The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: suziequeue on April 13, 2016, 10:22:04 pm
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YAY!!! Our last ewe has lambed :excited: :excited: :excited:
We have gradually improved our lambing routine over the years and learnt ALOT on Tim Tyne's course a couple of years ago but every day is a school day.
What is your single biggest learning point from lambing this year???
Mine is:
MAKE SURE THE LITTLE TRAILER IS READY TO GO AND IN AN ACCESSIBLE POSITION in case a ewe needs to go to the vet in a hurry.
I had gone and collected half a tonne of rotted pig manure from the local piggery two weeks prior to the start of lambing and we hadn't finished putting it all onto the beds. It just didn't cross my mind.
When there seemed an inordinately long time (>2hrs) between the first and second lamb in one of our ewes I called the vet and he had to come out....... which actually turned out quite well because by the time the vet arrived (having got lost on the way!!!) she had delivered the second one. But next year we'll be prepared!!!!
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Keep a bottle of Calcijet 6 (blue lid) and appropriate syringe/needles ready to go in the emergency first aid kit.
Luckily we had some unopened from last year and just in date. When I went to restock, I found our local store only stocks cattle med. and the sheep med has to be ordered >:(.
I used a 20 ml syringe as I find it easier to handle then the 50 ml. Make sure OH /helpers know where to find the emergency kit!
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Cull some of my older ewes who have had repetitive problems. :'(
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Find a raddle that shows properly on really dark brown/black ewes so I have better info to work off for lambing dates...
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MAKE SURE THE LITTLE TRAILER IS READY TO GO AND IN AN ACCESSIBLE POSITION in case a ewe needs to go to the vet in a hurry.
I had the same experience! A ewe had a prolapse and wasn't looking good. Vet said to get her into the surgery as it would be easier for them. Then I remembered the trailer was full of beet! ::) Don't think I've ever emptied a trailer so fast before. ;D
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Get some 4ft hurdles so I can have 4ft x 5ft mothering up pens rather than 5ft square. I had to keep more than usual back from turnout from the nursery shed this year due to the horrible weather over Easter and more pens would've been useful.
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Never tempt fate eg by saying things like "I hope it's as easy as last year" and "well, we had a terrible start to lambing so the rest should be easy" etc!
Our terrible start was a ewe being attacked by a dog which resulted in the season's first lamb being deliver by C-section and a very weak premature orphan lamb. Lambing ended with a first timer getting her lamb stuck, then being terrified of it when it arrived and spending 2 hours trying to kill it.
Hey-ho all's well that ends well (or is that tempting fate ;) )
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YAY!!! Our last ewe has lambed :excited: :excited: :excited:
We have gradually improved our lambing routine over the years and learnt ALOT on Tim Tyne's course a couple of years ago but every day is a school day.
What is your single biggest learning point from lambing this year???
Mine is:
MAKE SURE THE LITTLE TRAILER IS READY TO GO AND IN AN ACCESSIBLE POSITION in case a ewe needs to go to the vet in a hurry.
I had gone and collected half a tonne of rotted pig manure from the local piggery two weeks prior to the start of lambing and we hadn't finished putting it all onto the beds. It just didn't cross my mind.
When there seemed an inordinately long time (>2hrs) between the first and second lamb in one of our ewes I called the vet and he had to come out....... which actually turned out quite well because by the time the vet arrived (having got lost on the way!!!) she had delivered the second one. But next year we'll be prepared!!!!
Maybe the real lesson here is ''leave them to it a bit longer'' ?
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Well - how long is a "bit longer"? Last year I left it one hour then pulled the lamb but I felt that I could have "waited a bit longer"...... so this year I waited two hours and the lamb was still very far back and I couldn't feel the feet.
When I used to do Obstetrics, something magical used to happen to labouring women when The words "Emergency Section" or "Call the Consultant" were used. The same thing happened in this case.
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Well - how long is a "bit longer"? Last year I left it one hour then pulled the lamb but I felt that I could have "waited a bit longer"...... so this year I waited two hours and the lamb was still very far back and I couldn't feel the feet.
When I used to do Obstetrics, something magical used to happen to labouring women when The words "Emergency Section" or "Call the Consultant" were used. The same thing happened in this case.
That of course is the £1M question ;) But I would wager that many ewes are interfered with that would do their own thing in time
Yesterday morning I had a ewe scanned with trips that had just one at foot , I left her but passed by about 3 hrs later with a neighbouring sheep farmer in the truck (he was just being nosy) ---he thought I was mad to leave her and wanted to catch her up but I left her and on my way home in the evening she had 3 lambs asleep next to her. Her lambing process took 8 hrs I think....sometimes it just takes a while
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Well I am sure the Vets are well placed to use some discretion on the order they make their calls. Ours are typically at least an hour away, longer in rush hour traffic. So I might call them after 2 hours for a twin especially if I thought the ewe was becoming distressed, if only to give them a heads up that a come quick call might follow.
