Subject: Lambing FAQ [6.2]
Supersedes: <lambing_823497301@mlfarm.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 04:15:07 GMT
Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) on lambing, and the care
. of ewes and lambs, for small producers and hobby farms.

Version: 6.2 <http://www.connix.com/~mlfarm/rural/lambing.html>

                                 Lambing FAQ
                                 -----------

                            1996 Ronald Florence

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Contents

  1. Care of the Ewe Before Lambing
  2. Gestation Problems
  3. Equipment and Supplies
  4. Signs of Readiness
  5. Normal Procedures
  6. Twins & Triplets
  7. Rejected Lambs
  8. Nursing Problems
  9. Problem Births
 10. Timing Births
 11. Aged Ewes
 12. Drying Off Ewes
 13. Prolapses
 14. Medications
 15. Lambing Pens
 16. Orphans
 17. Care of Lactating Ewes
 18. Human Health Concerns
 19. Pasture Lambing
 20. Are Sheep Wild Animals
 21. Credits
 22. Copyright & Permissions

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Subject: Care of the Ewe Before Lambing

What special care do ewes require before lambing?

If you use a marking harness on your ram(s) during breeding, or if you have
been observant and recorded breeding dates, you can add five months to the
date when the ewe was last bred to predict when she will lamb. The exact
gestation period varies by breed, from 142-154 days. For our Cotswolds at
Maple Lawn Farm, we use 150 days to predict lambing.

For the first three and a half months of gestation, fetal lamb growth is
slow. A generous ration of nutritious and palatable hay like alfalfa, clover
or timothy, or a less-nutritious hay with a small supplement of protein-rich
grain, is sufficient nutrition for the ewe. Feeding ewes too much during
early gestation may get them over-conditioned, which is uneconomical and can
be unhealthy for the ewe when the lambs begin their growth spurt. If you can
feel a heavy layer of fat along the backs of your ewes, they are probably
over-conditioned.

The last six weeks of gestation is the period of rapid growth of the fetal
lambs. If you are feeding timothy or alfalfa hay free-choice, start giving
the ewes approximately 1/2 pound of grain per day; with less-nutritious hays
you may need to feed more grain. 4-6 weeks before lambing is a good time for
vaccinations: a CD/T booster, and BO-SE or a vitamin-E supplement if you
have had problems with white-muscle disease or if your hay is grown on
selenium-deficient soils. If you have had problems with abortions, or if the
problem is common in your area, your vet may recommend that you vaccinate
against enzootic and/or vibrionic abortion.

One month before lambing is a good time to shear ewes. With the fleece out
of the way, lambing is easier for the shepherd, the barn is roomier and
warmer (all that body heat is shared instead of being held in by the
fleece), nursing is easier for the lambs, and the ewes require smaller
lambing pens. If the ewes are not shorn before lambing, crutch the vulva and
udder areas, and watch out for breaks in the wool from nutritional
deficiencies late in gestation.

Make sure the barn or lambing area is clean and well-ventilated. Test the
ventilation by smelling on your hands and knees. Often barns that smell fine
five feet up have a strong ammonia buildup at the level of sheep and
especially lambs. If you have a bedding pack built up, it is a good idea to
spread hydrated lime and clean straw in what will become the maternity ward
and lambing pen area.

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Subject: Gestation Problems

What problems should I watch for during gestation?

The most common risk to pregnant ewes is Pregnancy Toxemia (twin lamb
disease, ketosis), which typically manifests itself in older ewes carrying
multiple lambs, or extremely thin or fat ewes. The symptoms are dullness,
lagging behind the flock, teeth grinding, frequent urination, and
unsteadiness; in later stages of the disease, the ewe goes down, and her
breath smells like acetone (nail polish remover). Pregnancy Toxemia is
caused by a diet deficient in energy late in pregnancy; the ewe uses up her
sugar reserves, turns to her body fat, and the resulting metabolism releases
ketones, which accumulate in the bloodstream. Overfeeding early in pregnancy
can aggravate the condition. Pregnancy Toxemia can sometimes be treated by
administration of intravenous glucose and oral glycerin or propylene glycol,
but is frequently fatal. It can be avoided with a proper feeding program.

