How to raise orphan lambs & goat kids: colostrum, bottle feeding & weaning

🍼 The short answer

Colostrum first, then consistency.

An orphan or rejected lamb may be called a pet lamb, a bottle lamb, a bottle-fed lamb, a poddy lamb or a hand-reared lamb depending on where you live. Orphan goat kids get fewer nicknames and the same job. Whatever the name, the foundations are the same:

colostrum first → consistent milk feeding → good hygiene → early access to solid feed and water → gradual weaning.

The first hours matter most. New Zealand welfare guidance requires that artificially reared lambs receive sufficient colostrum or a good-quality commercial substitute, and recommends feeding it as soon as possible after birth and within the first six hours.

And the aim isn't simply to keep a lamb alive on a bottle. It's a healthy young ruminant that grows steadily and ends up living on pasture like any other.

❓ Why it happens

Why might a lamb or kid need bottle feeding?

• the ewe or doe has died
• rejection by the mother
• twins, triplets or larger litters where one is falling behind
• inadequate milk supply
• mastitis or udder problems
• a weak lamb or kid that can't compete
• fostering has been tried and failed
• the young animal has been removed deliberately for management reasons

Where it's possible, fostering onto another suitable ewe or doe is worth trying first — but once a lamb or kid is on a bottle, consistency matters more than anything clever you do.

🥇 Colostrum

How important is colostrum for an orphan lamb?

Very. It is the first priority, ahead of everything else on this page.

Colostrum is the first milk after birth: antibodies, energy, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals. Newborn lambs and kids have very limited antibody protection of their own — they absorb it from colostrum through the gut soon after birth, and that ability falls away quickly.

MPI recommends lambs receive colostrum as soon as possible after birth and preferably within the first six hours, and that colostrum be fed for the first four days of life. The goat code says the same about timing for kids, and adds the hard limit: antibodies cannot be absorbed beyond about 24 to 36 hours after birth, which is why "as soon as possible" is the whole instruction.

🧪 No colostrum from the mother

What if I don't have colostrum from the dam?

In rough order of preference:

• good-quality colostrum from the dam
• suitable stored colostrum
• colostrum from another appropriate ewe or doe
• a good-quality commercial colostrum replacer

Don't assume every product labelled colostrum is a complete replacement. Maryland Extension draws the line plainly: use a colostrum replacer, not a supplement, when there's no real colostrum available — they're different products in similar packaging.

If a newborn has had little or none and several hours have passed, veterinary advice becomes more important rather than less.

📏 How much milk

How much should I feed a newborn lamb?

Three kinds of number get quoted here, and they aren't in conflict as long as you know which is which: welfare guidance, practical feeding programmes, and the label on the product you actually bought.

NZ welfare guidance. MPI's sheep and beef code recommends colostrum, milk or milk replacer at 150–250 mL per kg of bodyweight per day for lambs in the first week, preferably divided into at least two feeds a day. At 200 mL/kg/day, a 4 kg lamb comes out at 800 mL a day — split across feeds, not delivered in one go.

A practical NZ programme. MPI's own Practical guide to rearing lambs uses 15% of the lamb's bodyweight per day, again across multiple feeds, and recommends weighing weekly.

⏱️ How often

How often should I bottle feed a lamb?

Very young lambs naturally drink small amounts often. MPI's practical lamb guide gives this as a working schedule:

• 1–2 days — around 6 feeds a day
• 3–7 days — around 4 feeds a day
• 1–3 weeks — around 3 feeds a day
• 3–6 weeks — around 2–3 feeds a day
• over 6 weeks — around 1–2 feeds a day

Treat that as a practical New Zealand example rather than a universal rule. Milk replacer labels may specify a different plan, and species, bodyweight and feeding system all change the answer.

🚫 Overfeeding

Can I feed too much milk at once?

Yes. A hungry pet lamb will drink hard and keep going, and enthusiasm is not a measurement — overly large single feeds can contribute to digestive problems.

MPI's practical lamb guidance recommends a maximum of about 350 mL per feed within that specific programme. That's a working ceiling inside that programme, not a universal physiological limit and not a number to carry across to another product or species. The principle travels better than the figure: smaller, regular feeds are safer than letting a young lamb gorge simply because it will keep sucking.

🥛 What milk

What should I feed after colostrum?

Ewe's milk, goat's milk where appropriate, whole milk in a suitable feeding system, or a species-appropriate milk replacer. For lambs, use a replacer formulated for lambs where you can — MPI's practical guidance recommends milk powder specifically formulated for lambs, and stresses following the mixing instructions on the bag closely.

Temperature is part of the recipe too: MPI's guide notes milk fed warm should be no more than 37°C, and that warm-milk systems for lambs are normally yoghurtised.

🐐 Goat kids

Can goat kids follow exactly the same feeding plan?

No — and this is the section worth reading twice if you have a kid rather than a lamb. The principles above hold for both, but the New Zealand figures differ. MPI's goat code recommends colostrum, milk or milk replacer at 10–12% of bodyweight per day, preferably in four or more feeds per day — a different rate, and more feeds, than the lamb figures above. It also requires that hand-reared kids get suitable liquid feed until the rumen has developed enough to use solids as the sole feed source.

