Fiqh-us-Sunnah - 3.43

Hadith 3.43.1

Young Camels, Calves, and Lambs

When a person has a nisab of camels, cattle, and lambs, and they give birth during the same year, zakah is due on both the original number and their offsprings at the end of the year. Their zakah is considered a lump-sum zakah according to the majority of scholars. On the authority of Malik and ash-Shaf'i, from Sufyan ibn 'Abdullah ath-Thaqafi, it is related that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab said: "The new-born sheep (as-sakhlah) carried by the shepherd are not to be taken as zakah. Likewise, a barren sheep (al-'akulah), a ewe kept for milk (ar-raby), a pregnant ewe (al-makhid) and a ram used for breeding (fahl al-ghanam) are not to be taken as zakah. Take as zakah the jadh'ah and the thaniyyah. Zakah is levied on the average quality of the property."
Abu Hanifah, ash-Shaf'i, and Abu Thaur are of the opinion that the young offspring are not to be calculated in the zakah payment unless the mature animals make a nisab.
Also, Abu Hanifah stated that the young sheep can be added to fulfill a nisab whether they are born from the same livestock or not. They will be subject to zakah at the end of the year. Ash-Shaf'i lays down the condition that young animals have to be born prior to the completion of the nisab. There is no zakah on young animals according to Abu Hanifah, Muhammad, Dawud, ash-Shu'abi, and Ahmad.
Ahmad, Abu Dawud, an-Nasa'i, ad-Daraqutni and al-Baihaqi, relate that Suwaid ibn Ghaflah said: "The zakah collector of the Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace, came to us and I heard him say: 'In my term of office, a suckling animal was not subject to zakah . . .' " In its chain of narrators is Hilal ibn Hubab, whom several have declared trustworthy, but some did not. It was authenticated by more than one person but was a point of contention to others.
According to the opinion of Malik and a report from Ahmad, young animals as well as mature ones are subject to zakah, because if the former could be considered with others (for purposes of zakah), then they could also be considered on their own. Ash-Shaf'i and Abu Yusuf hold that at least one young (animal) is obligatory (as zakah) from the young animals.