Chlamydiosis, which produces enzootic abortions in ewes, is highly
contagious. If it is a risk in your area -- your vet will know -- there are
vaccines available. Because of the contagious potential, including
transmission to humans, exercise extreme care with aborted fetuses and
tissues. The incubation period is 60-90 days after infection. Vibriosis,
which has similar symptoms, is difficult to distinguish from Chlamydiosis
except in the laboratory. The vaccine is different, so it is important to
carefully transport a fresh or frozen aborted fetus to a qualified pathology
lab for diagnosis.

Hypocalcemia (milk fever) is caused by the huge demands for calcium a
near-term lamb makes on the ewe. The usual symptoms are that the ewe goes
off her food, her ears are ice cold, her muscles stiffen, she goes down, and
bloat may set in. The condition responds spectacularly to subcutaneous
injection of 100ml. of calcium borogluconate solution (Cal-Dextro #2).
Inject in at least four sites and massage the site after the injection.
Hypocalcemia most often strikes older ewes with multiple lambs.

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Subject: Equipment and Supplies

What equipment and supplies do I need for lambing?

If everything goes right, and it does most of the time, you need nothing
more than:

   * a pair of surgical scissors, available from a drug store or vet supply;
   * a wide-mouthed bottle of 7% iodine solution;
   * a clean, dry, bedded pen for the ewe and her lamb(s). The dimensions
     can range from 4x4 feet for smaller breeds to 5x5 feet for larger
     breeds, with a water bucket and a hay feeder for each pen. For a small
     flock, plan on one pen for every five ewes; a larger flock can get by
     with one pen for every seven ewes.

It's a good idea to have the following available, just in case:

   * a baby bottle (4 or 8 oz.); use a heated needle to expand the hole in
     the nipple;
   * a tube feeder; vet supply houses sell them, or you can buy a rubber
     catheter and large syringe from a drug store;
   * a hair-dryer and/or a heat lamp;
   * 60ml. syringes, 20ga. needles, and a sterile solution of electrolytes
     with 5-10% glucose added;
   * shoulder-length plastic examining gloves;
   * a rubber or plastic bowl and Ivory liquid soap or an obstetric/vaginal
     lubricant;
   * Penicillin or antibiotic vaginal boluses;
   * frozen colostrum from an earlier birth, from a goat or cow, or an
     artificial colostrum mix; the easiest source is to milk out and freeze
     extra colostrum from a ewe with a single lamb;
   * warm, dry towels;
   * Cal-Dextro #2 or another calcium boroglutonate solution, and large
     (60ml.) syringes, for hypocalcemia.

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Subject: Signs of Readiness

How do I know when a ewe is ready to lamb?

No two ewes manifest the same signs. Some wander off to a far corner of a
pasture, or find a corner of the barn where they can be alone. Some will go
off food. Most will `drop' as the position of the uterus shifts lower in
their bodies and hollow areas appear in their flanks; this is sometimes hard
to see in older ewes, who are dropped most of the time. Ewes usually `bag
out' as milk develops in the udder a day or two before lambing. When the ewe
goes into labor, she may paw the ground as if digging a nest, and is often
restless, getting up, circling or moving to a new spot, lying down, and
repeating the cycle. As she moves further into labor, you can see
contractions, the water (amnion) will often break, and she may grit her
teeth.

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Subject: Normal Procedures

What do I have to do for a `normal' birth?

