Preparation is key to a successful lambing season

James Fitzgerald discusses the key to a successful 2025 lambing season. With preparation, proper nutrition, colostrum management, and strict hygiene, you can reduce stress and ensure healthier lambs.

In the next month, a large proportion of lowland sheep flocks will start their lambing season. As is the case every year, preparation is key to making sure the lambing season is as successful and stress-free as possible for both the farmer and the flock. The following are some of the main points to consider in order to make the 2025 lambing season as successful as possible.

Nutrition

In the last month of pregnancy, a ewe undergoes a period of extremely high nutritional stress. Energy and protein are needed for growing the lambs inside her, producing colostrum in preparation for lactation, and maintaining the ewe’s own body reserves. If the ewe’s nutritional demands are not met, her body reserves will suffer first. A large proportion of problem cases at lambing time result from inadequate nutrition prior to lambing, leading to ewes lacking the energy to produce colostrum and milk effectively. This can also cause metabolic disorders such as twin lamb disease.

To adequately feed sheep in the last month before lambing, we must first assess the quality of the forage being provided and determine the number of lambs the ewe is expecting. Based on this, we can use the table below to decide on the rate of concentrate supplementation needed.

Concentrate feeding to ewes in late pregnancy (last 8 weeks)

Based on good quality silage of 70% DMD

Colostrum

Colostrum is key to lamb health, survivability, and building the immune system. It is essential that each lamb receives 50 ml of ewe colostrum per kilogram of body weight within the first 3-4 hours of life. Time should be invested by the farmer into ensuring that each lamb receives a drink of colostrum within this 3-4 hour timeframe. Colostrum replacements in powder form can be used as a back-up in case of a shortage, but the preferable option is to use natural ewe colostrum from your own flock, as this will have the correct antibodies to combat the diseases present on your farm. Colostrum is often preserved long-term by freezing in Ziploc bags or small plastic containers. Use a warm water bath as opposed to a microwave to thaw out when needed.

Hygiene

Keeping the lambing pens and all utensils used as hygienic as possible was always very important in preventing disease in young lambs. This is now more important than ever as the animal health sector moves away from the use of broad-spectrum oral antibiotics to control diseases such as watery mouth. All lambing pens should be routinely bedded with fresh straw and limed after each cleaning out. The effectiveness of fresh air and dry conditions as a control against diseases should never be underestimated, and every effort should be made to ensure that lambing pens are located in an area that receives fresh air.  Pens should also receive enough time post cleanout to dry out effectively.

When it comes to equipment such as lambing ropes, stomach tubes and feeding bottles, a simple system of sterilising equipment should be in place. A bucket of water containing sterilising fluid such as Milton is ideal for this purpose. Remember to wash all equipment using detergent first and rinse off residue before steeping in the sterilising bucket. Replace the solution in the sterilising bucket routinely following the instructions of the product. No hot water is required in this method, which is also a bonus.

Checklist

To avoid unnecessary complications, ensure that all equipment is purchased before lambing begins. The following list includes essential items but is not exhaustive:

• Disposable lambing gloves
• Lubricant
• Iodine
• Lambing ropes
• Syringes
• Needles
• Calcium injection
• Glucose
• Colostrum
• Bottles
• Teats
• Stomach tubes
• Measuring jug
• Water/feed containers
• Disinfectant for pens
• Marking spray
• Milk replacer
• Detergent
• Sterilising fluid

Good luck with lambing this spring!