Ok, I am afraid of sounding really dumb here, but I just got an idea.

I have a cow with more milk than we need. I want to raise a few lambs for meat. Would it work to put some baby lambs onto the cow? Her udder is really low and of course, jersey teats are very small. I am just wondering.. and of course, if this is not workable, I would like to know.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), May 07, 2001

Answers

Fancy meeting you here,(inside joke) If she will stand for them to suck, and their mouths are big enough to fit, it's possible,I have heard of such a thing with a step block under the cows udder, they may need help until they get bigger to get the milk down. There may be some digestion problems because cows milk is meant to grow a calf, that is what? 3 times the size of a lamb? Seems like when cows milk is used in a bottle for lambs or other "babies" it is diluted and mixed I can't remember how my grand parents did it.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), May 07, 2001.

Hmmm... interesting idea. I'd be concerned with mastitis and sore teats in the Jersey and the possibility of scours in the lambs. It might be safer to milk out the cow, then mix the milk to feed in a bucket.

If You try, a little Karo or molasses on the teats might tempt the lambs to the idea.

I'm interested in hearing what happens!

Randle

-- Randle Gay (rangay@hotmail.com), May 12, 2001.