Most ewes can handle things pretty well; patience is often more productive
than intervention if nothing looks awry. Within four hours of the onset of
labor, the ewe will deliver a lamb and set to cleaning and mothering it. The
vigorous licking is important stimulation to the lamb, and helps trigger
hormones that accelerate the development of milk, contractions for remaining
twins or triplets, and the expulsion of the afterbirth. If you're there when
the lamb is born -- and you should try to be -- clear any mucus from the
lamb's nose and make sure it is breathing. If it isn't, tickle the nostrils
with a piece of straw. If that doesn't work, pick the lamb up by both back
legs and gently swing it in a vertical circle over your head; the up and
down movement of the diaphragm as the lamb swings is an efficient artificial
respiration. Some shepherds use oxygen or even mouth-to-nose respiration to
start a lamb.

Usually, lambs need little help beyond a tickle with straw. Then, allow the
mother a few minutes to mother her lamb, before you clip, dip, and strip.

   * CLIP the lamb's umbilical cord within an inch of the lamb's navel.
   * DIP the umbilical cord in the iodine solution, making sure it it
     thoroughly covered with iodine. Some shepherds use a Terramycin spray
     instead of the iodine dip.
   * STRIP the ewe's teats, to make sure the wax plug is gone and milk
     (actually colostrum) comes out.

You may want to weigh the lamb, and on a very cold night, a hair-dryer on
the lamb's ears, or a heat lamp, can help a chilled lamb get up to speed. Be
careful with heat lamps: use only porcelain sockets and heavy duty cords,
and keep them at least 36 inches from bedding or other flammable materials.
Even with every precaution, ewes knock lamps over, starting barn fires, and
too much time under the heat lamp can encourage pneumonia. For a really
chilled lamb, some shepherds use a heat box with a hole for a hair-dryer, or
a bucket of warm water to submerge the lamb (except the head, of course).
Try not to wash or dry the lamb too much; letting the ewe do the work
stimulates the lamb and encourages bonding between them.

When the ewe is finished lambing, which can take a while for twins or
triplets, gently drag the lambs into the lambing pen. The ewe will follow
the trail of smells in the bedding. She will want a bucket of water (warm if
possible, adding a few tablespoons of molasses will encourage her to drink)
and a nice tab of hay. She won't need grain for a day or two, but should
have free choice hay and plenty of water. When you spot the afterbirth,
usually from an hour to eight hours after birth, remove it from the pen.

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Subject: Twins & Triplets

How do I know if the ewe is going to have twins or triplets?

Sometimes you can tell in advance from the size and shape of the ewe. If
another lamb is coming, the ewe may get restless again, walking away from
her lamb, or lying down with contractions. The second (or third) amnion may
break with another flood of fluid. If a bag of reddish fluid and a white
worm-like tissue, or the afterbirth itself, appears, it probably means she
is not going to have any more lambs that year. Sometimes the only way to be
sure whether there is another lamb is to physically examine the ewe with a
glove and lubricant. Unless something seems to be awry, it's best not to
interfere.

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Subject: Rejected Lambs

What do I do if the ewe rejects her lamb?

Some rookie mothers don't know what to do; they drop a lamb and walk away as
if they had just pooped. Putting the lamb in front of their noses, or
putting them into a pen with the lamb is usually enough. You may have to
help the lamb nurse the first time. It usually works better to nudge the
lamb from behind, the way a ewe does, than to drag it to a teat. Tickling
the lamb's bottom when it has the teat in its mouth is often enough to get
it sucking. A wagging tail on the lamb, or the belly going in and out, is
generally a reliable sign the lamb is getting milk (actually colostrum the
first day).

Some mothers will reject a lamb, often one of twins or triplets. If you hold
the ewe so the lamb can nurse, either manually or by putting the ewe in a
stanchion, after several days the ewe will usually begin to accept the lamb.
The key for the ewe is the smell of the back end of the lamb; after a few
days, the ewe will detect her own milk in the lamb's feces. Another trick is
to bring a dog into the barn. Often, the instinct to protect the lamb from
the dog is strong enough to reestablish the bond of ewe and lamb. If the
mother bashes the lamb as well as not allowing it to nurse, you may have to
take it away and bottle feed it.

