The Show Lamb Feeding Timeline: 120 Days Out to Show Day

The directory tags products by phase: weeks 12–9, 8–6, 5–3, 2–1, show week, and show day. Count those windows backward from the show you are feeding for. They are a calendar, not one ration shared by every university. Protein ranges differ by publication. The show lamb feed guide lines the extension ranges up with feeds in the directory. Use that for the numbers, then follow the label on the bag you buy.

Always read and follow the product label directions for use, and consult your veterinarian before using any product.

Weeks 12–9

The early job is a lamb eating a base feed it was moved onto slowly, with clean water.

Kansas State University’s show lamb guide and Mississippi State University Extension’s nutrition guide both say to ask what the lamb has been eating and to change away from that feed slowly. Kansas State says to feed morning and evening at the same times. Mississippi State says a lamb must always have clean, fresh water, and that dirty, warm, or stale water is a poor offer. The protein bands those guides print are not one shared number. They are in the feed guide.

Two product notes belong this early because of what their labels print:

• LubriSynHA Livestock. The current label says 10 ml per day for sheep and goats, started 60 days before the show. The dose can be doubled for the first 7 days or before competition. Older listings under the name Lubrisyn LVS said 120 days. How it compares with the other joint products is in the joint supplement post.
• A daily gut product, if you use one, can start here. Appetite Express granules and Sure Champ Spark are the sheep-labeled options written up in Getting a Show Lamb to Eat. Kansas State describes probiotics as a help for keeping a lamb eating, and says supplements have little effect when they are not fed with a complete feed.

Weeks 8–6

Kansas State’s adjustment notes, as summarized in the feed guide: if the lamb is too fat, reduce the amount of feed and raise crude protein; if the lamb is too thin, lower crude protein and raise fat. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, in Feeding Management for Show Lambs, says a lamb that is getting too fat can go to a lower percentage of grain, or to a lower-energy grain such as oats, along with exercise.

Coat ingredients that document a lead time need that lead time. The flaxseed notes say visible coat change takes 4–6 weeks of consistent feeding, and that it is not a last-week ingredient. Those notes cite a Purina show-lamb feeding page and Penn State Extension. Other coat products have their own labels. The coat and bloom post compares the ones in the directory.

Weeks 5–3

This is where the directory tags more shaping, fat-cover, and muscle top-dresses. The feed-change rule does not relax. Mississippi State says to introduce any new feed over days or weeks. A large swap late in the program is the opposite of that.

Weeks 2–1

Small moves only. No new base feed. Kansas State and Mississippi State both say to change feeds slowly. An abrupt swap can upset the rumen.

If the show is drug-tested, read the medication line on every medicated bag and the show’s own rules. The directory flags Deccox (decoquinate) and Bovatec (lasalocid) on the feeds that list them. How those two differ is the Deccox vs. Bovatec post. Use the withdrawal time printed on the tag. Do not supply one that is not there.

Show week

Keep what you already built. Haul the familiar feed and keep the water clean. If you use a calming product, an electrolyte, or a fill product, use one you have already fed at home, whose label names sheep or lambs or all classes of livestock, and follow that label and the show’s rules.

Each product page lists the phases it is tagged for. Base feeds can be filtered by show phase. The supplements directory filters by function and use case.

Always read and follow the product label directions for use, and consult your veterinarian before using any product.