The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: horsemadmummy on March 15, 2011, 09:02:15 am
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Please can anyone give me some advice of what I need to have as my lambing kit for the five ewes who are expecting anytime - have read the books but they allgive different advice so thought best to ask the people who have had to use them - I have 5 ewes.
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Hi,
In my view (and everyones is different):
Essential: - assuming they just pop out and everything is fine.....
Iodine or umbilical spray
Towells (to dry lambs and hands if necessary)
Castration / Tail Rings and Pliers
Gloves
Would reccomend: - assuming they DONT just pop out.....
Lambing aid / Lamb puller
Colostrum & Bottle (In case they wont feed straight away)
Lamb Care intensive (To give weak lambs a boost)
Lubricant (in case you need to "go in"!
Marker Spray (match sheep to Lambs)
Also Consider:
Heat Source (warm cold lambs)
Stomach feeder (Rostrum or syringe and catheter type)
Uteri support (For prolapses)
Thats about it - but you can keep adding to the list - oh! and one last thing - plenty of light in the lambing area - cos if you dont have light available you can be sure they will all lamb in the middle of the night.....!!
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could lamb kick start be given to an poor doer upto two weeks?
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Hi,
This is what the blurb on the box says :
"General tonic and rapid energy with a nutritional boost for weak and growing lambs. Helps provide support for lambs during disease. "
So as WG says it wouldnt do any harm.
But as with most lamb products - they are best administered as soon after birth as possible - especially the Lamb Care intensive.
Thanks
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I have:
Iodene spray for lambs umbilical,
Examination gloves and antiseptic lubricant incase i have to assist but i've hardly ever had to,
Castration/tail rubber bands and applicator,
Sachet of colostrum and stomach tube with attached syringe,
also a white board to make notes with a tick chart to make sure i don't forget anything because i'm very scatty.
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I also have a bottle of pen and strep (antibiotic) and syringes and needles, in case i have to intervene in a delivery in which case i give this to the ewe.
for turnout i have spray marker so that each lamb and ewe are numbered , different colours for twins and triplets, this makes it easy to check that the mothers and babes are together.
crovect for the ewe to prevent flystrike and wormer for the ewe.
foot rot shears to trim the ewes feet on turnout
i don't dry the lambs but i do bring them into the barn after the initial licking by the ewe so they are on dry straw.
I also tag the lambs before turnout but a lot of people don't do this as they feel their lambs are too small i personally think the wiltshire horn lambs can cope.
Hope you enjoy your lambing it's such a wonderful thing to watch new life
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As above, but would add and emphasise a torch lamp and a head torch, .....plus a spare..... plus batteries.
A head lamp is fantastic cos you can be sure a ewe will turn so you are in darkness not matter where you hang your lamp!!! ::) ::)
Also for yourself. a water proof jacket and trousers which can be slipped on over your jammies if required for nighttime inspections.... also if you are kneeling in wet and slimy ground it saves your own comfort. Hat, gloves to keep you warm. flask of hot water made up in evening for tea, coffees or for washing hands. Packet of sweets too!
I am lucky, i have a log cabin right next to the lambing paddock. So for the duration, i have the wood burner going, all my sheep books to hand, and sleep on the futon out in the cabin. I can just open the window and listen for sounds of something happening, or make a cuppa and sit out on the veranda, it is just the most wonderful few weeks of the year.!
Emma T :sheep: :sheep:
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Your log cabin sounds like heaven!
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any pics available? love to see it
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the log cabin with the lambing paddock on the immediate right. taken during the winter snow!!!!! hopefully it will be warmer in a few weeks time!
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That looks so cosy. How perfect! :)
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what about 'clipping' some of the ewe's fleece? is this necessary?
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Its best to clear a reasonable path to mams teet otherwise they spend alot of time sucking on clingons ;)
Also a few feed from the rear so best not to have too many danglies to fight through.
Baz
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will electric clippers be up to the job - they are shetlands so have a very good fleece on them!!!
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Hi,
Probably best to invest a few quid in a small set of dagging shears for trimming the back ends.
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You will see from my other threads I ask lots of questions and I am grateful for all advice. I am currently switching between this forum and the farm supplies website so that I can get my shopping list sorted!!! As it says at the top I am a newbie and paranoid I will forget something and I want to make sure I do the best I can by my animals.
If I knew when they were due to lamb perhaps I would be more relaxed
But for the record THANK YOU FOR EVERY REPLY POSTED I AM VERY VERY GRATEFUL TO HAVE FOUND THE SITE AND ALL OF YOU
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Aaaawwww Worzel, you're just an old fashioned lad at heart ;D ;D ;D
Yes i am sure that HMM would have got around to thanking everyone with out the prompt, she has elsewhere! she has also shown huge appreciation for all advice given....
but yes you are right a timely reminder of manners, decorum and patience never goes amiss ! ;) ;) ;) there are others, on other topic threads whose problem is not what they forget to say, but that they maybe say too much; causing potential fall-out more toxic than Japan's neuclear problem!!! :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\
Emma T
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....and don't be paranoid - you will forget something, we all do, but just do your best and you will be fine.
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whats the phrase - keep calm and carry on!!!!
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feel the fear and do it anyway :o :o ;D
ET
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what is a good wormer for the ewes?
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for those who use crovect - when should this be used as is unsuitable to lambs under 1 week - is it done at turnout with fluke and wormer or ahead of lambing?
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we live in an area that has loads of cluster flys and with temperatures around 11-12 and sunshine it wont be long before they are around for sure. It would seem to me to make sence to do them with it when I do the fluke and wormer before turning them out unless of course anyone thinks I should do it differently - our pasture has had nothing on it for at least 3 years. I dont know before as it was a probate sale! Better to be safe than sorry.
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HMM you can use a variety of products against fly strike most common are Crovect, Clik and Vetrazine. Google them and do some research over withdrawl times etc as they all have specific differences......then decide which you want to use. I use clik and do ewes on turn out after lambing so long as they lamb 3-4 months before shearing as the residues in the fleece at shearing are toxic to the shearer and processing wool with residues is not possible due to chemicals getting into the washing water. So if lambing now use Crovect which has a shorter withdrawl for both meat and wool, then shear and use either crovect and reapply every 6 weeks (I think it is off top of my head) or clik which has to be reapplied every 16 weeks.
Apply it to your orphan lambs once they have been turned out to grass in a few weeks time, they do not need doing at the moment. When your ewes lamb you can do them at the same time as worming and foot trimming etc and then do the lambs at about 4-6 weeks old.
HTH
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Thanks Val as ever sound advice - gone off with my shopping list today so that I am prepared for any new arrivals!!!
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If you only have five ewes use the one which you can get in the smallest bottle and with the longest BBE date on it! These usually come in bottles that do hundreds of sheep in one go....
Or speak to your nearest large scale sheep farmer and get some off him/her.