Lambing Lore
by Mary Jarvis * 3-8-00
Approximately 5 months after the rams have been with the ewes, lambing will
begin. You will have shorn or at least crutched your ewes, and vaccinated
them with at least the minimum, the basic clostridial vaccines. We recommend
Covexin 8, but in some regions of the country C, D & T may be sufficient
protection. These vaccines should be given about 4 to 6 weeks pre-lambing
to allow for the antibodies to build up in the ewes' colostrum, to protect
the lamb against these diseases, as they are born without any immunities.
Our favorite Mantra, or slogan at lambing time is: CLIP, DIP, STRIP, SIP. This means; CLIP the umbilical cord, DIP it in Iodine, STRIP the teats of the ewes, and make sure each lamb takes (more than) a SIP of milk! When the lamb is up and sucking, you can go on to the next task. To help prepare for these exciting events, the shepherd needs to stock up on lambing supplies.
 | | newborn lamb | To facilitate carrying the supplies around, we like to use a double sided
carrier that will hang over a 2x4 or panel while we are working with the
sheep. You can find these at most farm supply stores. We have 2 in
different colors. The red one is for actual lambing supplies and the other
one, in yellow, we use to carry docking and ear-tagging equipment.
Let's first concentrate on the Red carrier's equipment:
- A thermometer - digital is nice and not too expensive. It beeps at you
when the temperature has been reached, so you don't need to guess as to the
proper time to remove it.
- Pen and paper (a steno pad works well) to record lambing details such as the date, ewe I.D., # of lambs born, sex, ear tag number, weight, etc.
- Needles and syringes - in case you need to give a shot.
- Iodine 7% - a perfect container for this is a teat dip container such as sold by Premier Sheep Supplies. It will hang over a panel, or over the
side of your carrier, preventing most spills.
- Scissors to cut the umbilicus.
- Dental floss - for the emergency situation only, to tie off when the
umbilicus won't stop bleeding.
- Toss some clean rags in the carrier - you might need them to wipe a
lamb's nose to clear his breathing passages, or you might need them to help
grasp onto lambs' feet if you need to help a ewe in the birthing process.
The birth fluids are slippery and the terry cloth rags give you some
gripping power. Often, discount stores will sell bundles of wash cloths -
these are perfect and can be thrown away or washed up later.
- Metal ear tags - we use steel tags made by Hasco, with the tag
applicator. Each lamb gets a numbered metal tag at birth. Used in
sequence, it makes it easier to tell the timing of that lamb's birth during
the lambing season.
- Lamb carrier. Nasco sells a nice relatively inexpensive plastic one
that can be washed off. I wrap the handles with duct tape because the
plastic isn't too comfortable on your hands if you have to carry lambs any
distance at all. Use the carrier to carry lambs and to weigh them on a
portable, hanging milk scale.
- Hang the milk scale in a convenient location in the lambing barn so you
can record lambs' weights.
- OB jelly or other lubrication in case you need to go inside after a
lamb.
- OB gloves (long plastic gloves that go up over your arm) and latex
gloves are good to have easily accessible. Latex gloves worn when dipping
navels in iodine will help to prevent others from wondering why your hands
are orangey/yellow.
- Small can of scourable spray paint and/or paint stick.
- Deworming medicine - deworm the ewes in the jug to protect against
post-parturient worm rise.
- Toenail trimmers
- Flashlights!!!!! A lot of exciting things happen after dark.
In our Yellow carrier we have:
- Electric docking iron
- Elastrator bands and tool for applying them
- Blood stop powder (in emergency, flour will work)
- Rotoflex Super tags (sold by Premier) which go in the keeper ewe lamb or ram lamb ears, and the tag applicator. We like Rotoflex tags but there are other types of tags for sale, each has an application tool.
- Scourable spray paint or paint branding irons. Paint the lamb with its
Hasco (metal) tag number and put the same number(s) on the ewe. (If she
has triplets, she will have 3 numbers on her side.) This saves uncounted
hours and steps when you find a lamb lost or hungry, in matching it up with
its mom. You can also tell people that you have lamb races every evening
and encourage them to place bets on the winner, thus making more money than
farming ever will. (Grin)
Keep Handy the following items:
- Lamb Milk Replacer
- Pop bottles and Pritchard teats (Sold various places, we get ours from
Premier)
- A metal whisk for mixing up the lamb milk replacer with water.
