Lamb Feeding and Management Measures and Technical Key Points

1. Early Weaning of Lambs

Early weaning of lambs and fattening them for market within the same year are two important measures for successful housed sheep farming. After lambs reach 2 months of age, the physiological functions of their digestive tract tend to be fully developed, and early weaning is feasible if feeding and management are intensified.

2. Early Supplementary Feeding

After birth, lambs should receive enough colostrum within 1 to 3 days to build up their constitution; after 10 to 15 days they should be trained to eat. Tender green hay can be tied into bundles and hung in the air for the lambs to eat freely. At around 20 days, they can be trained to eat feed using a concentrate mix made from soybean cake, wheat bran, cornmeal, etc., or a commercial full-price suckling pig feed. From 1 to 2 months of age, lambs should be fed mainly grass, with concentrate as a supplement. Each lamb should be fed 50 to 100 g of concentrate per day, with small and frequent feeds, and salt and bone meal added as required.

3. Timely Weaning

When lambs reach 2 months of age or a body weight of 13 kg, the ewes and lambs can be separated for one-time weaning. Drive the ewes out of the pen and keep the lambs in the original pen for feeding, so as to reduce stress.

4. Lamb Fattening

① Rational Feed Formulation According to the physiological structural characteristics and nutritional needs of lambs, the daily ration should be rationally matched and formulated into a full-price feed suitable for fattening lambs. The roughage for fattening consists mainly of corn silage, wheat bran, grass meal, vine types, dried corn husks, fruit residue and distiller's grains; the concentrate for fattening consists mainly of corn, bran, soybean cake, cottonseed cake, baking soda and premix as the main raw materials. From 0 to 70 days of age is the suckling period, with roughage as the main feed; from 70 to 150 days of age is the fattening period, combining concentrate and roughage. Varieties should be diversified, ensuring digestible protein of more than 18%. In the initial stage, feed high-quality hay, fresh forage and compound feed; gradually add silage, ammoniated or biochemical feed, with concentrate fed at 100-150 g per sheep per day, and ensure adequate drinking water.

② Daily Operating Procedures Feed at the trough twice a day. Starting at 7:00 a.m., dry feeding: first put in silage, then various distiller's grains and residues, and finally the concentrate; starting at 2:00 p.m., wet feeding, with the same feeding order as in the morning, free access to water, and timely adjustment of the feeding amount to ensure the sheep eat their fill and maintain a strong appetite.

③ Scientific Salt Supplementation A simple method of salt supplementation is to place salt bricks in the exercise yard for the sheep to lick freely.