But actually what I learnt was rather different... Having too few to scan I expected the first timer to produce a single, but she was huge so thought twins possible, she had an enormous single. We went in for dinner, came out an hour later to check afterbirth etc to find two more hooves sticking out. Another enormous twin. So I learnt I know nothing!
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learning from other peoples mistakes ;D .. I've yet to start lambing this year!
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Wood shavings are very absorbent!
Lambed indoors for the first time this year (not by choice, only cos we've just moved to a new place and the fields are like swimming pools) ... and used wood shavings as a base layer with straw on top for their bedding. Spent last weekend clearing it out as lambing is mostly over for me now and am very impressed with the wood shavings' performance. Means I have a lot less bulk to put on the manure heap than I would if I'd just used straw.
Dull I know, sorry! :)
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Not to believe its going well too early! Our first 25% went well, the second 50% has been bloody dreadful and we've lost 25% of total headcount of lambs. Almost put off of lambing again. Fingers crossed for the last 25%! :fc:
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Wood shavings are very absorbent!
I like this Foobar - will defo consider next year, after having to clear out tons of straw.
I learnt that my ewes (slightly flighty Jacobs) definitely do not like being watched. They'll only lamb if I go away. I did sneakily watch one with the binoculars though...
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I learned that if you're sitting with a tup lamb on your lap to give it a bottle, and feel a lovely warm feeling sweeping down your legs, that might not actually be love after all ;D.
Oh, and I've learned to use straw instead of shavings. They've all got bits of shavings in their wool now, and it's going to be hell to remove! :innocent:
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Same as every year really.........Don't leave the tap on. Think twenty steps ahead of lambs. Covert baler twine. Remember to keep all 500 ml pop bottles. Remember that you WILL be mugged every day.
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A very odd thing, we had a lamb that got her head caught between the gate and the post, all she could do was writhe on the ground. Took her to the vets expecting her to be put down, she has been on steroids for nearly two weeks and is up and jumping and almost normal. When she was down we had to bath her because of the urine. My oh got some nappies and it worked, sounds odd but she was dry and the nappy wet, needed changing about 5 times a day! So next year I will have some nappies for any I may have to nurse. :eyelashes:
The other thing is don't be too confident about leaving them to get on with it, a breach lamb can die quite quickly if not rescued, there is nothing wrong with having a feel if you think it's gone on long enough.
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Buy plentiful supplies before hand so when the rep who you buy all your animal health products rings to ask if you need anything, you don't have to ask him for gin and tonic! On the other hand, I'm not expecting it to be on ours next bill, so maybe that was a good way of doing it. He even brought a lemon.
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The other thing is don't be too confident about leaving them to get on with it, a breach lamb can die quite quickly if not rescued, there is nothing wrong with having a feel if you think it's gone on long enough.
Yes - I have to say that the deciding factor for me in calling the vet this time was that I wasn't confident in the lie once I had had a feel.
I thought the lamb might have a leg back or something which was stopping it coming.
On reflection and in disucssion with the vet, I think I could have been more "assertive" in my internal examination - and then I would been able to discern that indeed the lie was normal and let her labour on. So that's one for next year.
However, next time I will tell the ewe that I am calling the vet and then go off for a cup of coffee and see if it has the miraculous effect that I have experienced with humans in the past and in my ewe this time.
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Never assume a ewe isn't pregnant.
I had 2 lamb that I thought were barren. It seems Swaledales hide singles (and udders) very well...
Never, ever say "Lambing went well. We didn't lose any!" I found an aborted lamb in the field the afternoon of the morning I said that. :(
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Ah, yes, I checked one ewe that scanned with a single three times, very thoroughly. Second lamber, no sign of enlarged vulva, udder development or live lamb and decided she'd lost the lamb. 22.5 weeks after the ram came out I find her standing next to a cold lamb still in the bag. She's now in an adopter with one of my neighbour's triplet Berrichons and will hopefully use all that milk to good effect.
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I'll be finding a different scanner for next year ... 33% have been wrong so far this year :(
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The size of the ewes, their udders and 'girly bits' are no indication of the order in which they will lamb, or how many they will have! I don't have mine scanned and bought one ewe in that looked like she was about to explode, and another to keep her company who wasn't far off in size. I guessed the first one correctly, and luckily was on hand to correct two misrepresented lambs. But ten others lambed before the other one, many of them a fraction of her size. The second one to lamb looked quite small, didn't have much in the way of an udder and had quads!! :o
And mainly, that every year brings problems of a kind you haven't encountered before ::)
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I was reminded at least twice this year that going with my instinct is the right thing to do .... if I think a ewe is struggling ... she usually is .... and help too early (as long as cervix is fully open) is less likely to be a problem than help too late!
