The best thing to do before you start lambing is to be fully prepared!!

Pre-Lambing to do’s;

• Vaccinate ewes with blackleg vaccine 1 month prior to lambing, this helps give lambs some coverage against clostridial strains.
• De-worm the sheep with a pregnancy safe dewormer like safeguard at same time as vaccinating them
• Shear sheep a couple weeks before lambing, this helps keep things clean as well as easier to see what’s going on. Alternatively you can crutch them (trim the wool around the udder and the hind end).

Preparation;

• Create your checklist, check it twice, get lambing supplies at least 2 weeks before they are due. If you are unsure of their due dates it’s best to er on the side of caution and be ready!
• If you know the dates of service or approximate date of service using a gestation calculator is a great tool!
• You can find sheep gestation calculators online in many places, just type in sheep gestation calculator.

Lambing jugs and pens;

• Make your lambing jugs (pens) and panels including a community pen and pregnant maternity pen 2 weeks or more before due dates if possible
• Make sure you have enough jugs to withstand your numbers, example; if you have 20 ewes to lamb theoretically 4-6 lambing jugs should suffice.
• Have a community pen for ewes and their lambs to be together in with other ewes and lambs once bonded well together and ready to leave their lambing jugs.
• Have a separate area for the expectant mothers to be in together.
• Have pails for water in each pen as well as other water set up sources for other bigger pens ready.
• Have feed stations for all ewes including the individual jugs, it is ideal to have a creep feed area for the lambs as well (we use it to feed the lambs hay that the ewes can’t get to).
• You can also have lamb ration and a ewe ration on hand.

Feeding the lamb;

• Have lamb/kid colostrum on hand at all times as well (NO OTHER COLOSTRUM WILL DO) as well as bottles with nipples and a tuber.
• We like the 500 ml anti-vac bottles and nipples from co-op; we use it for calves, lambs, and kids.
• The pritchard nipples that screw onto pop bottles are also great.
• The lamb/kid colostrum can be found at most vet clinics or feed stores.
• If you have fresh colostrum collected from a previous lambing/kidding thaw it in warm water never a microwave!
• You can find specific lamb tubers but I prefer a 60 ml Catheter tip syringe and a little feeding tube that fits on the end.
• If the lamb hasn’t nursed from the mother within 1-2 hrs after birth get colostrum into it one way or another either by helping it get onto the ewe, giving a bottle, or tubing it! Lambs go downhill fast as they don’t have much brown adipose tissue which is used for generating body heat which can equal hypothermia.

Record Management;

• Lambing record sheets are essential to have on hand; I make my own using word.
• Create a table and add columns with Dam ID, Lamb ID, Birth date, Sex, Sire, Weight, Birthing Ease, Color/Breed, Comments, RFID.
• Tag all sheep using your lambing record sheets, it’s essential to have dams, rams, and lambs all individually ID tagged as well as RFID tagged when send them off your property.
• RFID tags can be purchased from Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers website, you will need a premise ID to purchase them.
• For individual ID tags we go in numerical order and use the letter year at the end so we can determine their ages.
• We also color code with individual ID tags, our ram lambs all get red and the ewe lambs get a specific color based on their sire.
• For example this year our ewe lambs off our Tunis ram get white tags and the females off our Suffolk ram get orange. In previous years we had a different Suffolk ram and they got green tags. This makes it easier to split into breeding groups in the future if using more than one ram.

Processing the lamb;

• Process lambs within 24-48 hrs of birth. Docking, castrating, tagging, giving vitamins A/D, Selenium E, and whatever other things you give with your operation (we also give baycox orally).

Observe;

• Watch your pregnant ewes closely, especially if in the outside elements.
• If outside in bad weather pay close attention!
• Lambs are very susceptible to hypothermia!!!! Hypothermia needs to be treated promptly, lambs fade fast with no intervention if its needed!
• Watch ewes and lambs closely after birth, make sure lambs are strong and nursing, make sure the ewe is not rejecting its lamb(s) and is mothering them up well.
• Intervene if necessary!

Treatment records;

• Have medications and supplies on hand for almost any situation, or at least the common ones.
• Write down all animal treatments; create a chart date given, medication given, reason given, and withdrawal date of that drug.

Supply Checklist

• Vaccine (syringes and needles to give it)
• Dewormer (syringes to give it)
• Shearers or find someone who can do that for you
• Shepherds crook (for flighty sheep)
• OB gloves and exam gloves
• Scrub/Prep Iodine Solution ( to add to water pail when assisting with parturition)
• Lamb head snare (optional)
• Colostrum (powdered or frozen)
• Lamb milk replacer
• Variety of bottles and nipples (some can be very picky and may prefer one over the other)
• Lamb tuber/60 ml catheter tip syringe with feeding tube
• Thermometer
• Hot box/hair dryer/heat lamp, etc to warm hypothermic lambs
• Old towels and pee pads to have on hand in case lambs need to be brought into the house for some extra TLC (not going to lie our kids love when this happens)
• Injectable Dextrose in case need to do intra-peritoneal injection on hypothermic lambs (and instructions and other supplies to do so)
• Viatmin A/D and Selenium E (injectable or oral and the syringes and needles to give them)
• Elastrator pliers and rings (for docking and castrating, both very important. Docking prevents fly strike and helps with hygiene and castrating helps manage unwanted pregnancies)
• Ear tagger for ID tags and the ID tags
• RFID tags and the pliers to match if not the same as the ID ones
• Whatever other optional medications you give to lambs when born (like Baycox for us)
• Lambing Records & Treatment Records (I have a binder dedicated to my sheep and goat things and another one for our cattle)
• Animal spray marker or crayon marker (in case need to mark a ewe for easy identification)
• Sheep halter
• Scissors and a knife (you never know when you will need one)
• Hoof shears (to trim each ewes feet once in lambing pen before kicking them into community pen)
• Antibiotics & pain medication (prescription meds that you will need a valid client patient relationship with your veterinarian to acquire)
• Your veterinarians phone # number in case of emergency

Happy Lambing!!!!