# Rules for lambing??



## AriesX (Mar 15, 2015)

I am just wondering what your rules for lambing are?   

How long do you leave newborns with Mom before weighing and cutting cords?    
How long before you start to worry if you haven't seen the lambs nurse?
Do you always pump and bottle-feed colostrum?
Do you always give an enema if you don't see them pass meconium?  

We try to be hands-off but also don't ever want to be negligent and miss a problem in the early stages.  If its not too cold, I leave the lambs with mom as long as she is paying attention to them and licking them clean.  But I'm never sure how long to wait to intervene with nursing.  Sometimes they seem like they want to nurse and just need a little help but sometimes helping seems to agitate mom.  Anyway, just wondering what sage advice might be had????


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 15, 2015)

Everybody will have their own routine and opinion in lambing stuff

Personally, I'm very hands on. I like to be there for the births if at all possible. 

Generally, I'm sitting behind the ewe as she's is delivering the lamb. I wipe the face and clear out the mouth and nose before it is even out all the way. Once it's born, I'll pick it up and pass it up to Mama's head for her to clean off. The cord will snap on it's own. 

I'll then step back and let her do her thing for a bit. Once she's up and working on the lamb and it's starting to get up, I'll weigh baby, dip the cord, and move them to a lambing jug. 

I didn't use heat lamps until last year. We had a brutal winter and lambs were getting chilled before they even had a chance to get up and moving. So now I have lamps in the jugs for the first couple days. 

Nursing - I try to let them figure it out on their own. I generally give the about 30 minutes before I get involved. I've found that if I try to help them figure it out before they are ready, then we both end up upset. 

I think I've only once this year had to milk a ewe and bottle feed her lamb those first couple meals. He refused to nurse with or without help. He did eventually figure it out. 

After a couple days of being in the lambing jug - more if they need it, less if they are doing well and I need the space - mom and babies are released into a slightly bigger pen with another ewe or two and their babies. From there they are released into the general population when they are ready. 

This may be way more hands on then you want to do, but it's what I do. Every lamb is money lost if it dies. I also like a flock that is comfortable and even enjoys being handled and that process begins at birth.


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## norseofcourse (Mar 15, 2015)

This is only my third lambing season so I haven't had some of these situations yet, but those are good questions!

I don't have a scale to weigh newborns, but I dip the cord as soon as I can, and try to dip it twice.

I started to worry last year when one of the twins wasn't nursing after nearly an hour.  He kept trying to find her udder and looked everywhere but the right spot...  I finally took ahold of him and held his muzzle up to a teat - you would have thought I was trying to hold him up to fire!  He struggled and fought, he reminded me of a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum and saying "NO, I do it myself!!!"   So I gave up, he took a nap, then he tried again and eventually figured it out and nursed.

I've never had to milk out a ewe and feed colostrum, don't see any reason to if the lambs nurse on their own.  I have considered milking one and freezing some colostrum to have it on hand.

Mine have always passed the meconium alright.

I try to be hands-off too, but I do like to be there for the births if I can.  I handled Brosa a lot, right from birth (Gracie didn't mind), and she is my friendliest sheep.


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## AriesX (Mar 15, 2015)

Thanks for your insight.  You have more years experience than we do so I am grateful for any advice.  How long do you usually wait before moving them to the jug?  Some of ours drop in the jug - others we have to move.  Do you watch for the whole first hour to confirm nursing?  Do you strip the teats as a matter of course?


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## AriesX (Mar 15, 2015)

Norseofcourse- this is our second lambing season.  We had 13 deliveries last year and are up to number 4 so far this year.   I'm never sure when to help with nursing.  Some lambs just need a little help and are receptive to it.  My husband jokes that I am a sheep lactation consultant .  Some ewes are much more skittish than others and those are the ones we seem to have trouble with.  I think that our presense just unnverves them but I hate to not know if lambs are eating.  I guess we should weigh them quickly and then can weigh again to see if they have eaten?  Even though I've been through 17 deliveries, I feel like a total newbie.

    Of course, last year all our ewes were first timers and didn't know what to do.  We got all of them to nurse but learned the hard way with one that if they don't really eat, they can be in big trouble - especially on a cold night.  Last year we had to save one with a feeding tube and kept her in our bathtub overnight.  It was a happy ending but I don't want to do it again if possible.  Feeding tubes are just horrible to administer.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 15, 2015)

I do things the same way as Purple Queen pretty much.  We put our ewes into the lambing jugs when it looks like they are close, but we've miscalculated and ended up putting mom and babe in after the fact...I always strip teats just to be sure since I have a few ewes with pure cream and it can be blocked.  And yes...I do watch for however many hours it takes to be sure they gave nursed and also that the placenta has passed and then I remove the birthing bedding and replenish it with clean fresh bedding.  But then I only have a handful of ewes and if I had hundreds, I could not do it this way.  I also like to give the mama a nice treat of molasses grain after it is all done


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 15, 2015)

AriesX said:


> Thanks for your insight.  You have more years experience than we do so I am grateful for any advice.  How long do you usually wait before moving them to the jug?  Some of ours drop in the jug - others we have to move.  Do you watch for the whole first hour to confirm nursing?  Do you strip the teats as a matter of course?



I don't wait too long. Once she's finished lambing and is up and the babies are moving around making noise, I'll move them into the jug. Generally 10-15 minutes after birth, maybe. 

I don't stay out and watch for them to nurse, but I check on them frequently until I either see them nurse or I see fat bellies and content lambs. 

Yes, I usually strip the teats.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 15, 2015)

Compared to most people on here we are almost completely hands off. 

We don't "jug" unless the ewe is struggling with her babies. Ours do get places in a smaller pen away from the main flock with other mamas and new babies. We don't dip or cut cords. We haven't had issues with infection. If there was a lamb with an exceptionally long cord we would step in. 

We don't do night checks unless we know some one is close. That being said I do checks until I go to bed which can be pretty late. 

We only milk out colostrum if a lamb is stuggling and needs to be inside or needs general help. I will strip teats if the ewe is tame but most of the time our ewes don't need it and it is just better if I get out of the way. 

I've never given in enema ( but did consider it recently with a sick lamb). 
I generally just keep an eye on their tummies to make certain they are eating.


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## AriesX (Mar 22, 2015)

> most of the time our ewes don't need it and it is just better if I get out of the way.



I feel like being there can help or hurt.  The more we intervene - sometimes seems like the more problems we have but I can never tell what would happen if we didn't.  Sometimes it seems like they need help.


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## SheepGirl (Mar 26, 2015)

AriesX said:


> I am just wondering what your rules for lambing are?
> 
> How long do you leave newborns with Mom before weighing and cutting cords?
> How long before you start to worry if you haven't seen the lambs nurse?
> ...



I weigh lambs between birth and 24 hours old. I don't cut cords.

I make sure lambs nurse before I go inside if I witnessed the birth. If I come out to a new family, I check to make sure tummies are full but I don't stay to make sure they nursed.

No, the ewe feeds the lamb colostrum herself. Unless of course I have a sheep whose milk didn't come in. Had that with a 9 year old ewe who I couldn't for the life of me get milk out until later that evening. Lamb got CL Ewe Replacer until moms milk came in.

I don't give an enema. I don't worry about the lamb passing their meconium. I don't really know of any complications related to retained meconium. (Obviously if the lamb can't go to the bathroom, that's a problem... but I don't rush normal digestion and passage of meconium.)


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