🔁 Consistency

Why consistency matters more than optimisation.

Sudden changes upset digestion. MPI's practical lamb guidance says it directly: avoid sudden changes in the type, quantity or temperature of milk or milk powder. So don't change the brand, the concentration, the temperature, the volume or the frequency without a reason. A stable routine is easier for the animal, and considerably easier for the person feeding at 6am before work.

👐 Technique

How should I bottle-feed a lamb or kid?

From a teat, at the animal's own rate. Do not syringe or drench milk into the mouth of a weak lamb — Maryland Extension is unambiguous: never drench or syringe feed lambs or kids, including dribbling or squirting milk in, because milk can be aspirated into the lungs. It's one of the most common ways a well-meant rescue goes wrong.

A newborn also has to be warm enough to suck effectively. A badly chilled animal needs assessing and warming before routine feeding, not a bottle pushed at it.

🩺 Stomach tubing

What about tube feeding?

Stomach tubing can be lifesaving for a newborn that cannot suck, and dangerous done wrong — the risk is the tube going into the windpipe rather than the stomach. MPI's guidance is that stomach tubing of neonates should be carried out by, or under the supervision of, people skilled in the technique.

🧼 Hygiene

Keep bottles and teats clean.

Warm milk plus young animals is close to ideal conditions for bacterial growth. Clean bottles, teats, mixing jugs, buckets, lambar feeders and milk-storage containers after use. This isn't housekeeping tacked on the end — MPI's welfare guidance requires that all equipment used to provide milk in artificial rearing systems is kept clean and regularly and thoroughly disinfected. Hygiene is part of the feeding programme.

🏠 Housing

Where should a pet lamb be kept?

Shelter, dry bedding, good ventilation, protection from cold wind, room to lie comfortably, and a clean environment. MPI's practical guide describes a rearing shed closed in on three sides and facing away from the prevailing wind. The failure mode to avoid is a warm but damp, poorly ventilated pen: the objective is dry + sheltered + fresh air, not simply "warm".

🌾 Solid feed & water

When should lambs start eating grass, hay or meal?

Early — earlier than most people expect.

The bottle feeds the animal. Solid feed builds the rumen. A newborn ruminant doesn't have a functioning rumen yet, so it depends on liquid feed at first; as it starts eating pasture, hay, a starter meal or browse, the rumen develops.

MPI's practical lamb guide has straw or hay and meal available ad lib from day one, with pasture when the weather allows; Maryland Extension suggests creep feed by about one week old and hay by three weeks. Either way, offer small amounts of clean, palatable feed early rather than waiting until weaning week.

And yes, bottle lambs need water. Once the animal starts on solid feed it needs fresh, clean drinking water available at all times — milk is not a substitute for water in rumen development. Keep it clean, and in something a very small lamb can't fall into.

⚖️ Growth

How do I know if my bottle lamb is growing properly?

Weigh it.

Bottle-fed lambs become extremely friendly and extremely enthusiastic about the bottle, and it's easy to read that as thriving. Appetite doesn't prove growth. Regular weights reveal slow growth, feeding problems, illness, an individual falling behind, and whether weaning is actually progressing.

MPI recommends weighing pet lambs once a week, on bathroom scales: weigh yourself, pick up the lamb, weigh yourself holding it, subtract.

🥣 Weaning

When can I wean a bottle-fed lamb?

Not on age alone. The real question is: can this animal now get enough nutrition from solid feed to keep growing without milk? That answer comes from age, liveweight, body condition, how much solid feed it's actually eating, pasture quality, health, and the growth trend in your weekly weights.

Some anchors from current guidance, each in its own context:

• Lambs, welfare floor (NZ): MPI's sheep and beef code says lambs need sufficient liquid feed to meet their total nutrient requirements until at least four weeks of age.
• Lambs, practical target (NZ): MPI's practical guide weans off milk when a lamb is eating around 200 g of meal a day, or weighs roughly 15–18 kg.
• Kids (NZ): MPI's goat code says kids should not be weaned until at least six weeks old, and preferably not until 8–10 weeks.
• International cross-check: Maryland Extension weans when a lamb or kid reaches about 2.5 times its birth weight and is eating adequate solid feed — commonly around six weeks.

Then reduce milk gradually rather than creating an abrupt nutritional shock.

💩 Scours

Why does my bottle-fed lamb have diarrhoea?

Scours has many causes: sudden feed changes, incorrect milk concentration, overfeeding, and bacterial, viral, protozoal or parasitic disease. MPI's guide splits them broadly into nutritional and infectious, and notes that careful feeding plus clean equipment and pens reduces the risk of both. Don't assume every scouring lamb simply drank too much milk — look at the whole animal.

🎈 Bloat

Why is my bottle lamb bloated?

Bloat in artificially reared lambs and kids can become serious very quickly. MPI's practical guide describes the animal as having a swollen belly and being dull and lethargic. Seek urgent veterinary advice for obvious abdominal swelling, discomfort, difficulty breathing, sudden dullness or rapid deterioration.

