06/20/2026
Confused about feeding lambs? Read the tag on the bag. Look at the label on the bucket. What does the conventional wisdom of 3% of body weight mean if you don’t know the nutritional information of your feed? Three percent of my body weight of carrots produces significantly different outcomes to my body than three percent of pizza.
Unfortunately show feed labels don’t provide TDN or Mcal/CWT. Feeds are often like Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe hidden in the vault at headquarters. The basic numbers are important though; Protein, fat, and fiber, plus the ingredients listed in order from most to least for which you can look up TDN or Mcal values.
Your lambs don’t really care how they get their nutritional requirements met at any specific point on their growth curve….unless you manage to screw up rumen microbiota with acidosis or excessive added fats.
They don’t care if their requirements are met by feeding a 3% fat show feed and drenching with an egg yolk supplement, or just picking a 5% fat feed to reach similar fat content of the total ration. I know which is cheaper and requires less labor, but your lamb doesn’t care which you choose.
What about fiber requirements? You can feed a 15% fiber show feed from seed hull fillers and the sometimes advised “handful of hay” or you can feed a 6% fiber feed with high RFQ hay. Long stem fiber is better for rumen health and in my area it is cheaper to buy my fiber in the bale than in the show feed bag or bucket. Filler fiber is great if you have an old lamb that is fat and you want to hold the lamb. If you are pushing a lamb, you want to get as much nutritional inputs into the lamb as you can without acidosis risks. Good hay does that better than filler fiber supplemented by buttermilk and sugar drenches.
Thinking about a “fat burner?” Why did you get the lamb too fat in the first place? Is your lamb too skinny and are you thinking about a “bloom” product? Whenever you need to make major changes in a short period of time you are trying to salvage a screwup. You should have a long glide plane to touchdown and not be a jet fighter pilot trying to make a night landing on an aircraft carrier in rough water.
There should be a Hippocratic Oath for feeding. First do no harm. Don’t screw up the rumen.
What kind of lamb are you feeding? Pattern orientated lambs can be shown fatter to appear thicker to judges who base their perception of cover on visuals rather than handle. Power lambs should be shown leaner to maintain look when possible.
I am not suggesting that supplements can never be useful. If you have elite lambs playing at the national level perhaps a trivial marginal difference can hang that banner you have chased forever. But if your first question is what supplement program do I need to work a miracle, you had probably better get close to the ballpark before you dream of hitting the winning home run in the 7th game of the World Series.
