The ABC of Lambing (From Smallholder)

The ABC of Lambing

9:43am Wednesday 13th December 2006 in

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MOST shepherds, if they are honest, look forward to lambing with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation! On the one hand it represents the culmination of the year's work and will reflect the success or other wise of the enterprise, while on the other, there are no illusions about the sheer hard work and possible heart break involved.

This ABC guide might help tip the scales in the right direction!

A is for antibiotics. I've never been one for the indiscriminate use of these, but they do have a place in your lambing kit. A bad lambing can not only leave a ewe battered and bruised, but also shocked. Both of these are likely to lower her resistance to infection even though you may have taken scrupulous care with hygiene and cleanliness. They will also help dispel a retained placenta, something that most shepherds will encounter at some point.

B is for bonding. Most ewes are naturally good mothers, but rejection does occur. This usually happens after an assisted lambing where the ewe is too weak to immediately take an interest in the lamb or if she is a first lamber and becomes frightened of the whole proceedings and bolts back into the flock.

You can reduce the risk of rejection by taking the new born lamb around to the ewe's head. If she won't lick it voluntarily, try rubbing it against her mouth. It seems to be the taste and smell of the birth fluids that trigger the bonding mechanism.

In the case of a flighty ewe, pre-empt this by penning her up in a small bonding pen while lambing takes place. If she's already lambed, catch her up and pen mum and baby together. The chances are she'll settle down and all will be well although you will need to keep a close eye on things. In fact, all ewes and lambs should spend a couple of days in a bonding pen if you can manage it.

C is for Colostrum and Cleanliness. Not all ewes come to milk straight away so you ought to keep an emergency supply handy if you can't take it from another ewe. You should be able to get this from a good a farms supplier, but with a little forethought you can have your own to hand. It freezes well so it isn't a difficult job to steal some from a newly lambed ewe. We freeze it in yoghurt cartons, not the small ones, but the large, family size. This will easily see an average size lamb through a couple of three hourly feeds.

D is for Discharge. When a ewe starts to lamb she will usually go off her food and stand away from the rest of the flock. Look closely and you will probably see a thin, clear discharge. This is a good sign that lambing is under way and the more advanced it is, the heavier the discharge will appear until finally the water sack appears. Once this is out lambs should appear very shortly, usually within half an hour or so. If the delay seems unusually long, you may have a problem so be prepared to investigate!

A word of warning! If the discharge is bloody or smelly then this could be a sign of dead lambs. You might need to call your vet if you can't deal with this yourself. Either way do make sure that you take scrupulous care to clean yourself up properly and dispose of all birthing material including dead lambs or aborted foetuses. The ewe will also need close attention as she is prone to infection and will definitely need antibiotics.

E is for Energy! Pregnancy puts an enormous strain on the body so to ensure a good lambing rate with reasonable sized lambs you need to make sure that ewes are correctly fed. This is especially vital during the last six weeks of pregnancy when lambs do most of their growing. Build up to around 3lbs of good quality cake split into two feeds a day.

Protein content should be at least 16% and preferably 17% or 18%. Ensure that each ewe has adequate trough space and continue to feed well for the first few weeks after lambing. Good, ad lib hay and of course water should also be available.

F is for feeding bottles & teats. You need a supply of these handy for feeding orphan lambs. Hopefully you won't have too many of these and those that you do get you'll be able to foster onto another ewe. Unfortunately this isn't as easy as it sounds and I have to confess to having mixed results on this.

We once had a ewe that lost triplets and readily took to a cade lamb of a totally different colour and breeding with no fuss at all. On the other hand, most of our fostering attempts have failed miserably with the ewe showing a furious determination not to accept the little waif even when disguised in the skin of her dead lamb. Incidentally, I feel it is a better option to rub the orphan with birth fluids as the risk of infection is less. If the weather is unseasonably warm as it can be in April, flies can be a pest and lead to the very real risk of maggots when using skins.

There are commercial ewe adoptors that can be tried or you can rig up your own contraption to hold the ewe still. Again success isn't guaranteed and you do need a lot of patience.

G is for Glucose. This is used to provide instant energy and to revive cold lambs. Hypothermia is a big threat to a new born lamb, especially if lambing during the winter months as many pedigree flocks do. If you come across a lamb that looks sleepy, is less than a couple of days old and has a "clapped in" look check its mouth by placing a finger inside. If it feels cold then you need to do something about warming it up as quickly as possible.

