Lambs must suck milk up through the plastic tubing similar to a straw. Consequently, the initial draws on the nipple consist of air rather than milk. Weak or non-aggressive lambs may quit sucking before receiving milk. To minimize this problem, milk should be kept near nipple level so that lambs obtain it with a minimum of effort. Self-priming nipples are commercially available, but are more difficult to clean.
Milk is at the end of the nipple on the first suck.
As a result, this design has proven to be superior to the top-feeding bucket because of the ease of getting lambs started on milk replacer. Once lambs are fully adapted to self feeding, there is no difference in lamb performance based on bucket design. Nipples made of latex or rubber are commercially available. Although latex nipples are more supple than rubber nipples, lambs do not seem to show any preference for one type over the other, and the useful life of latex nipples is much shorter than that of rubber nipples. Nipple height should be no less than 12 inches and no more than 15 inches above the floor.