🐑Lambs: raising and housing

Your lamb depends on you every single day, in the heat, in the wind, and on the mornings you would rather sleep in. The good news is that lambs are small, gentle, and pretty easy to care for once you have a routine and a good pen. Get the pen built before the lamb comes home.

Your daily routine

Lambs love a schedule. Feed at the same times every day, as close to 12 hours apart as you can.

Time	What to do
Morning (about 6–7 AM)	Feed grain, check water, look the lamb over head to tail, scoop manure.
Afternoon	Exercise session (see below). Check water again, especially in summer.
Evening (about 6–7 PM)	Feed grain, top off water, a small amount of hay if you are feeding it, quick health check.
Weekly	Weigh the lamb, clean the pen deeply, trim hooves if needed, update your record book.

Tip: Weigh your lamb every week on the same day and write it down. This is the only way to know if your feeding plan is working, and it is exactly what your record book needs.

Feeding a market lamb

Most 4-H families use a complete show lamb feed from a feed store. It is a pellet or textured feed that already has the right mix of grain, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Do not mix in extra corn or sweet feed unless someone experienced tells you to.

A basic feeding plan

Stage	Lamb weight	Feed protein	Grain per day (approx.)	Hay
Arrival (first week)	45–65 lb	Same feed the breeder used	Start at about 1 lb, split in two feedings	Free-choice grass hay
Growing	65–100 lb	16–18%	2–3 lb, split in two feedings	Small handful once a day
Finishing	100 lb to fair	14–16%	3–4 lb, split in two feedings	Very little, or none

These are starting points. Adjust based on your weekly weights and how the lamb looks and feels.

Feeding rules to live by

• Hand feed twice a day. Do not use a self-feeder. Hand feeding lets you control gain and notice right away when a lamb goes off feed.
• Switch feeds slowly. Mix the old and new feed over 7 to 10 days. Sudden changes cause bloat and scours.
• Clean, cool water always. A lamb will not eat if it will not drink. Dump and scrub the bucket every day.
• Limit hay. Too much hay gives a lamb a big belly and makes it look fat and soft. A small amount keeps the stomach healthy.
• Sheep mineral only, with NO added copper. Copper is toxic to sheep. Never use goat, cattle, or “all stock” mineral or feed.
• Ammonium chloride for wethers. Most show lamb feeds already include it. It helps prevent urinary calculi (see health section). Check the tag.
• Pick up leftovers. If your lamb leaves feed, take it away after 20 to 30 minutes and offer a little less next time.

Adjusting gain

• Gaining too slow? Add about a quarter pound of feed per day at a time. Make sure the lamb is dewormed and drinking well.
• Gaining too fast or getting fat? Cut back grain a little, cut hay to almost none, and add exercise.
• Not eating at all? Check temperature, water, and shade first. Call your club leader or a vet if it lasts more than a day.

Health basics

You are not expected to be a vet, but you are expected to notice when something is wrong and act quickly. A healthy lamb is bright, alert, eating, chewing its cud, and standing with its head up.

Problem	What you might see	What to do
Bloat	Swollen left side, kicking at belly, not eating	Emergency. Get the lamb up and walking, call a vet. Prevent by slow feed changes and not letting the lamb gorge.
Overeating disease (enterotoxemia)	Sudden death or a lamb down and twitching	Prevent with the CD&T vaccine. Ask the breeder what has been given and get a booster as recommended.
Coccidiosis	Watery or bloody scours, weak lamb, especially in the first weeks home	Keep pens dry and clean. Many show feeds contain a preventive. Talk to a vet about treatment.
Urinary calculi (stones)	Wether straining to pee, stretching out, kicking, dribbling	Emergency, can be fatal. Prevent with ammonium chloride in feed and lots of water. Call a vet right away.
Worms	Pale gums, bottle jaw (swelling under the jaw), poor gain, scours	Deworm on a schedule your vet or club leader recommends. Rotate products.
Foot problems	Limping, overgrown hooves, bad smell	Trim hooves every 4–6 weeks. Keep the pen dry.
Heat stress	Fast open-mouth breathing, lying flat in the heat	Shade, cool water, fans, exercise only early morning or evening.
Sore mouth	Scabs on lips and nose	It is a virus and it is contagious to people. Wear gloves, wash hands, call a vet.
Pneumonia	Coughing, runny nose, fever, not eating	Common after stress or cold nights. Call a vet quickly.

Heads up: Your lamb will be sold for meat. The Wholesome Meat Act means you must follow every drug label exactly, including withdrawal times (how many days before sale you must stop a medicine). Write down every treatment, the date, and the withdrawal time in your record book. If an illegal residue is found, the carcass can be condemned and you lose the sale.

Building a pen for the high desert

Navajo County is tough on animals. Around Holbrook, Snowflake, and Taylor we are at roughly 5,000 to 6,500 feet. That means:

• Brutal sun and heat in June, July, and August.
• Strong wind, especially in spring.
• Cold nights into May, sometimes below freezing.
• Monsoon storms from July into early September that turn dirt pens into mud.
• Predators. Coyotes and loose dogs kill lambs every year.

Your pen needs to handle all of it.