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Well - how long is a "bit longer"? Last year I left it one hour then pulled the lamb but I felt that I could have "waited a bit longer"...... so this year I waited two hours and the lamb was still very far back and I couldn't feel the feet.
When I used to do Obstetrics, something magical used to happen to labouring women when The words "Emergency Section" or "Call the Consultant" were used. The same thing happened in this case.
That of course is the £1M question ;) But I would wager that many ewes are interfered with that would do their own thing in time
Yesterday morning I had a ewe scanned with trips that had just one at foot , I left her but passed by about 3 hrs later with a neighbouring sheep farmer in the truck (he was just being nosy) ---he thought I was mad to leave her and wanted to catch her up but I left her and on my way home in the evening she had 3 lambs asleep next to her. Her lambing process took 8 hrs I think....sometimes it just takes a while
I had a Castlemilk Moorit ewe start 'nesting' at 7pm and then didn't get going very well, but I couldn't catch her in the dark alone. I stayed up until 4am checking for any progress and finally caught her (with help) at 7am the following morning (with the nose and 2 front feet showing) and delivered a strong healthy ram lamb!.... I was sure it would be dead after 12 hours labour, so never give up hope...
The other thing I have learnt is that my 4 ewes have given birth in exactly the same order as last year, I will let you know if they do the same next year.
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Sod's law works double - if you sleep in slightly later the lamb will just have died, if it's sunny they won't lamb, if it's peeing down and freezing there will be Barrow loads and after a boorach a quick finding of your sense of humour and a positive outlook essential
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Nimbusllama wrote:
I had a Castlemilk Moorit ewe start 'nesting' at 7pm and then didn't get going very well, but I couldn't catch her in the dark alone. I stayed up until 4am checking for any progress and finally caught her (with help) at 7am the following morning (with the nose and 2 front feet showing) and delivered a strong healthy ram lamb!.... I was sure it would be dead after 12 hours labour, so never give up hope...
I have found with my CMMs that they won't lamb when you are watching but insist on doing it when no one is watching. The only time I have witnessed an unassisted lambing is when I hid in some adjoining straw bales for about a half hour. The ewe kept checking that everything was quiet and no one about before lambing. It may have been the case that if you had not gone near her for an hour something may have popped out.
Regards, Dave
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Yes - we have binoculars on the bedroom windowsill so we can look out from there without opening the window. At night we open the window and shine a powerful torch up the field from a distance and count the number of pairs of eyes. I can also hold the binos in one hand and the torch in the other and do a sweep of the field.
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Are you pleased with Humbug's lambs?
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Nimbusllama wrote:
I had a Castlemilk Moorit ewe start 'nesting' at 7pm and then didn't get going very well, but I couldn't catch her in the dark alone. I stayed up until 4am checking for any progress and finally caught her (with help) at 7am the following morning (with the nose and 2 front feet showing) and delivered a strong healthy ram lamb!.... I was sure it would be dead after 12 hours labour, so never give up hope...
I have found with my CMMs that they won't lamb when you are watching but insist on doing it when no one is watching. The only time I have witnessed an unassisted lambing is when I hid in some adjoining straw bales for about a half hour. The ewe kept checking that everything was quiet and no one about before lambing. It may have been the case that if you had not gone near her for an hour something may have popped out.
Regards, Dave
I admit I didn't make it clear that I didn't watch the ewe all night but at hourly intervals from about 10pm. Each time I looked nothing seemed to have changed. so I had two attempts at catching her in the dark without success and of course by then she was spooked. At 3am I rang the vet as I could see a foot but still no further progress, but the vet couldn't see the point in her coming out to watch it run round the field in the dark, so we agreed to wait until morning. I went to bed from about 4am until 6am when I knew I had help to get her in. When we finally caught her with a crook and a rugby tackle, the nose and front feet were showing and once inside I pulled the lamb out expecting it to be dead, but as I said it was strong and healthy. I don't think she would have parted with it on her own.
Many thanks for the advice though.... :thumbsup:
Brian
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Are you pleased with Humbug's lambs?
Absolutely. :excited: :excited: :hug: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
I won't bore the rest of the forum with the details but I think we might have a corker. I will have to send pix.
No lambs less than 3kg. All lambed unassisted and over a period of a single week.
I will email Llinos with all the details.
Delighted.