Creep Feeding Lambs: Profit and Scours

Set up creep feeding, measure its financial return and respond quickly when young lambs develop diarrhoea.

Creep feeding lambs: profit and scours

Tap the picture to watch the source discussion for this guide.

Sound familiar?

Creep feeding sounds like an easy win — extra growth on lambs before weaning, less strain on the ewe. But a dirty or poorly placed creep area can just as easily become the source of a scours outbreak that wipes out any gain you were chasing. The setup matters as much as the decision to do it.

Quick answer

Offer a fresh, lamb-specific creep feed in a clean, dry area lambs can get into but ewes can't. Start it early, keep it consistent, measure how much is actually being eaten, and weigh the extra weaning value against what it cost in feed and health.

Setting up the creep area

Place it where lambs naturally gather — but not right next to dirty water or bedding areas.
Design it so ewes physically can't get in and steal the feed.
Provide enough openings that lambs aren't crowding each other out.
Keep the feed shaded, dry and free of manure.
Pull out anything stale or mouldy immediately.
Follow the product's own feeding directions — zero-grazing systems often need a different ration entirely.

Work out if it's actually paying

Feed cost per lamb = total creep-feed cost ÷ number of lambs with access Extra value per lamb = additional weaning kilograms × your local price per kilogram Simple margin = extra value − feed cost per lamb

Also factor in deaths, medicine, labour and time to market — not just the feed bill. Compare against a similar group, or against your own reliable records from a previous season.

As a general reference point, well-managed creep feeding programs have produced roughly 9 kg of additional lamb weight from around 15 kg of creep intake by about 100 days of age. Treat that as a sense of what's possible, not a promise for your own flock.

If lambs start scouring

Diarrhoea in young lambs can come from diet, coccidiosis, cryptosporidiosis or other infections and management issues — often more than one at once. Check feed freshness, cleanliness, stocking density, water, and anything that's changed recently. Isolate sick lambs where advised, and get an actual diagnosis rather than guessing — a wrong guess costs you time you don't have with young stock.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Letting feed sit and get wet or contaminated.
Making sudden changes to the ration.
Assuming every scours case is caused by the creep feed itself.
Calculating "extra income" without subtracting the real costs.
Ignoring a lamb that's gone off water or looks weak.

This needs urgent help if

A lamb is weak, sunken-eyed, cold, unable to stand or drink, passing bloody diarrhoea — or several lambs go down together. Don't wait.

🎥 Watch and learn more

You already have the practical steps above. If you would like to hear the explanation and examples behind them:

Reference: Growth Well Podcast discussion with animal nutritionist Lubbe Jacobs.

Creep Feeding Lambs: Profit and Scours