Grafting a lamb to another mother, because the first mother lacks milk or
has too many lambs, is tricky. Some techniques include: bathing the graftee
in amniotic fluids from the new mother, a stanchion for forced nursing,
tying the feet of an older lamb so it won't seem too active, skinning a dead
lamb (the way you skin a rabbit) and placing the skin over the lamb you want
to graft. Some shepherds have had luck inflating a balloon or putting a
gloved fist in the adopting ewe's vagina; when it is withdrawn slowly, the
ewe thinks she is giving birth again. Whatever the techniques, grafting
takes patience. persistence, and luck. If you're trying to graft by smearing
fresh amniotic fluids over an older lamb, it helps to dip the graftee in
water first, preferably warm water, and to restrain the ewe so her nose
doesn't get too wise too early. Sometimes a ewe will initially allow the
lamb to nurse, then later figure out that it isn't her lamb and reject it.

If there is any chance a lamb may end up a bottle baby, it is a good idea to
give it a bottle or two fairly early. Lambs that have known only a ewe's
teat sometimes are tough to train to a bottle.

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Subject: Nursing Problems

What if the lamb can't or won't nurse?

Make sure the ewe has colostrum by milking each teat. If the ewe wasn't
shorn or crutched before lambing, you may need to use hand shears to clear
some of the dung locks away so the lambs can find the teats. Lambs aren't
the brightest little creatures, and will often suck away on a tag of wet
fleece instead of the teat.

The lamb may be too small, too cold, or too weak to nurse. Put your finger
in the lamb's mouth to see if it is strong enough to suck. If it sucks on
the finger, milk 2-4 ounces of colostrum from the mother into a baby bottle.
Then, using a nipple that has had the hole widened with a hot needle, feed
the lamb two ounces at a time. One or two feedings of colostrum may be
enough to jump start the lamb.

If the lamb is too weak to suck on your finger, and especially if the lamb's
mouth is cold, tube feed two ounces of colostrum. You can buy ready-made
tube feeders from vet supply houses, or make your own from a surgical
catheter and a large syringe. Lubricate the tube with a little mineral oil
or warm water, measure how much tube it takes to reach the lamb's rumen, and
slide it down gently. Stop frequently and hold a wet finger over the end of
the tube; if you feel air coming out, you're in the trachea or lungs; pull
out and start again. A really weak lamb may also be dehydrated. You can
inject 30-50ml. of 5-10% dextrose solution subcutaneously, in three or four
spots (10 ml. each) along the back and sides to rehydrate the lamb. You may
need to tube feed at 2 or 3 hour intervals until the lamb is strong enough
to nurse.

Whatever procedure or combination of procedures you follow, the lamb needs
feedings of colostrum for the first eight to twelve hours. If the mother
doesn't have any, use frozen colostrum saved from a ewe with a single lamb,
colostrum from a goat or cow, or an artificial colostrum. Frozen colostrum
should be heated in a double-boiler, or by putting the bottle in a pan of
heated water; avoid the microwave, which will kill the useful microbodies.

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Subject: Problem Births

How can I tell if a birth isn't going right?

If a ewe has been in labor for four hours without dilating enough to deliver
a lamb, if the lamb appears in an unbroken amnion, or if you see indications
of a presentation other than the normal two front feet and the nose of the
lamb together, the ewe may need help.

If the cervix of the ewe remains tight after prolonged labor, careful manual
massage of the vulva may help, or the ewe may need an injection of Oxytocsin
to induce contractions and to relax the cervix. If the lamb seems to be
coming, and the presentation is correct, rolling the ewe on her side, or
onto the other side, can sometimes tip things enough to ease the birth.

If a lamb appears in an unbroken amnion, use a fingernail to gently break
the the sack as quickly as possible. The danger is that the lamb will take a
breath inside the sack and drown.

