Drowning lambs

JimS · May 11, 2015

Has anyone had issue with lambs drowning in water troughs.

I feel the if the trough is low enough for the lamb to stand in, no problem. I also worry if there is not enough volume in a water source (like using an automatic dog waterer) and there is a rush on the water, some may go without. I also feel that low level pans cause the water to become too warm and less palatable resulting in less drinking. Finally, low pans and troughs are always soiled causing less drinking.

Your thoughts?

ohiojim · May 11, 2015

i'm useing an old bat tub for water, it has about 12 inches out of the ground and have never had any problems in 15 years....

LAA · May 11, 2015

A baby lamb is not going to drink much water at all and a lamb a couple of weeks old is not going to fall or jump in the trough. As far as going without, they will wait their turn if they are thirsty, this time of year spring grass pasture is high moisture and water consumption goes down for all livestock.

Nate V. IA · May 11, 2015

I had sheep for years and used all kinds of tanks, I don't think I have ever had one drown. I did find a ewe upside down in a hay feeder one time, still trying to figure out how she got in there, I had to remove a couple boards to get her out.

Nate

Bret4207 · May 12, 2015

Never had a lam or goat kid drown in a water tub of any kind. I've had newborns fall in puddles early in the year and freeze to death, but not in a waterer. We tend to use water tubs 10-16" high. In summer we brush them out and dump them daily. Sheep will tolerate a little more dirt and filth than goat, and a cow lots more than both of them, but no one drinks out of a waterer with too much crap in it.

A young lamb, say birth to 3 weeks, isn't going to be after water. BY 3 weeks they should be fireballs able to leap out of any trouble they find.

showcrop · May 12, 2015

We used a heated automatic waterer. It wasn't big enough for a lamb to fall into once they were tall enough. Since it was always there there was never a rush on it. In the rare situation when they were on pasture away from the waterer, we must have made a bucket or two available, but, since grass is about eighty per cent water I don't think that they ever drank much of it.

old harv · May 12, 2015

Lambs will find the most interesting ways to die imaginable. If they can jump in they can usually jump out. You want to dump the trough on a regular basis, usually every day, to keep the water clean and I add javex to mine whenever the trough starts to have green stuff or little bugs in it. They seem to like javex and I think it helps deworm them. They drink very little and very slowly. If there is a continuous flow they will all get water eventually. I have watered 700 head with 1/2 inch line 1/4 mile long on pasture and had no problems with volume. The water goes bad in the trough and has to be dumped every day even with that many sheep. I use a 40 gallon plastic trough that looks like a 100 gallon cow trough cut down to sheep height. I have had a couple of lambs die in other water troughs because they fell in and couldn't get out because they got stuck. They didn't drown, they died of hypothermia.

Drowning lambs

JimS

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ohiojim

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LAA

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Nate V. IA

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Bret4207

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showcrop

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old harv

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