- Lamb Saver - a 60 ml syringe and feeding tube for lambs that are weak.
- Colostrum - this is the first milk after lambing. Keep some frozen for
emergencies. We freeze it in ice cube trays then empty the tray into a
ziplock freezer bag and pop it in the freezer. DO NOT MICROWAVE the
colostrum as it will ruin it. Defrost it slowly. Feed only colostrum from
healthy ewes.
- Old bath towels for drying lambs.
- Hair dryer for drying lambs
- Lambing Chaps - Keeps your legs dry when you're working with wet
lambs!
- Heat lamps - use with great caution! If too close to the animals you
can burn the ewe and/or cook the lamb. Or burn down the barn. I don't
like 'em, but they have their uses in an emergency. I have used milk-house
heaters successfully, that babies have cuddled near for warmth.
- Lamb puller - in an emergency you can use clean string (I've pulled the
drawstring out of a sweatshirt).
- OB wire and handles
- Gambrel Restrainer
- Prolapse retainer and plastic prolapse paddle. Usually prolapses will
happen after you've shorn and there is not any wool to tie the paddle to on
the ewe. Premier sells a very good prolapse retainer or in a pinch, you
can make one from baling twine.
- Mastitis treatments - consult with your vet for best choice in each
instance.
- Uterine bolus - in case you had to go inside the ewe, to prevent
infection.
- Electrolytes and scour treatments.
- Lambing Jugs (4x5 feet or 5x5 feet) panels to make pens for assisting
the ewe and lambs to "mother up".
- Water buckets - old ice cream buckets are good, and justify eating a
lot of ice cream each year. Offer the ewe some warm water after lambing,
she will love you for it.
- Hay feeders to hang in the lambing pens.
- Udder Wash solution. (I use chlorhexadine because it's gentle, but kills germs.) Make a concentrated effort to wash the udder before the lamb sucks so it doesn't get a huge glug of bacteria before it has gotten any
immunities built from the colostrum. You'll find that you have much less
problem with lambs scouring if you do this.
Basic Meds in your Fridge or on your Vet supply shelf:
- Epinephrine - used for allergic reactions to injections.
- Penicillin, LA200 or oxytetracycline, Oral Gentimycin, Sulfa tablets, or other meds your vet recommends.
- Vitamins B, A, D & E - injectable and/or in premix for feeds.
- Bo Se or MuSe (prescription item) for selenium deficiency.
- Oxytocin (prescription item)
- Corid or Sulmet for coccidiosis treatment
- Kaopectate or PeptoBismal
- Propylene Glycol for Ketosis treatment
- Mineral Oil or Vegetable oil for bloat
I hope you find something here helpful - HAPPY LAMBING!
Author Bio
Mary Jarvis (affectionately known as Mare) lives with her husband, Rusty, at Groveland Farm in Poplar, Wisconsin. Mare was Secretary and Treasurer of the OPP Concerned Sheep Breeders Society for 7 years. The Society decided to take advantage of the Groveland Farm web site to publish a fact sheet on Ovine Progressive Pneumonia and some other helpful materials. Mare has written numerous articles about sheep dairying for industry magazines over the years, and lectured at sheep conferences. When the Jarvis' were still milking sheep, they won awards for Milk Quality, and they basically wrote the Quality section of the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative's manual. Mare is still a director of the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America, the breed association for the livestock guardian dogs that they raise. Rusty was a board member of the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative, serving as a Vice President. His focus was Quality Control. He also served on the Endangered Species Committee of the American Sheep
Industry Association for 4 years, with the timber wolf as his major focus.
They raise Est A Laine Merino sheep, llamas, Maremmano-Abruzzese livestock guardian dogs, and Border Collies. You can email Mare at grovelandfarm@superiorwi.com or visit their website for more information. 
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