My favorite time of the year! Where all of the hard work, time, and effort pays off, and one gets to see how all of the combinations worked with ram and ewe.

Everyone loves young lambs, but how do you keep the ewe healthy and well managed, prior to the lambs hitting the ground?

A big question that is vital to the successful birth of your new lambs. I will briefly touch on a few of the basics of breeding season: Tips that may help you prepare yourself and your ewe(s) for her lambs.

Some Good Things To Know: Gestation Period ~ How long your ewe will carry her lambs? --Typically, sheep carry their lambs 5 months. Approximately 147 to 153 calendar days is a good rule of thumb. From the date the ewe is bred, count these days forward in your calendar and you will have a good estimately of when to expect lambs to be born.

Marking Your Breeding Ram-- If you would like the most accurate lambing date for your ewes, the best method is to mark your ram. You may wish to purchase a ram marking harness and crayons to insert on the harness or paint mark your ram each day he is in with the ewes. Harnesses can be purchased through livestock supply catalogs, or at your local feed store. There are pros and cons to these harnesses and the crayons unfortunately may only last a couple of days, but harnesses are an appropriate attire for your breeding ram.

Personally, we like to paint our stud rams each evening with an oil based non-toxic paint applied to the ram's brisket (chest area, right between the front legs). We leave about ½ inch of fleece on his chest in that area to hold the paint, and we repaint each day. If you use this method it is nice to have a friendly ram to work on. If you are a novice, please get plenty of help with this job! Rams become very aggressive and territorial when running with the ewes. Even the most well mannered ram can turn nasty, so get help and never turn your back on any ram when entering their pen or pasture. This operation is most successful when 2 people are working on the ram, one to hold him still, and the other to do the painting.

Give Proper Vaccinations To Your Ewe Flock --Prior to turning your brood ewes in with the ram you may wish to give them appropriate vaccinations for diseases that may be affecting other sheep in your area. If you know you are in a Selenium deficient area you may wish to use a Vitamin E/Selenium vaccine on your ewes. Perhaps you may be exposed to gnats that carry the Blue Tongue virus or flocks in your area have been exposed to cases of abortion. Preventative vaccines may be appropriate here. Check with your veterinarian for vaccines suitable for sheep where you live.

Don't Forget To Vaccinate Your Breeding Ram Too! An annual vaccination is available for them as well.

We like to give all vaccinations at least 2-4 weeks prior to the ewes breeding with the ram. Some vaccinations can cause serious adverse effects to the ewes and their unborn lambs in early gestation. It is much safer NOT to vaccinate pregnant ewes unless the vaccine is designed for pregnancy, or your veterinarian has given you the green light to use it on your pregnant sheep. When in doubt, always ask! Your best defense for keeping your sheep healthy, and minimizing lambing problems, is a good vaccination program for your flock.

Worm Your Ram and Ewe Flock-- Prior to breeding, be sure your sheep have been wormed with a good commercial wormer. Check with your vet for the different types, styles, and brands that are safe and suitable for sheep.

Shear Your Breeding Ewes and Breeding Ram-- Shearing your ewes and ram with a good feet trim is ideal before breeding. This makes the ewes and ram much more cooler and comfortable. Shearing can also create an excellent environment for the ewes to begin to cycle earlier. Ewes that cycle early will help bring more ewes "in" to their heat cycles and earlier lambs will result. This is a proven fact with most flocks that shear versus non-shorn ewes that are turned in with the ram.

Flush Your Ewes-- Flushing is an action taken to slightly rise the nutrition level in your ewes prior to breeding. Giving small amounts of grain or higher quality legume feed or lush pasture 2 weeks prior to breeding can improve your ewes fertility and increase chances for twinning in your flock.

Ideally we all try to encourage our ewes to raise twins. Sometimes they will raise a single lamb and other times you may see triplets! Triplets are a hardship for most ewes to raise, but some sheep breeds triple often, with little or no help from the shepherd, in raising the large brood. Quads and Quints are more infrequent (thankfully) and probably will need extra attention and milk supplementation. Keep plenty of Milk Replacer on hand during lambing season, just in case!!