There are no home-treatment recipes on this page, deliberately. This is about prevention and recognition — the treatment call belongs with a vet who can see the animal.

🩹 Other health problems

What else should I watch for?

Common concerns in hand-reared young stock include scours, navel infection, pneumonia, coccidiosis as they get older, poor growth, parasites and nutritional problems.

We cover the worm and vaccination side properly elsewhere rather than compressing it here — see Livestock vaccination for small farms and Drench resistance and worm management. Coccidiosis, and docking and castration, are planned as their own guides.

📅 Timing

Don't stack every stressful job on the same day.

A pet lamb or kid may eventually face vaccination, docking, castration, weaning, drenching, paddock changes and transport. Where it's practical, don't stack them. An animal already adjusting to weaning doesn't need every other procedure added the same afternoon unless there's a good reason — spreading them out costs a second trip to the yards and buys the animal a much easier fortnight. If docking and castration are on that list, Docking, castrating and tagging lambs covers the New Zealand rules, the timing and the aftercare.

🔎 From our own block

The feeding is the easy part.

Hand-rearing a lamb is one of those jobs that sounds simple when you describe it as "give it a bottle a few times a day". The feeding itself usually is the easy part.

What gets harder is remembering the progression. When did this lamb start? How much milk is it getting now? Has it started eating solid feed? What did it weigh last week? Was this the one that had scours? Is it actually ready to wean?

On a small block you may only have one or two pet lambs at a time, which makes it tempting to assume you'll remember everything. That's usually true — right up until several other farm jobs land in the same week. The useful records aren't every single bottle; they're the milestones and the changes, the things that help you make the next decision.

📝 Records

What should I record for an orphan or pet lamb?

• animal ID or name
• date of birth, if known
• birth weight
• reason for hand rearing
• colostrum source, and roughly when it got its first feed
• milk or milk-replacer product
• major changes to the feeding plan
• weekly weights
• health observations, treatments and vaccinations
• when solid feed was introduced
• weaning start, and fully weaned date

The principle: record the changes that help you make the next decision, not paperwork for its own sake.

🛠️ In the app

How My Block Hand can help.

My Block Hand has a Hand rearing section built for exactly this: add a bottle lamb or a pen of kids, set your own feeding plan by age range, log each feed, and see the next one on Today's Brief — alongside the animal's identity, birth date, weights, health notes, treatments, vaccinations and reminders, so rearing sits inside its lifetime history rather than on a scrap of paper.

The app does not tell you how much milk your lamb needs. That comes from the milk powder's label, the animal's bodyweight and your vet. What it does is preserve the history, so you can answer the question that matters: is this animal progressing?

✅ Before lambing or kidding

The checklist worth doing in advance.

If there's any chance you'll end up with an orphan:

• Keep an emergency source of colostrum or a suitable replacer available.
• Have clean bottles and suitable teats ready.
• Keep species-appropriate milk replacer on hand, or know where to get it quickly.
• Have a warm, dry, draught-free rearing area available.
• Have suitable starter feed and clean water ready.
• Have a way to weigh the animal.
• Know who can help if stomach tubing becomes necessary.
• Record the lamb from day one.

The best time to work out how you're going to raise an orphan lamb is before you have a cold, hungry newborn standing in front of you.

🚧 Where this guide stops

What this page can't do for you.

This is general education about raising orphan lambs and goat kids. It does not diagnose illness, and it does not replace product instructions, veterinary advice, or current animal-welfare requirements where you live.

📚 Further reading

Where the information on this page comes from.

New Zealand — welfare requirements and guidance

• MPI — Code of Welfare: Sheep and Beef Cattle (PDF): Minimum Standard No. 11 on colostrum for artificially reared lambs, the six-hour recommendation, the 150–250 mL/kg/day figure for the first week, equipment hygiene, stomach tubing by or under skilled supervision, and liquid feed until at least four weeks of age.
• MPI — Code of Welfare: Goats (PDF): Minimum Standard No. 12 on hand rearing kids, the six-hour recommendation and 24–36 hour absorption limit, 10–12% of bodyweight per day in four or more feeds, liquid feed until the rumen can use solids alone, and weaning at not less than six weeks (preferably 8–10).
• MPI — Practical guide to rearing lambs (PDF, August 2024): the 15%-of-bodyweight rate, the feeds-per-day table, the 350 mL maximum per feed, mixing by the bag, avoiding sudden changes, weekly weighing, hay and meal from day one, and weaning at around 200 g of meal a day or 15–18 kg.

International supporting source

• University of Maryland Extension — Bottle Feeding Kids and Lambs (FS-1157): why lambs and kids end up on a bottle, the warning against drenching, syringing or dribbling milk, colostrum replacers versus supplements, creep feed and hay timing, and weaning at around 2.5 times birth weight.

Also useful

• Beef + Lamb New Zealand — Fact Sheet 80: Artificial lamb rearing (PDF) and Beating bloat in orphan lambs: the NZ commercial view, including the yoghurt method.