Switch means no lambs lost to abomasal bloat

Lynley Wyeth rears 350-500 orphan lambs annually. She and her husband Matt own Spring Valley Enterprises in north-west Masterton. They run 15,000 stock units, 80 percent sheep and 20 percent Angus breeding cattle.

The orphan lambs are a mix of triplets, quads, quins, any that are mismothered or have lost their mothers and those affected by severe weather. In her first few years of rearing lambs, Lynley had consistent trouble with abomasal bloat. ‘Yoghurtising’ milk was sometimes successful but not always. Another challenge was weaning lambs from milk onto concentrates. Searching for a solution to the bloat issue, in 2013 Lynley came across AgriVantage’s Sprayfo Primo Lamb Milk Replacer. “Switching to Sprayfo solved our abomasal bloat issues straight away,” she says. “I haven’t lost a single lamb to bloat since we started using it. There was also a considerable drop in nutritional scours cases, and weight gain was more consistent and higher than before.” The lambs gain 200-220g/ day on average pre-weaning. Transitioning the lambs onto a pellet became so much easier too, Lynley says. Being whey-based, Sprayfo Primo Lamb is quickly digested and helps to enhance rumen development because the animals seek out concentrates sooner. The orphan lambs initially come into nursery pens where they are closely monitored (3-4 times daily). Most are fed Launchpad18 colostrum on arrival, followed by Sprayfo Primo Lamb supplemented with Biopect, an allnatural anti-scour prebiotic, for days 2, 3 and 4. The prebiotic encourages and maintains good gut health and gives young animals a boost after periods of risk, such as stress from a new environment, change in diet or adverse weather. Once Lynley is happy that a lamb is thriving, it is moved into the rearing shed where the animals have on-demand access to milk through automatic feeders. Until 2 years ago, the lambs were fed with adapted calf feeders. Lynley says Sprayfo has worked well with manual and automatic systems. “This milk replacer is easy to mix manually and any equipment used is easy to clean,” she says. “It goes through the automatic feeders easily too. There’s no blocking of tubes; even if a tube doesn’t get sucked, the milk doesn’t solidify in the tube.” Lynley says support from the AgriVantage team has been invaluable. “AgriVantage had huge input into our shed set-up and continue to feed us good information, tips and tricks. I remember when we introduced the automatic feeder and the lambs were chewing the teats off. Their advice was to try recessed teats – it changed my life!”

| Lynley Wyeth tends to orphaned 2-day-old lambs in a nursery pen.

For further information, contact your Farmlands Technical Field Officer or the friendly team at your local Farmlands store.

Article supplied by AgriVantage

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