If you wish to flush, do the following for 2 weeks prior to turning in ewes with the ram: Feed 1/4 to 1/3 pound of grain per head each day, top dressed on dry hay, in addition to the pasture, if you are fortunate enough to raise your sheep on good pasture. We like to use rolled corn or a 3-4 way grain mix. This is about 8% protein and very appropriate for getting the job done. You may also use any commercial sheep grain if you prefer. Grains vary in availability from state to state. Check around and talk with other sheep raisers near you to see what concentrates they like to use for flushing ewes. [Return to Top ]

How To Feed Your Pregnant Ewe: If you have pasture, free choice pasture, lots of exercise and fresh, clean water is an excellent start. If you do not have pasture, excellent quality hay in generous amounts is a must. Sheep convert their feed much more easily if you feed twice a day versus just once. The more you can break up their feedings, the better for your sheep. They also seem to eat better in daylight instead of darkness, unless you have a well lit barn area or paddock when feeding in the evenings.

The lambs growth inside the ewe is the fastest the last 6-8 weeks of gestation, with the most growth in the last couple of weeks. Adding grain to your ration will help build lamb growth and udder development. The more grain you feed the larger your lambs can get. Caution: Too large a lamb can make problems for the ewe at lambing, which makes problems for you! In addition, overfeeding grain can cause your ewe to become too fat and can alter the amount of growth she sends to her lambs while they are growing.

Try and get a lamb birthweight suitable for the breed of sheep you are raising. Large meat breeds such as Suffolk, Hampshire, and Dorset can easily lamb out 10-12 pound twin lambs, and single lambs at 14 pounds. Smaller breeds should scale down the lamb weights for ease of lambing. You can certainly get much larger lambs out of your big ewes. You will find that the larger the lamb (especially if 2 or more lambs are involved) the more risk you run for lambing difficulties, and tangled lambs that may need your assistance.

Remember, you should not need to intervene and help each ewe to lamb. It is almost impossible for the shepherd to be with the sheep 24 hours a day. Your sheep should be able to take care of the lambs on their own. Be kind to yourself as well as your ewes, and try not to get their lambs too large prior to lambing. You will save yourself a lot of money in medications and vet bills, if you are careful about your feeding program!

So How Much Grain Should You Feed? We use a balanced sheep feed the last 4 weeks before the ewes are due to lamb. Feeding no more than 1½ to 2 pounds per head each day of grain. Much will depend upon the protein content of the grain you are using, and the quality of legume hay you are feeding. Check with other sheep breeders in your area for feeding recommendations or ask your vet.

Feeding Supplements-- Depending upon the kind of forage your ewes will have, you may find it helpful to feed them supplement blocks or protein licks. These are designed to add valuable vitamins, minerals, salt, and sugar to your ewes diet. Feeding supplements may not be necessary for your sheep, if the quality of their feed intake is high in nutrition, and well balanced for carrying and raising their lambs.

We strongly advise the use of blocks or licks during gestation for the ewes as additional nutrition. These also help to help ward away pregnancy toxemia. Sheep can develop this just as people can.

When we push our ewes to raise twins, the ewe will require double the nutrition to grow, than a single lamb would. Keep in mind that the ewe herself needs feed, too. Consider that there are three sheep needing to be fed, while twins are growing inside her. For triplets the demand is even greater.

If nutrition levels for ewes carrying multiple lambs are not increased substantially (especially in the last trimester) these lambs will continue to grow inside the ewe, and the ewe herself will begin suffering, to keep her body feeding her lambs. The process produces toxins in the body from the liver called Ketones. These toxins flow throughout her bloodstream making the ewe terribly sick, while her lambs survive. Sugar added to the feed in the way of the free-choice supplement block or molasses-lick, will introduce an element to help avoid toxemia, in most cases. We have found these blocks have corrected many problems in our ewes over the years.

A Healthy Ewe-- Healthy ewes ALWAYS come to eat at feeding time. If the ewe is not close to her lambing date and she refuses food, something is wrong. It is a good idea to learn how your ewes look when they are happy and healthy. If you do this, you will know immediately when something is amiss with a ewe.

Your pregnant ewe will begin to change as she gets farther along in gestation. Between the 2nd and 3rd month you will notice her vulva (back end where she urinates) will become pinker and slightly swollen. At the 3rd to 4th month as she carries her lambs, you should see her begin to make a udder. If she produces milk early and builds a large milkbag, chances are good she is carrying multiple lambs. Some first time ewes may drop milk much closer to their lambing date. This is also true with ewes carrying single lambs [Return to Top ]

Warning Signs Of Ewes In Distress Prior To Lambing:

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Things to do if your Ewe has Pregnancy Problems: Immediately retrieve her from the paddock or pasture. Take her into the barn or a facility where you can separate her from the rest of the flock.