If the presentation of the lamb is wrong, you will need to help. Make sure
your fingernails are cut short, put on one or two long obstetric examining
gloves, and lubricate your gloved hand and arm in warm water with dissolved
Ivory soap, or with an obstetric lubricant. The ewe should be on her back or
her side, with an assistant holding her back legs up. If you're alone, you
can tie a length of baling twine to her back legs and loop it over your
neck, or loop a rope over a beam in the barn. Even ewes who are normally shy
are often cooperative when you're helping them with lambing, but you want to
hold her still. Ease up when she has a contraction, so you aren't fighting
her; the contractions are strong enough to clamp hard on your arm. You will
be working by feel, so try to imagine what is connected with what as you
gently work your fingers into the vaginal canal. If you don't have an
assistant to hold a light for you, try to arrange adequate lighting. In a
dark barn it is easy to confuse hooves and noses.

Some presentations are relatively easy. If one leg and the head are in the
birth canal, you can usually turn the lamb slightly and ease one shoulder
out. If the lamb is in breech position (fanny first), pull it out quickly so
it doesn't drown in amniotic fluids when the cord breaks. If the
presentation is head first without the front legs, don't try to pull the
lamb out. Instead, gently push the head back in and sort out the hooves so
they come out the canal with the head. Sometimes twins are tangled. Gently
sort the head and hooves of the twin closest to the cervix into a proper
presentation. It's a good idea for a person with a relatively small hand to
do the job. It often helps to close your eyes and imagine the lamb(s) inside
the uterus; once you have a clear image of what goes where, you can figure
out how to get one lamb at a time down the birth canal. Above all, be
gentle; the tissues are delicate, and perforation of the uterus or birth
canal is almost certainly fatal to the ewe. Some presentations, like a
transverse lamb at the cervix, are jobs for an experienced vet.

Even with complex presentations, unless the lamb is in breech position,
patience is often rewarded. Excessive or premature intervention can cause or
aggravate problems that would otherwise work themselves out in time.

One other problem that occasionally shows up is a lamb born with a portion
of detached placenta still attached to the umbilical cord. The trick here is
to tie off the umbilical cord 3-4 inches from the lamb before the placenta
is cut off, so the lamb will not bleed from the umbilical cord.

If you have intervened, even with a sterile glove, you probably want to give
the ewe either a uterine antibiotic bolus or an injection of Penicillin
afterwards.

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Subject: Timing Births

I can't be home in the daytime (or don't want to stay up all night). Is
there a way to get the ewes to lamb when I want them to instead of at all
hours of the day and night?

Maybe. Ewes are creatures of habit. Recent experiments suggest that
shepherds can take advantage of the ewe's conditioned diurnal cycle to
concentrate lambing at a convenient period of the day or night. There are
two parts to the program: 1) feeding the ewes at a consistent time every
day; and 2) not providing any stimuli during the night that will confuse the
cycle. The latter means no unnecessary noise and no bright lights in the
barn at night; all checking of the flock is done with a flashlight and
quietly. At Maple Lawn Farm we feed hay in the morning, grain at 5pm, follow
the quiet regime in nighttime barn checks, and 90% of our lambs are born in
the daytime or early evening. If you want births only in the daytime, a
morning or noon feeding may work better. With different feeds, breeds,
climate, or barn setup, your mileage may vary.

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Subject: Aged Ewes

When is a ewe too old to keep?

There is no fixed age for retirement. Older ewes can be wonderful mothers
and raise healthy, fast-growing lambs: the ewes will have built up a broad
range of antibodies which they pass on, and the mothering instinct seems to
grow stronger with time. Eventually, old ewes get tired. The uterus loses
elasticity, the udder may lose capacity either through a bout with mastitis
or just aging of the plumbing, and sometimes the muscle tissues of the
abdomen get so weak that the weight of a lamb or lambs stretches the
musculature beyond its ability to retension. Some older ewes may not be able
to deliver lamb(s) unaided, even with a normal presentation. If an older ewe
has trouble producing colostrum right after birth, giving her warm water
with molasses and a little grain to build up her energy may help; kneading
and massaging the udder, or banging it the way a lamb does, may also
encourage the milk to drop down. A loss of elasticity in the uterus, a
permanent drop of the abdominal tissues, or an inability to produce
colostrum or milk means it's time to cull the ewe.

