How old should a lamb be to be moved in with the older sheep? I have one ewe (5 years), her two 5 month old lambs. In another pen with my goat kids I have three lambs. One is about 8 weeks old now and is really hogging all the hay and the grain for the little ones, never letting htem have a chance at it, even when she's done. The other two lambs are only three weeks old, the goat kids 5 weeks.
Is it okay for me to move the 8 week old lamb in with the older ones yet? She isn't fully weaned but is very definitely eating hay and as much grain as I allow her to stuff in her face (not much...I've been pushing hay). I'd like to move her down to one bottle a day and move her over to the other pen, but I'm a little nervous about the reaction to her. Will she be shoved around or even injured by the others? She is significantly smaller and doesn't have a Mom to protect her...I can feed her the bottle separately but she'd have access to the automatic waterer and we're moving everyone over to pasture so the hay won't be there anymore.
Ideas? I suppose I'll need to know for later when the 3 week old lambs are weaned and moved over there, too...the pen they're in now isn't big enough for adults...
Thanks,
Sarah
Is it okay for me to move the 8 week old lamb in with the older ones yet? She isn't fully weaned but is very definitely eating hay and as much grain as I allow her to stuff in her face (not much...I've been pushing hay). I'd like to move her down to one bottle a day and move her over to the other pen, but I'm a little nervous about the reaction to her. Will she be shoved around or even injured by the others? She is significantly smaller and doesn't have a Mom to protect her...I can feed her the bottle separately but she'd have access to the automatic waterer and we're moving everyone over to pasture so the hay won't be there anymore.
Ideas? I suppose I'll need to know for later when the 3 week old lambs are weaned and moved over there, too...the pen they're in now isn't big enough for adults...
Thanks,
Sarah