Take her temperature (101 to 103 degrees is normal) Temperatures at 103 or higher may indicate a need for antiobiotic treatment.

Check her udder and feel for the temperature of her bag with your hand. Her milk bag should feel warm, but not inflamed. Note the shape of the udder and check for one side to be more swollen or redder than the other. Mastitis can affect ewes prior to lambing as well as after. Udder inflammation and temperature over 103 degrees may indicate this. If your ewe has an udder probem she may even limp on a rear leg, or keep a leg poised outside the affected side of the bag, to avoid touching the sore part of the udder with their leg. Check with your vet, if you suspect a mastitis problem with your ewe.

No Temperature? Check her breath and see it smells like fingernail polish remover (sweet, acetonic odor). Full blown stages of Pregnancy Toxemia (Ketosis) can sometimes be detected by first checking the ewes' breath. A fool proof way to determine toxemia is to test the ewes urine using a special litmus type tape that changes color, if the presence of 'ketones' is found in the urine. Your veterinarian can do this for you, or you can request a test strip from your vet to test the ewe yourself. If you catch pregnancy toxemia early and treat it, there is an excellent chance of having normal healthy lambs, and a healthy ewe too!

If a dark discharge is found or your ewe is trailing any tissue, this could be an indicator of your ewe beginning to abort her lamb(s). If your ewe has contracted an abortion disease, has been bumped on her sides, or there is something wrong with the pregnancy, she may eventually 'kick' her lambs out: fetus, afterbirth, and all. If this happens take extra measures to clean the area where the abortion took place. Keep the ewe separated from the other pregnant ewes.

Abortion diseases are highly communicable, and it is best to be safe, just in case she may be affected by a disease of this kind. There are all kinds of different scenarios that can result in aborted lambs. Disease may not be the problem. After you have cleaned up the area you may need to call your vet to find out if the fetus and afterbirth should be tested for the cause of the abortion. Sometimes a random abortion can be caused by the ewe being bumped at the feeder at feeding time. Several abortions point to a flock problem that should be addressed by a veterinarian, quickly. [Return to Top ]

Lambing Supplies:

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Your Ewes Are Close to Lambing: What things do you look for when a ewe begins labor? Ewes that are about to go into labor will exhibit several different changes in their body. Many of these changes can be seen externally and can signal you to move the ewe into a clean, dry environment, to lamb.

VERY IMPORTANT! Watch your ewes closely when they are in labor. Ewes that are in labor for several hours and do not seem to be progressing, could be in trouble. A potentially serious health risk for the lamb and the ewe could result, if the sheep is left to fend for herself, when she has a malpresented lamb. If you are squeamish about manually checking your ewes yourself, contact a veterinarian.

We highly recommend that you manually check your ewes when you can, to better educate yourself with the birthing process, and to learn what is normal and what is not. Vet calls are helpful but can become very expensive. If you decide to check your ewe manually, be sure to be as clean and sterile as you can. Use your plastic gloves and lubrication always. If you have to use your bare hands and arms, wash them extremely well, before entering the ewe! [Return to Top ]

What to do When the First Lamb is Born: Hopefully, your ewe has a nice, freshly 'strawed' pen, and her lamb will be born into a clean environment, in case you are not there. If you are there, take the new lamb and place it onto a clean towel. Clear its nose and mouth, and remove all liquid and mucous from the head. The lamb should be breathing!

If your new lamb has not taken a breath, quickly grab its rear legs and swing the lamb like a pendulum, back and forth in the air. Take care so you do not hit anything or anyone standing next to you! This swinging forces liquid from the lamb's lungs, throat, and nasal passages. Put it back onto the towel and rub it vigorously on its back and chest to get the lamb to breathe. Swing it again if necessary. Allow the ewe to clean the lamb by moving the lamb up to the ewe, if she chooses to stay where she is, after giving birth.

After a couple of minutes, get your scissors and iodine ready. Go to the lamb and find the umbilical cord. It may be short or long in length. Hold the base of the cord in one hand next to the lamb's body. Then take the thumb and forefinger of the other hand and strip the cord. Run the fingers from the base of the navel to the bottom of the cord a few times, to remove some of the blood and liquid. Take your scissors and cut the cord about 1 inch below the body. Cutting the cord also discourages the ewe from inadvertently grabbing the cord in her teeth, and pulling while she is cleaning the lamb.

