Surplus lambs reared on performance-formulated lamb milk replacer, based on whey protein from cow’s milk, do just as well as lambs running naturally with the ewe.

A study carried out at Aberystwyth University reports that the use of a colostrum alternative followed by good quality lamb milk replacer facilitates the successful rearing of surplus lambs.

Lambs reared on milk replacer reached similar weaning weights to their naturally-reared counterparts and, when killed out, both carcass weight and conformation were comparable to that of lambs reared on the ewe, despite a slightly lighter body weight at slaughter.

The results will be encouraging for the many sheep producers who have invested recently in automatic feeding of surplus lambs.

Volac nutritionist Abi Erian said: “Enquiries about automatic milk feeding are at an all-time high in the sheep sector. Like calf rearers, farmers are undoubtedly attracted by the labour-saving benefits and the fact that machine-rearing frees up time to focus on other important jobs. But they also report faster growth rates because there is no limit to how much or when the lambs can drink.

“Basically, you have three options come lambing time: you either sell your extra lambs to someone else to rear, foster your surplus lambs onto a single-bearing ewe or artificially rear them on milk replacer.

“If you intend to rear as many as you can to maximise your finished lamb sales, it’s good practice to take any third and fourth lambs off their mothers. This will help boost lamb survival rates and performance, and take the pressure off ewes trying to rear multiples. This is particularly important for young mothers and will help her keep growing and producing enough milk for the lambs she has left.”

When deciding which lamb to remove from a triplet-bearing ewe, Ms Erian advised removing either the smallest or the largest one to leave a balanced pair.