At this stage feeding it warm milk is the last thing you should do as it will most probably kill it. In severe cases when the lamb looks as if it is in a coma injecting glucose into a particular spot just below the navel is an emergency treatment that works well. However, this is not a job for a beginner as you need to be quite precise. The best thing to do is to get your vet to show you where to do it at a less stressful time.

Less serve cases can be warmed up by heating. We wrap in a thick blanket and use a hair dryer to gently blow warm air over its body. After about half an hour you should see an improvement. Keep checking the mouth and when warm give a milk feed through a tube. You should monitor for the next couple of hours administering more small feeds. When alert and bright, return to its mother. There shouldn't be a problem with rejection if bonding was already established.

H is for Hands. Your own and other peoples! Always wash your hands before examining a ewe and obviously afterwards as well. Anyone who assists you with a difficult lambing or routine job such as tailing and castrating should also practice good hygiene. Cleanliness has a big part to play in flock health so all equipment should be cleaned and put away safely where you can easily find it.

Bonding and lambing pens should also be mucked out and strawed up with fresh bedding before a new occupant is installed. Incidentally, it's worth a reminder that shepherdesses or other helpers who maybe pregnant should avoid close contact with sheep during the lambing season as there is a potential risk of miscarriage from ewes suffering from enzootic abortion should this be present in your flock.

I is for Iodine. This time honoured remedy that your school teacher used to dab on your grazed knees is still a very useful antiseptic. We use it on a lamb's navel shortly after birth. This helps stop any infection finding its way through the cord which will be in contact with all manner of organisms until it finally dries up and drops off.

J is for Just in Time! If you are in any doubt always call your vet. Yes you will be faced with a bill, but better that than dead lambs and or a dead ewe. Sheep don't normally go in for prolonged lambing. If straining is taking place at regular intervals and the water bag has appeared, lambs should usually arrive within the hour and usually much sooner. Doubt usually occurs when infrequent checks are made so that there is no real idea how long the ewe has been attempting to lamb.

K is for Kicking Yourself! This is what you will certainly be doing if you don't make regular checks on the flock during lambing. If there is someone on duty in the lambing shed 24/7 then this is ideal, but unfortunately this is a luxury mostly confined to big commercial enterprises. Shepherds with a small flock and probably a day job to hold down, need to compromise. A regular check every four hours should ensure most problems are picked up fairly quickly and any ewe experiencing difficulties won't have been in trouble for too long.

L is for Lambing Kit. There's nothing more frustrating than being presented with a problem birth and finding that all your equipment is scattered far and wide! Before lambing is due to start, find a good container with a well fitting lid. Pack this with everything you are likely to need. This will vary according to particularly preferences, but at a minimum it should include, lambing gel, soap, disinfectant, iodine, antibiotic spray, smelling salts, lamb tube feeder, needles and syringes and a towel.

M is for Mal presentations. Hopefully you won't get too many of these, especially if you are keeping native breeds. Pedigrees such as our suffolks are a different matter and unfortunately we get a lot. I spoke to our vet about this and he said it was very common amongst the breed and says that it is because the lambs are so big. I think there is some truth in this, but I also think that we are making matters worse by breeding from persistent bad lambers.

The most common mal presentation is one or both of the front legs back. This isn't too difficult to correct as you can quite easily hook a finger around the offending limb and draw it forward. Once the legs are through the cervix the head should be encourage through and then the rest should be plain sailing.

Less common is when the head is back. This is a bit more difficult to sort out, but whereas you may be able to lamb the ewe with one leg back, you won't with the head back. You have to go deep into the womb to locate the head and bring it forward and may have to push the lamb back into the womb to do this.

A breech birth requires quick action. This is where the back legs present themselves first. Make sure that they are coming through O.K. sometimes just the buttocks and tail appears. If this is the case you'll have to push the whole lot back in and straighten the legs.

Once these are through you will then need to draw the lamb out as quickly as possible as the cord will break while the lamb is still inside the womb. Once this happens it will begin to breath and may possibly drown in its own amniotic fluids.

Next month N - Z.

Clostridial diseases - why you should vaccinate There's no doubt about it, Clostridial infections are deadly! Until the fifties huge losses were common place with many areas of the country proving almost impossible for sheep production. Fortunately a very effective vaccine was developed which quickly brought these nasty infections to heel. Not so reassuring however is the fact that there are real signs that clostridial diseases are making a come back.