Hold the lamb up in one hand and iodine the navel with the free hand. You can use a small container for the iodine or the iodine bottle itself. Nothing will live in iodine and any bacteria will be killed inside the bottle, if you use this method. We have done this for years with excellent results, but some folks may wish to use a separate container each time a lamb is done. We also like to iodine the cord twice within a 10 minute period, just in case a portion of the cord may have been missed. A few cases of navel ill, have encouraged us to iodine twice, and to use the iodine bottle instead of a small container.

If you see that the freshly cut navel cord continues to bleed, gently apply pressure with a towel. If you notice your lamb standing and fresh blood continues to drip from its navel, you will need a quick stitch job done on the lamb. This is nothing major. Get a needle and heavy thread and disinfect it with alcohol. Run a couple of whip stitches around and through the cord close to the body, but in the cord. Make sure you tie a secure knot. This should stop the bleeding, with no ill effects to the lamb. The cord will fall off in several days, after it dries. [Return to Top ]

Checking the Ewe For Milk: After the lamb is born and trying to get up, go over to the ewe and get her on her feet, if she is not already up. Check each teat by stripping with thumb and forefinger to remove the plug at the end of the two teats. As the plug is removed you should see a nice stream of thick rich milk, called colostrum. This is the ewes first milk packed with antibodies, to guard her lambs against infection and disease. This helps to build their immune systems.

If you do not get any milk at a teat, your ewe may not have her milk down yet, or she may have lost that side of her milk bag. You may get your first taste of bottle feeding, if your ewe presents twins or triplets, with only one side of the milk bag functional.

Weak lambs may not have the urge to suck. There are some great products for energizing these kind of lambs. We like the liquid vitamins, but you can choose whatever product you wish, to help these weaker lambs. Put your finger in its mouth to see if the lamb sucks on it. If it does, you can try and give it milk before it stands. The ewes milk is ideal for this purpose, and the shot of colostrum will do wonders for weak lambs.

I milk the ewe out into a small plastic cup. About 4-8 ounces, or whatever you can get, if she does not move about while you are doing this. I take this milk and transfer it into a soda pop bottle and cap it with a lamb nipple. Holding the lambs head level, tip the bottle, and carefully feed the nipple into the lambs mouth. Move it around a bit until you see that the lamb gets the idea and begins to suck. This is just enough of a boost to get the lamb up and going! Try not to fill the lamb up while it is on the ground. You want them to get hungry enough to rise and find the ewes teat on their own.

If you have trouble milking out the ewe, a commercial style milk 'replacer' will do in a pinch. Give the lamb just enough to warm it, if it is severely cold outside. Be sure that the lamb is up nursing on its own soon. Snow and cold kill a lot of newborn lambs. It is vital that they get warm milk in them, or they will chill and become hypothermic. Chilled lambs can die if not attended to quickly.

A ewe that has no milk will require extra work for the 'sheepman.' Her lamb(s) will have to be bottle fed. Lamb Milk Replacer Powder is available. Keep it on hand ALWAYS, in your freezer.

Newborn lambs need milk every 2 hours. As they get older you can feed every 3-4 hours. The amount of milk needed will vary depending on the size of the lamb: small ones need 3-4 ounces, medium ones need 4-6 ounces, and large ones need 6-8 ounces, at each feeding. Adjust as necessary. Lambs that are quiet are usually comfortable and full. The noisy lambs are usually hungry. If you notice a set of lambs seem to be noisier than usual, check your ewe for milk. We have been fooled by the ewe that has a little milk after the lambs are born, then stops most milk production shortly thereafter. [Return to Top ]

Malpresented Lamb & Assisting The Ewe: This is the toughest part of the lambing process for the shepherd. Malpresentations can be mildly difficult to a horrible mess, depending upon the situation. Here are some examples of lambs coming the wrong way:

*** There are more situations than those mentioned above, but this will give you an idea of what you may encounter when a ewe has trouble lambing.

Each of these situations will require manually turning the lamb or part of the lamb, to enable it to travel through the birth canal properly. Some malpresentations can be left alone and the lamb can be pulled, like the 2 rear legs coming first.

In this case, the head is inside the ewe so speed is important here. As the lamb is pulled in the backward position, the cord will break with the lambs head inside the ewe. If left for the ewe to lamb on her own, she will probably get the lamb out. This may risk the life of the lamb, because the lamb will take its first breath as the cord breaks. If the ewe is slow with the process, the lamb will breathe while still inside the ewe, and take in fluid. Suffocation will result. If you are present and see two back legs, quickly grab both feet, and pull rapidly to avoid the lamb taking in any more fluid than the process of pulling allows. Remember if the hoof points are facing down, there is a good chance you are looking at rear legs.