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Subject: Drying Off Ewes

What do I do if the lamb(s) die?

If a ewe loses her lambs, and you don't have another lamb to graft onto her,
it is important to gradually reduce her production of milk. The easiest
procedure is to keep her in a pen, feeding her small rations of the lowest
nutrition hay you have, and holding down her water intake. Don't feed her
any grain. It may help to milk her out a few times. If it is early enough,
milk out and save her colostrum in the freezer for emergency use in future
years. When her bag is soft, you can put her onto a pasture, but avoid lush
pasturage for a while.

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Subject: Prolapses

What do I do if the ewe prolapses?

There are three kinds of prolapse that can affect a ewe. During gestation,
the growth of lambs can cause the vagina or rectum to prolapse, an
unfortunate consequence of large lambs and good nutritional programs. An
occasional bulge of pink flesh that emerges from the vulva when the ewe lies
down and retracts when she gets up and walks around may not be cause for
concern, but keep an eye on her. If a grapefruit-sized mass of red flash
protrudes and stays out, the ewe needs immediate attention.

To treat vaginal prolapse, pen the ewe and raise her rear legs (standing her
back legs on a bale of hay works) to relieve the pressure. Wash the
protruding flesh with mild soap and water and replace it gently, watching
out that your fingernails don't tear the tender flesh. There are three
options for holding the prolapse in place. You can take stitches in the top
and bottom of the vulva, using a quick-release knot that can be pulled out
at birth. The TV Vet Sheep Book (Farming Press Ltd.) recommends this
technique and shows how to do it. Another choice is the plastic prolapse
retainers sold by the vet supply houses; the instructions say to tie twine
from the ends of the retainer to the ewe's wool, but it is easier and more
secure to put a bell collar on the ewe and run tight twine ties from the
collar to the prolapse retainer. A third option is a twine harness for the
ewe, a procedure described in Ron Parker, The Sheep Book (Ballantine, 1984).
Many shepherds believe the tendency toward vaginal prolapse is hereditary
and a good reason to cull the ewe and her lambs.

A ewe can prolapse the entire uterus after birth. This is a situation for a
vet, but in a pinch you can carefully wash the protruding uterus, sprinkle
it with sugar to make it shrink, and carefully replace it. The ewe should be
treated with antibiotics afterward. A partially expelled afterbirth looks
much like the inside of the uterus. Be careful not to confuse them.

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Subject: Medications

What medications do the ewe and lamb need after birth?

Ewes are susceptible to a rise in worms after lambing, and should be given a
dose of wormer the next day. If you had to intervene to assist with the
birth, the ewe may need an antibiotic series. If the afterbirth isn't
expelled within twelve hours, you may want to give the ewe an injection of
Oxytocsin.

Local conditions will determine what, if any, medication the lambs need. If
you didn't dip the navel in iodine immediately after birth, you may want to
give the lambs a precautionary injection of Penicillin. If your pastures and
feed are selenium-deficient, and you've had lambs develop white-muscle
disease, you may want to inject lambs with BO-SE (selenium & vitamin E
supplement); the minimum recommended dose of 2ml. may be too much for a
newborn; try 0.5ml. If you've had pneumonia problems with lambs, you may
want to administer PI-3, a nasal vaccine approved for cows, at birth. If the
ewes weren't vaccinated with CD/T before lambing, you should vaccinate the
lambs early; otherwise, wait until the lambs are at least a month old before
their first vaccination with CD/T. The tetanus part of CD/T may only be
necessary if you have equines on your farm or other indications of tetanus.

Watch for entropion, a turned-in eyelash (usually the lower) that irritates
the lamb's eye and produces profuse tearing. Some shepherds recommend
injecting 0.5ml of Penicillin into the lower eyelid to force the lash away
from the eye. An less-intrusive procedure is to manually roll the eyelash
out several times a day while the lambs are in the pens.