Pen size

• At least 10 ft × 10 ft of pen per lamb for the sleeping and feeding area. Bigger is better.
• An exercise area of 20 × 20 ft or more, or a plan to walk your lamb daily.
• Shelter roof covering at least a 6 × 8 ft dry area per lamb.

The three-sided shelter

A three-sided shelter with the open side facing away from the wind (usually facing east or southeast here) is the standard. It blocks wind and rain, gives shade, and lets air move so it does not get stuffy.

Suggested size for one or two lambs: 8 ft wide × 8 ft deep × 6 ft tall in front sloping to 5 ft in back.

Materials for a panel-and-post pen with a wood-framed shelter

Pen:

• 4 combo panels or cattle panels (16 ft long, 4 ft or taller). Combo panels have smaller openings at the bottom so lambs cannot squeeze through.
• 8–10 T-posts (6 ft)
• T-post clips or heavy wire
• 1 walk-through gate, or a fifth panel cut and hinged with chain
• Carabiner or snap for the gate latch

Shelter:

• 4 pressure-treated 4×4 posts, 8 ft long
• 2×4 lumber for framing (about 10 pieces at 8 ft)
• 3 sheets of corrugated metal roofing (8 ft or 10 ft)
• Plywood or more metal for the three walls
• Screws with rubber washers for the roof, 3-inch deck screws for framing
• Concrete or gravel to set the posts

Step by step

1. Pick the spot. Higher ground that drains, close enough to the house that you can see and hear the lamb, with a hose or water nearby.
2. Set the posts. Dig four holes about 2 ft deep in a rectangle 8 × 8 ft. Set the two front posts so they stand 6 ft above ground and the back two at 5 ft. Fill with concrete or packed gravel and let it set.
3. Frame the roof. Screw 2×4s across the tops of the posts to make a rectangle, then add 2×4 rafters every 2 ft running front to back. The slope carries rain off the back.
4. Screw down the roofing. Overlap the metal sheets one ridge. Use roofing screws with rubber washers so it does not leak. Let the metal hang over the back a few inches.
5. Close in three sides. Attach plywood or metal to the back and both sides, all the way to the ground. Leave the front open.
6. Set the T-posts around the pen area every 8 ft, then wire the panels to them. Put the shelter along one side so it is part of the fence line.
7. Hang the gate and latch it with a carabiner. Lambs (and goats) figure out simple latches.
8. Predator-proof it. Run a strand of hot wire or a second panel section along the top if dogs are a problem in your area, bury wire mesh or stake the panel bottoms so nothing can dig under, and consider a motion light. Lock the lamb in a fully fenced area at night.

Tip: Cattle panels alone will not stop a dog. The gaps are too big. Use combo panels, add welded wire on the lower half, or wrap the bottom 3 feet in chicken wire or hardware cloth.

Flooring and bedding

• Dirt is fine if it drains. Add a few inches of pea gravel or decomposed granite under the shelter so it stays dry in monsoon season.
• Bed the shelter with straw or pine shavings. Change it when it is damp or smells.
• A rubber mat or wood platform where the lamb sleeps keeps it off cold ground in spring.
• Never let the pen stay muddy. Mud means foot rot and flies.

Feeders and water

• Hang a fence feeder or bucket at about the lamb’s chest height. Never feed on the ground. Ground feeding spreads worms and coccidia and wastes feed.
• Use a separate hay feeder so hay does not get mixed into the grain.
• A 5-gallon bucket in a tire or clipped to the fence keeps water from tipping. In summer, put it in the shade and change it twice a day.
• Practice with the same kind of hanging feeder you will use at the fair. The new goat and lamb barn pens require you to bring your own panel section to hang feeders on, so your lamb should already be used to eating from a hanging feeder.

Exercise: building muscle, burning fat

Muscle is what wins. Exercise makes the difference between a soft lamb and a hard, well-shaped one.

• Start slow. The first two weeks, just walk your lamb on a halter 10 to 15 minutes a day.
• Walk, then jog. From about 80 pounds on, work up to 15 to 20 minutes of brisk walking with short jogs, 5 or 6 days a week.
• Use hills if you have them. Walking uphill builds the leg and loin.
• No treadmill? No problem. A round pen or a long alley where you can chase the lamb gently back and forth works. Some families use a dog or a bike alongside a walking path. Keep it safe.
• Exercise in the cool of the day. Early morning or after sunset in summer. Never work a lamb in the heat of the afternoon.
• Stop 2 to 3 days before the fair so the lamb is fresh and full for weigh-in.

Tip: Tie your lamb to a fence for 20 to 30 minutes after exercising, a few days a week. It teaches patience and gets the lamb used to standing tied at the fair.

Keep records as you go

Every bag of feed, every vet visit, every weekly weight, and every hour you spend belongs in your record book. Do not try to remember it all in September. A notebook hanging in the feed room, or a note on a parent’s phone, makes the record book easy.

Next up

Your lamb has a home and a feed plan. Now teach it to show: Lambs: learning to show. And remember the paperwork: the Scrapie tag, NCJL tagging day, the Seasonal Pass, and your YQCA certificate are all covered on the paperwork and legal page.