs ... . Video was trimmed.
goatlog: New Year's Goats (2013-01-02) video, attributed to djaliplume. Retrieved from • goatlog: New Year's Go... . Video was trimmed.
Lamb follows me out to bottle-feed (take 2) video attributed to Tamsin Cooper. Retrieved from • Lamb follows me out to... . Video was trimmed.
Endeavour Audio by Ron Gelinas, retrieved rom • Ron Gelinas - Endeavou... .

[@randallgaingob5031]

First video and I am already subscribing

[@randallgaingob5031]

Awesome video !

[@SeztheVet]

Thanks! It's one of my favourites too, as so often done wrong. thanks for the comment :)

[@jodyrobinson-wildey2186]

Thank you. I have shared to NZ lamb rearing fb page too.

[@SeztheVet]

thanks jody! I didn't know that page existed, I'll jump on at some point :)

[@jodyrobinson-wildey2186]

I only found it a week or so ago.

[@artemiscreature2691]

How long should the weaning process take? I have a bottle baby and a lamb on mom.

[@meddy07]

Hi when should we allow them to start drinking water?

[@ashedwards7063]

Hey sez, we have 2 8 week old ewes. They are rather chunky and have been on 2 feeds a day for the past couple weeks. They eat plenty of grass, when should we drop to 1 feed, and is it best to take away the morning or night feed? Thanks heaps 👍

[@SeztheVet]

whoops sorry i missed this. nodifference in which feed you remove. alternatively you could keep giving 2 feeds of smaller volumes, the key is just not to remove one by increasing the other. if eating grass consistently then should be safe to go ahead.

[@ashedwards7063]

@@SeztheVet lambs are all good! No more milk and they are happily running around eating grass. Thanks for the help 🙂

[@aldomagician6386]

Is it ok to replace a feed with electrolytes if lamb is upset about skipping a meal?

[@SeztheVet]

Hi Aldo, all electrolyte products have different levels of electrolytes, so it's hard to say. But In general, you should be safe, so long as they have fresh water available and it's made up to the exact concentration on the packet. HOWEVER, I still wouldn't recommend it. The risks are that if you give it too concentrated you could cause diarrhoea and dehyration (ironically). If you give it without them having access to fresh water, OR if they are not comfortable drinking fresh water (many lambs take a while to get the hang of it, and many goats are fickle with water temperature), then they can develop excessively high sodium in the blood. Administering electrolytes when not required means the kidneys have to work hard to keep things balanced in the blood stream, so just unecessary. And prehaps the most revalent risk is that in filling them up with a belly of fluid, they will be less inclined to graze, so we can see them in a calorie deficit. It's really important that they graze well during this time, as consistently as possible. Poor little guys but, while you would probably get away with it, I would recommend not giving electrolytes either :( Great question, thank you :)

[@TheHorseyNutter]

Hi Sez, just wondering if feeding lamb meal/hard food increases the risk of laminitis later in life?

[@SeztheVet]

feeding it to them when young? no it doesn't. feeding it when older can do, but sheep are pretty resistant to it. it happens, but far more commonly seen in goats.

[@SeztheVet]

feeding lamb meal when young is a good thing as helps develop the rumen, so that weaning is a healthy process

[@lianapalumbo8457]

I have 2, 8 week old lambs who have been eating Wheaton hay and stock pellets, they didn't like the lamb pellets, with they milk feeds for 5 weeks. They've been cud munching for weeks and have perfect poos and wees. I only give them 4 small milk feeds in a 24 hour period and it's only 2/3 strength. The one time I gave full strength milk to lambs I lost them both to bloat, I've rescued many lambs. My lambs live inside, in nappies and don't start spending time with the big guys until a month into spring. By Xmas they are fully integrated into the herd and no longer on bottles. I'm just about to stop their first bottle as they are showing more interest in the hay when they wake up and I generally wean them off this way. Is it ok to do it this way? I've got 2 adult sheep who took a bottle for 12 months, 1 goat who took one for 18 months and my 2 tonne steer who took a bottle for nearly 2 years. They're all over 5 years of age now. Is that bad? Thank you for all the excellent info. I'm just really over protective of my babies