A few days after birth, and before the lambs are out of the lambing pens,
you will want to band or cut the tails, apply ear tags or tattoos, and
possibly castrate ram lambs that are not going to be bred. If you wait too
long, castration by banding with elastrator bands may be difficult. After a
month or so, even castration by cutting the scrotum open may be a job for a
vet.

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Subject: Lambing Pens

How long should the lambs and mothers stay in the lambing pens?

A veteran with a strong single lamb could come out after twenty-four hours.
Rookies, and ewes with multiple lambs, should stay in for two or three days,
until the ewes have thoroughly bonded with their lambs. Sometimes, if you
let them out early, the lambs can get lost, or ewes can forget their lambs
in the rush for feeders. You might have to put them back for another day or
two. If you have a large flock of rambunctious ewes, you may want to move
new mothers and lambs to a calm nursery area for a few days before they
rejoin the flock.

It is worth expending some time on the challenge of providing hay, water,
and grain to the ewes in the pens. Small hayracks on the walls above the
pens or elevated above the pen dividers, and clip-on grain feeders, work
well. Ewes inevitably poop in water buckets, and keeping the buckets clean,
filled, and ice-free is a challenge. Some farms have luck with PVC pipe
waterers running the length of the pens. Holes cut in a large pipe let the
ewes drink, and a trickle flow will keep the water from freezing.

After the ewe and lambs leave the pen, clean it out as much as possible,
lime thoroughly with hydrated lime, and rebed with fresh straw before the
next tenants move in.

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Subject: Orphans

What do I do with orphans (bummers)?

Lambs without mothers, or whose mothers don't have enough milk for them, can
be raised on milk-replacer. For the first twelve hours, the lambs should
have only colostrum. Then, one option is to put them in a pen with
free-choice cold milk-replacer from a bucket with nipples. The other choice
is to feed warm milk-replacer from a bottle, which will allow the lamb to
stay with its mother, who may have some milk. The lamb will probably learn
to sneak milk from other mothers too. For the first few days, the lamb
shouldn't get more than four ounces per feeding, six times a day. You can
then gradually increase the amount and decrease the number of feedings per
day. After two weeks, two or three bottles a day is plenty. Baby bottles
work best for little lambs. Later, beer or soda bottles with lamb nipples
are fine. More than 12-16 ounces in a feeding is likely to induce scours.
Unless you like chasing lambs all hours of the night with a bottle,
encourage bottle babies to eat grain and leafy alfalfa in the creep as young
as possible, so you can wean them early.

Some lambs need a little help but not a complete bottle regimen. The runt of
triplets, or even of twins, may need a bottle or two a day to keep up. You
can usually see when one lamb isn't getting a fair share: hungry lambs are
often hunched up; they cry; if they're really hungry, their mouths will be
cold. Sometimes a bottle or two will get them going again, or they may need
a bottle or two a day to supplement the mother's milk production.

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Subject: Care of Lactating Ewes

What care do lactating ewes need?

A good ewe pours so much of the nutrition she consumes into producing milk
that it is difficult for her to maintain her weight. You want to give her
energy-rich grain, a pound a day for ewes with singles, as much as two
pounds per day for ewes with twins and triplets, along with free-choice of
the highest protein hay you have, such as good leafy alfalfa or early-cut
timothy, and plenty of clean fresh water. If you're lambing in late spring,
the ewes may do fine on fresh pasture. Try to check the udders of the ewes
daily, watching for signs of mastitis. A hot red bag, or a cold blue bag,
are bad signs. If you detect mastitis, treat as soon as possible with
antibiotics, both systemic and applied directly by teat infusion. It may
help to milk out a bad teat.

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Subject: Human Health Concerns

Are there any human health concerns related to lambing?

Pregnant ewes fed on silage are susceptible to listeriosis, also called
`circling disease,' which can cause abortions. The organism which causes
listeriosis is transmissible to humans. The UK Department of Health
recommends that pregnant women avoid contact with pregnant ewes, lambing,
newborn lambs, milking, and afterbirths in sheep flocks susceptible to
listeriosis.