For more difficult lambing deliveries use your long plastic gloves with plenty of lubrication. Each time you introduce your hand, arm, or anything from the outside into the ewe, lots of bacteria follows. Keep your uterine boluses and antibiotics handy. Ask your vet about certain medications you may need to get you through lambing season.

Ewes that have had 2-3 lambs twisted should have a Uterine Bolus inserted inside the uterus, following delivery. This is an antibiotic that quickly works inside the ewe. After you are sure that there are no more lambs, get your bolus and put it in your hand. Once again enter the ewe as far as your arm will allow you to drop it inside the uterus. It is OK to do this, even if she has not passed afterbirth. Do Not Wait Too Long! If you wait too many hours after the afterbirth is passed, the cervix may begin to close, and you will be unable to use your bolus. Ask your veterinarian about the use of these boluses, if you are a beginner or have not used them before.

Some twisted lambs may be almost impossible to untangle for the novice sheep raiser. This is normal to feel helpless in these cases. If you are unsure about your lambs position, or do not wish to work on the ewe yourself, it may be best to call your experienced vet, or a friend for help.

The best way to handle this type of situation is through experience. You should get used to knowing what a lamb feels like when it is presented normal, and compare that to a lamb that is presented wrong. Your fingers become your eyes, because you cannot see what your hand is feeling. All of this comes with time, so do not panic or fret. Get help for your ewe quickly, and the chances are excellent she and her lambs will be fine.

If you do try and attempt to turn the lambs yourself, be extra careful with your hand, sweeping around your lamb. It is easy to accidentally break one of the umbilical cords, if your lambs are badly twisted. Some of these lambing situations are best left up to the vet. You will know when you are way over your head! [Return to Top ]

Vaccinations and Banding Tails on New Lambs: If you have recently vaccinated your brood ewe with a pregnancy type vaccination or annual update, your baby lambs may be covered for 10 days to 2 weeks after they are born. That is, if you followed the manufacturers recommendations, for time prior to lambing. We have gotten into the habit of vaccinating our lambs very early, but check with your veterinarian for proper times to vaccinate your lambs.

They will require a vaccination for Overeating (C&D) and a follow up C&D shot about 21 days later. If you band your tails at the same time you can purchase a combination shot of Overeating and Tetanus (CDT). At the time you band your lambs tail, you will need to give them a tetanus vaccination.

We like the combination shot because you only have to inject them just once instead of 2 separate shots. Any time you introduce a break in the skin, such as banding tails or castrating young rams, you will need to give a tetanus shot.

Use your vet's recommendations on all vaccinations, and the number of times in which you need to vaccinate. Too much tetanus or tetanus antitoxin can cause adverse reactions in lambs. Always check before administering medications. Use the 'elastrator' tool with rubber rings for banding and castrating. It's clean, fast, and bloodless. It also keeps the flies away! There are other docking devices available, like the hot iron method, but fly strike could be more of a problem for you.

The longer you wait to band your lamb's tail, the larger the base of the tail will be, and the harder the process will be on your lamb. Banding takes only a minute with the tool. Your lambs will be uncomfortable for about 10-15 minutes as the blood supply is cut off from the tail. The tail will quickly become numb and your lamb will be happy once again!

Recommendations for Banding Tails: You should consider banding your lamb's tail at 2-5 days old. Try not to go longer than one week. This is really tough on the lamb, and much harder for you to get the tool around the base of the tail. Hold your lamb, standing between your legs, with their backside facing out. Grab the tail with one hand and place the tool over the end of the tail, with the rubber ring extended open, as far as you can. Slide the tool all the way down the tail until you reach the base of the tail. Try and release the tool when it is straight against the meaty part of the butt of the lamb. Do not crank the tool back towards you! This will remove too much tail structure.

Some rules and regulations have changed in many states and the requirements for tail length may determine whether your lamb can be shown, if you dock it too short. Check all the rules and follow proper procedure when docking. A helpful shepherd friend is very useful here!

Remove the band three to five days after the band has been placed on the tail. Get a strong pair of scissors, or shears, and cut about one inch below the band. Do not cut above the band, close to the body. The tail is dead on the bottom side of this band and by removing it you will decrease fly strike. You may also use a fly repellent on the tail nub, after it is cut, to keep flies away. Discard the tail after you remove it. [Return to Top ]

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW LAMBS!!!