Orphan lamb feeding .

[HappyShep76]

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening in about a months time......

 

[FIL46]

Oh me some people open there mouth when they should keep it shut. Suggesting people put FORMALIN in lamb milk is mental some may be daft enough to do it. WHY THE DUCK WOULD YOU PUT THAT IN MILK WOULD YOU DRINK IT WITH FORMALIN IN IT. come on people

 

[neilo]

Oh me some people open there mouth when they should keep it shut. Suggesting people put FORMALIN in lamb milk is mental some may be daft enough to do it. WHY THE DUCK WOULD YOU PUT THAT IN MILK WOULD YOU DRINK IT WITH FORMALIN IN IT. come on people

I don't think anyone is suggesting sloshing loads in for them to drink. The only people I've heard that have tried it, used a tiny tiny amount (just a couple of ml) in the milk to suppress any build up of bugs in a vat of milk that's sitting there at body temperature.

I haven't, and wouldn't, use it as my machine mixes up small quantities fresh, but I can see the idea behind it.

 

[Collie lovers 2]

I definitely would not be changing milk powder half way through, I would say that will have contributed to what happened. I do cold milk as soon as they will drink it and dilute drastically at 4-5 weeks to get them weaned. It's a bit of an imprecise science!

 

[andybk]

Oh me some people open there mouth when they should keep it shut. Suggesting people put FORMALIN in lamb milk is mental some may be daft enough to do it. WHY THE DUCK WOULD YOU PUT THAT IN MILK WOULD YOU DRINK IT WITH FORMALIN IN IT. come on people

quite common practice abroad , 0.05% , or half ml in a litre , google it if you dont believe ,it kills harmful bacteria , im not brave enough to try though

 

[Devil's advocate]

quite common practice abroad , 0.05% , or half ml in a litre , google it if you dont believe ,it kills harmful bacteria , im not brave enough to try though

How about the good bacteria in a lambs stomach(s). Is formalin a useful probotic?

 

[debe]

Just to clear up, I personally have not and will not use formalin in milk replacer. Killing harmful bacteria in the milk is equally likely to kill beneficial bacteria in the gut, which if you ever want your lamb to ruminate, is not going to be overly helpful.

Sorry for mentioning it.

 

[andybk]

How about the good bacteria in a lambs stomach(s). Is formalin a useful probotic?

ahh but thats the thing, its not in the rumen , problem occurs when the milk and protein goes down esophageal grove which bypasses the rumen in sucking animals ,it opens when you see the tail wagging (so milk solids arnt degraded ) it then creates gas which the youngstock cant burp up , eventually stopping the heart , Once the rumen is going properly its all ok , the change over is the danger period at about 4 weeks ,

 

[neilo]

How about the good bacteria in a lambs stomach(s). Is formalin a useful probotic?

I suspect that tiny quantity will just be sterilising the milk, at best, certainly not enough to be effecting gut flora.

 

[Longlowdog]

As I said on the last thread, formalin is carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic. It carries a toxic symbol on the label. The statutory use box on said label does not give a use as a bactericide in food products. What's the withdrawal period, the retention in flesh period, the safe p.p.m for human consumption? It give us cancer,harms unborn babies and mutates cells the answer must be f*ck all. If sanitising with Milton is too much effort just accept your losses.
My lambs are fed warm Downland milk (partially derived from ewes milk) from a Shepherdess bucket sometimes for up to 7 weeks. From the moment they get put in the sooky pen there is a mix of young lamb creep blend and dried chopped grass. They don't blow up or get red-gut (whatever that is?) they just grow. If the weather is nice I let them run out on to grass, if it's wet they stay in to keep their pen clean and dry.
At birth they get a squirt of Spectam, when old enough they go on to the Heptavac system. A dose of wormer and a dose of Baycox (huge loss one year to perfect storm of nemo+coxy means I won't miss this step with vets concurrence) and off they go.
Now I don't have a lot of lambs to rear but by investing a bit of time in hygiene and developing a good diverse gut flora and fauna my pets are indistinguishable from the rest and take no set back when I get round to putting them permanently to grass.