Toxoplasmosis, a coccidial organism carried by domestic cats, can cause late
abortion in ewes or result in dead or weak lambs. The coccidia can cause
encephalitis in pre-natal children. Pregnant women should avoid contact with
the aborted lambs and with cats that might carry toxoplasmosis.

There is also risk for pregnant women from Chlamydia psittaci, an abortive
agent for ewes which has an affinity for the human placenta and can prompt
abortion or stillbirths. Pregnant women should avoid any contact with an
aborted lamb fetus.

Salmonella typyhimurium (Salmonellosis), cryptosporidia, a protozoan disease
which affects lambs and humans, and orf (sore mouth) are potential health
dangers from sheep. Appropriate hygiene -- keeping children away from lamb
feces and sore mouth lesions -- is generally sufficient to prevent any
problems.

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Subject: Pasture Lambing

Do I need a barn for lambing? What about lambing in the pasture?

Pasture lambing, with the potential savings of equipment and labor, is more
and more popular, now that the demise of the Wool Incentive Act has lowered
the margins for sheep farming. A pasture is a clean environment, and except
in the most extreme weather, a well-fed ewe can take care of her lambs on a
pasture. See the Pasture FAQ for information on establishing and maintaining
pastures.

The disadvantage is that in many locales, grass growth cannot support
growing lambs and their mothers until late April, which means breeding is
delayed until December. Many breeds of sheep see a drop in ovulation and
conception late in the breeding cycle; the drop off in lambing rates may be
a high price to pay for the convenience and ease of pasture lambing.

You should check on newborn lambs to make sure they're nursing, and perhaps
to dip their navels in iodine. You may want to erect a temporary lambing pen
for the ewe and lamb(s), or bring the ewe and lambs into a shelter for the
first few days. Other ewes who have not yet lambed may try to `adopt' the
new lambs, and fighting marauders off can exhaust a ewe who has just
delivered. Newborn lambs are also prime prey for coyotes and other
predators. A temporary shelter or pen also gives you a chance to watch for
nursing problems, scours or other neonatal concerns, and keeps the lambs
nearby for injections, tail docking, castration, and ear tagging.

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Subject: Are Sheep Wild Animals

Why do ewes need help lambing? Wild animals do it without help.

Sheep aren't wild animals anymore. The sheep we raise have been bred to
produce multiple-births and big, fast-growing lambs. Usually, they can give
birth without help, and do a marvelous job of taking care of their lambs.
When the lambs are too big, or if there are more lambs than the mother's
milk can support, we help out. In return, we get the pleasure of watching
the miracle of birth and one of the strongest and loveliest bonds in nature.

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Subject: Credits

Who wrote this FAQ? I'd like to be aware of regional and other prejudices in
the information.

Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com>, who raises Cotswold sheep in Stonington,
Connecticut is the author. Additional information was provided by

   * Warner Granade <jwg2y@virginia.edu>
   * Paul Isaac <paul@terminus.ericsson.se>
   * Jonathan Jeffery, DVM, of North Stonington, Connecticut
   * Bernie Cosell <cosell@infi.net> of Pearisburg, Virginia
   * Ron Parker <rbparker@henning.cfa.org> of Minnesota

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Subject: Copyright & Permissions

May I use this FAQ in my homepage, book, talk, or article?

This document is copyright 1994-96 by Ronald Florence. Permission is granted
to copy this document in electronic form, or to print it for personal use,
provided that this copyright notice is not removed or altered. No portion of
this work may be sold, by itself or as part of a larger work, without the
express written permission of the author; this restriction includes but is
not limited to print, digital media, and electronic transmission.

The current html original of this document is available, along with html
FAQs on pastures, predators, and haying, on the Maple Lawn Farm home page at
http://www.connix.com/~mlfarm/. An ascii-digest version is posted by script
every 60 days to Usenet newsgroups misc.rural, misc.answers, and
news.answers.

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Please send comments to Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com>
-- 

....Ronald Florence