[@SeztheVet]

hi Liana! Do you mean is it bad to keep giving them bottles for a long time? Certainly not in my opinion :) A ewe would naturally wean at 5 or 6 months, by letting them nurse for shorter periods of time, then kicking them off and letting them nurse for fewer feeds. The big risk is when people increase a volume of a feed when weaning. as you can I.agibe this is not at all natural and very problematic. As you go forward I would recommend not just feeding less bottles, but also dropping the volume of the bottle, to mimic mum and avoid a bit hit of lactose. they all sound very loved :)

[@lianapalumbo8457]

@@SeztheVet ok thank you. Yes I'm starting to decrease the amount as I'm not good at just cutting off and then hearing them cry. I could never let my human children cry and am the same with my fur babies. Just too much of a softy. Thank you for always getting back and helping. Really love your channel 😊👍🏼

[@lesleywheatley1404]

Is milk kefir suitable as a probiotic in the milk?

[@SeztheVet]

Hi Lesley, great questions, I hear it a lot. No, I wouldnt use Kefir. "Kefir grains" that are used to make kefir contain many species of bacteria as well as yeast, which ferment by producing gas. Similar to kombucha (which if you ever made it, you'll know it bubbles as gas is produced. We dont want to add anything to the bottle of milk that is containing anything that produces gas. If you can find an acidophilus bacteria that is literally ONLY Lactobacillus Acidophilus species and nothing else, then go for it, as this particular bacteria is not gas producing. However its hard to find; it almost alwasy comes in a combo of bacteria with others that DO produce gas when fermenting the milk. Hope that makes sense. If the question is can you yogurtise with kefir? I honestly couldnt give a professional opinion, becuase the bateria and yeast you're adding are not a clear cut list of species. I woudl personally avoid it and just give a healthy probiotic intended for the ruminant gut- Bifidobacterium Animalis. Hope that ramble made sense!

[@Emily-oj7nh]

We rescued a 3 day old Barbados sheep about a month and a half ago and he will not eat anything besides his bottle, we try taking him out with our other animals so he can watch them eat hay and he eats a piece of hay and then he's done and just wants his bottle, we have tried grass, hay, and sheep pellets all of which he isn't interested in.

[@SeztheVet]

Oh dear, that's very odd. Little one sounds confused haha. He shoudl be spending most of his time on the pasture (weather permitting of course). Sheep are notoriously difficult at enticing to eat anything other than pasture as they really aren't "browsers" of plants int he same way that goats are. THey can be taught to eat hay, but it's not a natural inclination for them. Grazing pasture is very ingrained, however, so given enough time he will pick it up. 6 weeks old is still young. Sounds like he's certainly not ready to wean yet. THe other thing you can offer is a meal thats formuated for the young'uns to develop the rumen. Often called "creep meal". Good luck!

[@Emily-oj7nh]

@@SeztheVet we've been keeping him during the day on our back deck until it gets warmer but if we put him out in the pasture with the other animals he screams non stop pretty much all day until we go out to see him. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@DeborahNiemann]

@@Emily-oj7nh That is super common with bottle babies! It's why I don't let them live in the house unless they are so weak they require my constant attention. Otherwise they go out to the barn to live with the other goats or sheep. At some point you just have to grit your teeth and try to ignore the screaming, and eventually they realize that they are not going back into the house and will be quiet. It usually only takes a few days. Plus the more time he spends around other sheep, the sooner he will figure out the whole eating thing.

[@virginiabrooks3407]

when do I wean if I don't know the age

[@SeztheVet]

wait until she is grazig consistently and have marked off the other things in the video cheaklist and do down feeds and volume slowly to make sure she is switching over will. remember not to increase volume of feed. if you can find someone that knows About sheep they should be able to give you an idea. a 6 week old lamb looks very different to a 10 week old. take a photo and pop on a Facebook forum? it's not an exact science. so long as the checklist in the video is all in line and she's not too far too young.

[@PRDreams]

Sio this doesn't apply to dam raised kids.

[@SeztheVet]

Hi, lambs, calves and kids raised on their mum tend to wean a lot later, so will very easily hit all the points in this checklist. These things are especially important if you're trying to wean them young, becuase we really need to make sure their gut is developed enough and they can make that switch without too much struggle.