Question: I have a lamb that we bought about a month ago that the breeder had on Acco feed. My distributor was out of Honor Feed so I had to buy the Acco again. I have always used Honor for my goats and pigs and I am going to switch the lamb over also. He weighs about 116 lbs and the limit is 160 lbs for a show in 12 weeks so I am holding him back to obtain a gradual increase in weight up to that point. When I start him on the Grower DX, is there anything I can use to supplement to give him that full feeling? He is a big boy and is always hungry. Thanks!
Answer: Thank you for your e-mail and for choosing HONOR Showlamb feeds. I suggest putting the lamb on HONOR Showlamb Grower DX now through show time. If the maximum weight limit at your show is 160 lbs, you have 84 days from today and 44 lbs. If your lamb grows at 0.50 lbs per day, that will give you 42 lbs of weight gain.
That should put your lamb at 158 lbs by show day. This might be too big depending upon your lamb. If you want to slow or limit growth rate, increase exercise and or increase exercise and decrease the amount of daily feed. Remember that under normal conditions (not much exercise) a lamb will convert feed at about a 5:1 ratio (5 lbs of feed to 1 lbs gain).
So, if you feed about 2 lbs the lamb will gain lbs per day (with no exercise). With exercise you can increase the daily feeding rate to at least 3 lbs per day.
I suggest feeding the lamb about 2 lbs per day of HONOR Showlamb Grower DX and lbs per day of HONOR Champion Drive Topdress. This should get you about lbs per day average daily gain with some exercise.
The more you exercise the less the lamb will gain on the same amount of feed. Remember as well, that not all lambs gain at the same pace. Some lambs might gain 0.3 lbs per day, and some at 0.6 lbs per day on the same amount of feed. So, it is a good idea to weight the lambs at least twice per week to know exactly what your lamb is gaining. It is also a very good idea to weigh the feed so that you know the lambs feed conversion ratio. This will help you down the road as you really begin to management weight gain.
Thanks again,
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC
Question: Hi. I am feeding Honor for the first time and I purchased some lambs that were being fed Honor. The breeder told me to feed the starter dx pellet and grower dx together. How much of each should I be feeding? The lambs are weighing around 85 lbs. The lambs are going to be shown at the Sacramento County Fair in late May. Thank you for your time.
Answer: Mandy,
Thank you for your e-mail and for choosing HONOR Showlamb feeds. Actually, since the lamb is 85 lbs, we recommend feeding the HONOR Showlamb Grower DX feed as the sole diet. There is no need to feed the HONOR Showlamb Starter DX as well.
Depending upon how fast you want your lamb to grow, it should be fed 2 to 4% of its body weight. Your lamb weighs 85 lbs, so it should be fed about 2 to 3 lbs per day. If faster growth is required, you could probably feed the lamb about 4 lbs per day.
Thanks again,
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Question: What feed do you recommend for creep feed for my lambs? What feed do you recommend for lactating ewes and ewes on pasture (no lambs)?
Answer: Abbey,
Thank you for your e-mail. We recommend HONOR Showlamb Starter DX Pellet as a creep feed. Land O Lakes feed has several excellent sheep feeds from which to select a good ewe feed.
Thanks again,
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Question: I am using Honor showlamb starter pelleted with my lambs but I have lambs that are 25# and several lambs that are 100#. I still have 100 days until our fair. I am wondering about holding those 100# lambs. Is it better to start holding them now or to wait. I am feeding them close to 2 1/2# a day of the starter and about a #1 of alfalfa. Can you suggest when to start holding them and how? I have heard that you can hold them by feeding about 1/2 of the ration in oats and then adding a topdress. Also, how little can you feed a growing lamb and not lose your growth and condition? Thanks.
Answer: Kerri,
Thank you very much for your e-mail and for choosing HONOR Showlamb feeds. Actually, the HONOR Showlamb Starter DX Pellet is appropriate for the young 25 lbs lamb, however the heavier lambs really need to be on HONOR Showlamb Grower DX. It does a much better job at maturing the muscle pattern and condition of a showlamb. It is also a better choice when holding a lamb.
For slowing or holding the best thing is to increase the exercise. The more calories you burn with exercise, the fewer calories can be converted to weight gain by the lamb.
