As sheep farmers are well aware, ensuring that newborn lambs receive adequate supplies of colostrum is critical during lambing.
The impact that feeding colostrum to a newborn lamb in the first few hours after birth will determine it’s survival.
Colostrum or beestings is the first milk produced by the ewe, and according to Michael Gottstein at Teagasc, it is a product that has three very important characteristics which every new born lamb needs.
Characteristics:
- It provides antibodies against disease which the lamb may encounter in early life (before it has a chance to develop its own immune system);
- It acts as a laxative by cleaning out the digestive tract of the newborn lamb;
- It supplies the lamb with a complete feed to meet all of its nutritional needs.
However, there are significant aspects towards the recommended management and feeding of colostrum to lambs.
Gottstein said that farmers must ensure that each lamb gets 5% of its body weight (50ml/kg) of ewe’s colostrum in the first four hours of life, which he said is “critical to getting the lamb off to a good start”.
5% of a lamb’s bodyweight for the average 5kg lamb is 250ml. Many farmers will give two or three 60ml syringes per lamb, which Gottsetin said is “totally inadequate for all but the smallest of lambs”.
The impact of a small feed would also cause the stimulation of the gut of the lamb to start closing, thus preventing immunoglobulin transfer later on.
If the lambs are not able to suck then the colostrum should be administered using a stomach tube.
Gottstein said that it is important that all lambs get at least some ewe colostrum.
“Colostrum substitutes, while useful, are not an effective substitute for ewe’s colostrum in terms of supplying lambs with relevant immunoglobulins to diseases for which your ewes have been vaccinated,” he added.
Supply of colostrum
During lambing, Gottstein said that if a ewe has insufficient colostrum to meet the needs of her lambs, divide the colostrum available equally between her lambs and make up the short fall with colostrum from another ewe in the flock.
If this is not possible, he added that farmers should then “make up the shortfall with a colostrum substitute or cow’s colostrum”.
Gottstein advised farmers to use cow’s colostrum with caution, as certain cows have antibodies in their colostrum, which will cause death in lambs.
In this instance, Gottstein recommended to mix the colostrum from two or more cows.
He also warned that Johne’s disease in cows is transmissible to sheep in the colostrum.
“As cow’s colostrum is less concentrated, you also need to increase the feeding rate by 30%,” Gottstein added.