1. TUBE FEEDING NEWBORN
LAMBS AND KIDS
SUSAN SCHOENIAN
Sheep & Goat Specialist
University of Maryland Extension
sschoen@umd.edu

2. TUBE FEEDING
 Tube feeding is a method of providing
nutrition to neonatal lambs and kids.
 Tube feeding can save a lamb or kid’s
life; thereby increasing lambing/kidding
rates and profitability.
 Sometimes, tube feeding is quicker
than trying to bottle feed a lamb or kid
and enables you to feed more milk.
 Tube feeding is a skill that all sheep and
goat producers should master.

3. WHEN/WHY MIGHTTUBE FEEDING BE NECESSARY?
 Dam died
 Dam not available for nursing
 Dam doesn’t have milk or enough milk
 Lamb/kid too weak to nurse (and/or
compete with littermates)
 Provide supplemental nutrition
 Administer electrolytes to lambs/kids with
diarrhea (scours)
 For disease prevention (CAE, OPP, Johne’s)

4. IMPORTANCE OF COLOSTRUM
 “First milk” produced by female after
parturition.
 Darker and thicker than milk.
 Accumulates in udder during final days of
pregnancy. Also produced first 24 hours after
giving birth.
 Rich in nutrients and antibodies.
 Newborns should ingest colostrum within their
first few hours of birth; must consume during
first 18-24 hours to get benefit.
 Newborn requires 10% of body weight in
colostrum (e.g. 10 lb. newborn needs 16 oz. of
colostrum, split into several feedings).

5. SOURCES OF COLOSTRUM
In declining order of preference
 Own dam
 Another dam of same species in flock
or herd.
 Fresh or frozen colostrum from a
neighbor’s dam of same species.
 Fresh or frozen colostrum from a
neighbor’s dam of different species.
 Colostrum substitute
(e.g. Land O’Lakes)
Better than nothing
 Colostrum supplement
 Homemade colostrum
 Milk replacer

6. STEPSTOTUBE FEEDING
1. Determine that tube feeding is necessary
2. Warm fluid
3. Get and sanitize equipment
4. Measure how far tube will need inserted (mouth -> last rib)
5. Restrain animal
6. Dip tube in clean water
7. Insert tube
8. Attach syringe (remove plunger)
9. Fill syringe with warmed fluid
10. Let fluid trickle in via gravity
11. Detach tube and plug end of tube as you withdraw it.

7. GET MILK READY
 Warm fluid to about 104ºF.
 Frozen colostrum should be
thawed slowly in a warm
water bath, not a
microwave.
 Microwaving destroys
antibodies.

8. INSERTTUBE
 Measure how far tube will need inserted.
 Hold head in normal position.
 Insert tube into esophagus not trachea.
 If tube enter trachea, lamb/kid will cough,
gag, and act violently.
 Animal should swallow as tube is
introduced
 Animal that has swallowed tube can still
bleat and cry.

9. FEED FLUID
 Remove plunger from syringe.
 Attach syringe to feeding tube.
 Fill syringe with warm fluid.
 Let fluid trickle in via gravity.
 Detach syringe and pinch off
end of tube as you withdrawal
it.

10. THANKYOU. DOYOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?
Susan Schoenian
Sheep & Goat Specialist
University of Maryland Extension
sschoen@umd.edu