With the movement growing towards organic and naturally reared meat, some new shepherds are neglecting to follow a proper vaccination programme or not even vaccinating at all! Organic farming is a proven management method which has to be studied; it is not simply withholding medicine. This is very unwise as these highly infectious diseases spread rapidly and can lie dormant in the soil for very long periods of time. Further more, even if treated with intensive courses of antibiotics, the prognosis is rarely good so prevention is not only better than cure, but essential!

Armed with this knowledge, it doesn't take a genius to see that real hazards exist, especially when moving to new premises, as without knowing the health history of the former residents you may be in for a few nasty surprises! Trigger factors such as management changes, worm burdens or traumatic organ damage can all precipitate an out break and to make matters worse, one of the clostridial diseases caused by C. sordellii is easily confused with calcium or magnesium deficiency. This affects sheep of all ages but in particular heavily creep fed lambs and pre and post lambing ewes. Losses are sudden and considerable What are clostridial diseases?

If you correctly vaccinate your flock the likely hood of you encountering any of the clostridial diseases is small, but knowing what to keep an eye out for doesn't do any harm and may allow you to leap into action without undue delay should you get hit.

The problem with these diseases is that many can only be properly identified after a post mortem. The first sign of trouble is often a dead animal so if there is no obvious cause for this, then calling in your vet promptly is your best option who will probably look for one of the following: Pulpy kidney This is usually fatal in sheep of all ages and is caused by the epsilon toxin of Clostridium perfringens type D. The disease tends to strike fattening lambs between 6 months and 1 year old and is associated with a sudden change in diet. The first you are likely to know about a case of pulpy kidney is a dead lamb in the field. Sometimes, though, live animals will display vague neurological signs or scour. A bad attack can cause losses of up to 15%.

Blackleg In wintering hoggs on root crops can sometimes cause this. A high carbohydrate diet seems to be a trigger.

Braxy Particularly afflicting hoggs, braxy may occur during late autumn when the first hard frosts set in. Eating frosted food, such as turnips, is believed to provide the ideal environment for clostridial organisms to multiply. Death is sudden so infected sheep are seldom seen alive.

Black Disease and Redwater Both are fatal diseases which occur when migrating liver fluke larvae provide suitable conditions. Losses can sometimes reach 30%.

If that little lot has left you thoroughly depressed and completely disillusioned with the whole idea of a sheep enterprise, take heart! As said earlier, modern vaccines have practically eradicated these diseases, that is, as long as they are applied correctly and there's the rub.

Due to their success, there has been an increased trend in recent years to either not vaccinate at all, or to follow an imperfect regime. Both options can be potentially disastrous since as stated at the beginning of this article, clostridial bacteria can remain present on farms for very long periods of time.

Vaccinating against clostridial diseases Follow this guide and you should avoid any resurgence of these diseases and the horrific losses that could result.

1. Vaccinate all lambs with an initial dose at between 8 -12 weeks of age. The vaccine should be administered under the skin at the neck. You don't have to vaccinate for each type of disease, modern vaccines work on a combined principle.

2. A repeat dose must be given 4-6 weeks later. One dose is not enough!

3. Breeding ewes need to be given an annual "booster" 6-4 weeks before they lamb. Don't forget to include ewe lambs which may not be lambed until the following year. This must not be missed as the idea here is that the ewe will pass on protective antibodies to her lambs through her colostrum which should keep them well during the first few weeks of life. Obviously this depends on her own level of protection which again makes good sense to adhere to a ridged vaccination programme.

For this reason, if some ewes look like lambing later than expected, don't be afraid to give another booster.

In the case of non-lambing ewe lambs, don't skimp on giving the booster as you will have to start again with two sensitising jabs the following year.

Clostridial disease vaccine is extremely effective and inexpensive. You should be able to get it from good farm suppliers or your local vet.

(Editors note - goats too suffer from these disease, consult ideally your vet or your local goat club for details of preventative vaccinations) Stop every drop A new action plan has been launched to tackle the problems associated with the disposal of sheep dip. The Sheep Dip Steering group, after consultation with the farming industry and angling and conservation groups has devised the Pollution Reduction Programme which will advise and monitor the use and effects of sheep dip and its disposal.

The NFU's Stop Every Drop campaign forms one aspect of the Programme but other initiatives include, monitoring rivers and streams and carrying out research to provide evidence to support any decision making about sheep dip pollution The Pollution Reduction Programme is available from the EA's and VMD's websites at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/sheepdip or www.vmd.gov.uk/General/sheepdip/sheepdips.htm