You might consider feeding about 2 lbs per day HONOR Showlamb Grower and 1/2 to
1 lb per day HONOR Champion Drive Topdress. If the lambs are still gaining too much, transition the feed to about 1 lbs of HONOR Showlamb Grower and 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of HONOR Champion Drive Topdress.
Question: I am a first time user of HONOR Show Feeds. I love it, but want to make sure I am feeding it correctly. I have lambs going to NAILE in November. How much should I be feeding of the grower and top dress? The lambs weigh 96 lbs, 120 lbs, and 130 lbs.
Answer: Scott,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Basically, we recommend feeding lambs the HONOR Showlamb Grower 2-1/2% to 4% of their bodyweight, depending upon how fast you want the lamb to grow and the condition of the lamb.
If the lamb needs more body condition, then we suggest feeding more feed per day based on what you are seeing. The same goes for growth rate.
The HONOR Champion Drive Topdress does a great job at adding luster to skin, hair, and wool. Probably the best thing it does is help to build a nice top (rack) in a lamb. We suggest feeding Champion Drive at 1/4 to 1/2 lbs per day per lamb for the final 30-45 days prior to the first time the lamb will be shown. You can feed this all the way through if you desire.
Hope this helps, and again thank you for choosing HONOR.
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Question: This is my daughter’s first year doing a market lamb project. We are feeding him the Honor’s feed along with Topdress. Our fair is approximately 35 days away and he has been on the Topdress for about 2 weeks now. We started him on 4#/day including the 1/2# Topdress at about 105# of body wt. He looks great! He is now approximately 2 weeks later over 120#. Our target weight for him is 140#. The leader said that he is finished and not to let him gain more than 10 more pounds. Now, is his finished feel and appearance because of the Topdress? Will he hold this for another 35 days without becoming over finished? Thanks, Ranee
Answer: Ranee,
Thank you for your e-mail. Yes, the HONOR Champion Drive does a great job at promoting muscle shape and I believe is responsible for the change in the lamb.
To limit weight gain, I would reduce the amount of HONOR Showlamb Grower to about 2 lbs per day and keep the topdress at 1/2 lbs per day. Also, exercise will help reduce the amount of gain as this burns calories that would have been used for weight gain.
If you need to really hold the lamb still, you might try feeding 2 lbs of HONOR Champion Drive Topdress and 1/2 lbs of HONOR Showlamb Grower per day. Do not switch to this regimen all at once. Take about 4-5 days to adjust to this (if you decide to do it).
Question: We have never used Purina Show Chow lamb Grower/Finisher. We have lambs in the 85# weight area and 72 days until the fair. How much feed should we give per day per animal? Thanks!
Answer: Brenda,
Thank you for your e-mail and for choosing Show Chow brand show feeds. We recommend feeding 2 1/2 to 4% of bodyweight for lambs. The Show Chow Ultratoner 18 DQ is a great feed for show lambs. Feed closer to 4% if you want more growth and closer to 2 1/2% for slowing growth.
So, for an 85 lbs lamb, 4% of bodyweight would be 3.4 (rounded up to 3 1/2 lbs) lbs per day.
Question: I was wondering in the summer what product you would use, Unfit or Hocus Pocus?
Answer: I would use a new product from Ezall that is called ” IT’S GONE.” We have had good luck with it and does not damage the leg hair and Tailhead hair. Sullivan Supply recently started handling this product.
Thank you for your e-mail and for choosing to feed HONOR. I suggest feeding a growing lamb about 4% of their bodyweight. That would be about 4 lbs for a 100 lbs lamb. However, you can feed more and the lamb will eat more than 4% of their bodyweight.
The amount you need to feed depends on several factors: how the lamb is growing, not all lambs are the same and some will do much more with the same amount of feed. So, if what you are feeding has the lamb on track for the weigh you desire at the show you are going to, then that is the correct daily feeding rate. how the lamb looks, lambs need to have some cover (body condition or fat layer, particularly across the ribs) but should also handle firmly and be muscular. If the lamb is soft, too fat or not fat enough you may need to adjust the daily feeding amount.
We also have another product called HONOR Champion Drive Topdress that does an excellent job of building a lamb top and putting extra dimension there. The feeding rate on that product is about one half lbs per day, or one yellow scoop (inside the bucket) per day. Thanks again, and please let me know if you need more information.
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
