Field births?

[Dean.Collins]

I noticed a lot of people here are talking about barn births/penned jugs etc?

How many of you just let your ewes birth in the field? At what sort of numbers do "managed births" just become unviable as your flock has "too many" to pen up at one time....?

 

[Womwotai]

My first ewe lambed in the field - in a pasture covered in snow. The ewe did fine and so did the lamb. As soon as she was born, the ewe brought her up to the barn and at that time I set up a secure area for her to stay for a few days as the night was supposed to get cold.

My second ewe came up when she was in early labor, leaving the rest of the flock out to pasture. I could tell by her behavior that she was close to delivery and I think she came up by herself because she knows it is a little safer up here. I locked her into a secure area and by morning her lamb was born.

These are my first two so I can't answer the second half of your question about when it becomes unviable but I can absolutely see how at some point there would be too many ewes to create a separate area for all of them. I like mine to run together as much as possible. However I've had to keep the mother ewes and lambs separate here for a little while because the ram was way too interested in them immediately after birth. Once he has calmed down (perhaps once the pheromones have died down from the delivery?), I will try them all together again.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I lamb out all my ewes in the field during April and May! Everything that is due to lamb before that goes in or there are too many loses because of the weather here!
Lol, it never becomes unviable!! Ya just build a bigger barn or add on!!! It takes alot of planning, the more sheep you have, inorder to make everything work! Lol, they are as labour intensive as YOU make them!!

 

[BrownSheep]

We do. We do how ever move newborn lambs and ewe to a separate, smaller, field. This helps them bond with out all the hustle and bustle of the main herd.

We probably lose more than most of the pen births but we don't have the time nor man power to be present at every birth.

The biggest issue IMO is first time ewes "losing" their lambs and forgetting about them.

 

[SheepGirl]

Our sheep always lamb out in the pasture. We never pen them up before lambing. The only time I can think of when we did that was back in 2009, we penned my ewe up at night 2 nights before she lambed and then the night before she lambed. (It was an 8x11 pen.) She was out during the days though.

IMO ewes like to move around a lot before/during the lambing process, either to reposition themselves or to find another spot (even just 4 or 5 ft away) to lamb. So I don't like to pen them up. They should have as much room as they can to lamb.

After lambing, that's a different story. We only jug ewes that need it. And our jugs were the pens in the barn, 8x11, so not technically a "jug" by industry definitions. When my sheep moved to my house, and they lambed, I never jugged them. My one ewe currently has 4 day old triplets on the ground, and she's kept them confined to the sheep shack (8x8). She doesn't really let them out, even when she leaves. If they come out, she leads them back to the sheep shack. She's been a good mom in this cold, snowy weather (Feb) -- normally she has spring lambs (mid-late March). I'm surprised how she's also sensitive enough to the weather that she wants to keep her lambs in. She has 1.5 inches of fleece. Maybe she can just tell because the lambs start shivering.

When our ewes lamb, they stay with the main flock. Our ewes are not aggressive enough that they will beat up a newborn lamb. They will sniff it and if the lamb starts bothering the ewe, they will butt at it, but not hurt it. They watch where they step, too.

Larger flocks (200 or more ewes) do both lamb outside and inside. Depends on the season when ewes are lambing, labor available, and feed & barn resources available. For example, read Premier 1 Supplies' Lambing Report: http://www.premier1supplies.com/sheep-guide/2013/02/a-report-about-premiers-new-2013-lambing-system/

 

[BrownSheep]

Following up on large flocks. I know our commercial producers ship to California to lamb to avoid the worst of the weather.

Back when my family was commercial they had lambing sheds with stoves for after they were born. They only kept them in for a day or two.

 

[bcnewe2]

This is the first time in years that we have lambed in the barn. It's been to darn cold and snowy to stay outside. I only jug if it looks like there might be a problem.
My friend with 300 ewes has 2 barns and lots of jugs. She still manages to run out of jugs. So she has area's where they healthy lambs and moms go quickly after lambing.
I think it's pretty important to jug with numbers like that but say, under 30 or so I've never seen them get "lost" unless there was already an issue.
My last ewe delivered last night out in the field, it was a warm day so sheep were out.
I went out at dark and brought her in the barn, they can get out if they want but I know they are dry and doing well. It rained buckets this morning so I'm really glad I moved them.
As a new shepherd I jugged for 3 days at a time. As I've aged into sheep I've found unless there are problems I don't do very much when lambing. But I really think it's a management thing, some manage more than others. I only keep ewe lambs that have come from good mothering ewes. That helps and the advise I was given as a beginner. Help your ewes lamb and they will expect help and grow to need help. Let them lamb without helping as much as possible and they will be able to do all that needs doing without you.

 

[norseofcourse]

This is only my second lambing season, so I can only speak to what I've experienced. Last year, my sheep (all two!) lambed in the field (I was present for both births). I had decided that unless there was a problem, I'd prefer for them to be out. It was April, so less chance of bad weather.

Rose had a nice normal labor and delivery of one lamb, out under a tree. She was a very attentive mother, and Gracie watched but didn't intrude, so I felt fine leaving them all out. Rose took her mothering duties very seriously, not letting her lamb out her her sight if she could help it, and calling loudly if he strayed too far.

Gracie had her lamb three weeks later. She also lambed outside, normal labor and delivery. She cleaned off the lamb and stood and let her drink, but she wasn't quite the same as Rose, as far as worrying about where her lamb was every second. However, Rose *really* wanted that lamb at first, and called and called to her as if she were hers! So I did pen Gracie and her baby in the barn the first night, and put them in adjacent paddocks the next day (at some point during that day, Rose got into Gracie's paddock, but by then the lamb knew who was mom and when I got home from work they were all paired up correctly).

This year I again want to pasture lamb, but I will keep an eye on them, and set things up to temporarily separate if needed, especially if Rose's mothering instinct goes into overdrive again!