[Bionic]

I intend to get 3 or 4 sheep, to keep the grass down initially, but once I am a bit more experienced was thinking of breeding as I would love some lambs and be able to see them grow up.

However, I have been reading so many horror stories on here at lambing time i.e. fox getting the lambs, still born and deformed lambs, lambs who die for no apparant reason, that I am wondering if its more trouble than its worth (not talking about monetary worth).

Can some of you experienced sheep people out there persuade me otherwise?

Sally

[kanisha]

you only gota look at a lamb bouncing in the field

[MrsJ]

What kanisha said.  Just to watch them charging round the field like they are on acid makes it all worth it.

[jaykay]

What you have to realise is that lambing time on a forum is like those awful chrones who tell horror stories about birth to newly pregnant women.

You mainly hear about the problems here, because the uneventful, get-on-with-it-on-their-own lambings are just that - delightfully uneventful. And despite the impression you might pick up here, the uneventful, works-like-it-should lambings are the vast majority.

[MrsJ]

That's true Jaykay.  It's a bit like watching the news - you only hear about the grim things.  But we all keep having lambs so it can't be that bad!

[Bionic]

Thankyou all for setting my mind at rest.  Still, lambing is for another year, when hopefully it will be like water of a ducks back for me 

[Rosemary]

We've had seven ewes lamb ten lambs, two to go (another three lambs) - we've had a C section and the vet out another twice for awkward lambings. But we've seven healthy ewes and 10 cracking lambs bounding about the field - and hopefully the others will be fine too. Fabulous feeling  (not that I wasn't a tad stressed about the C section  )

[Brijjy]

So far six ewes have lambed with a count of eight live lambs and one dead. The dead one was born live but was small and weak and the ewe didn't want to know him. The enormous Wilts (see my thread) was a problem to start with but now everything seems to be fine. The rest have just lambed and got on with it. I think whatever livestock you have, whether it's fish or elephants, you need to be prepared for things to go wrong occasionally. Obviously the more animals you have, statistically more things go wrong. I'm just glad I'm not trying to breed Pandas, them things don't even want to mate!

[Fleecewife]

Bionic, as others have said, what you read on here is not typical of lambing, it's more the problem page.  Some of the common problems I've noticed are people who buy in ewes just before they are due to lamb - they don't know the sheep, the sheep don't know them, they have been stressed by the move and have probably not had the best care as the previous owner was intending to sell them (or had to).  So buying your first sheep just before they lamb is asking for trouble.   Another predisposing factor is keeping animals when you can't really afford to give them the best feed or medical treatment - things are ok when it's all sunny, but suddenly they are ill and you can't afford to treat them, or delay it hoping they will get better on their own.  Another factor is getting the animals before you know anything about them - go on a course, help out a neighbour, or buy some wethers to put through the whole process - well, except lambing of course  - so you know what you are about before your first lambing.   Buying your breeding ewes as lambs is a good idea too, so you have a year and a half to get to know them and for them to settle in to your regime.  Buy the best stock you can afford, from a breeder who pays attention to the health of his flock, and don't start breeding from orphan lambs.   Finally choose a breed noted for its ease of lambing and particularly avoid those know for multiple births and lambing difficulties.
I'm sure there are other things to make your future lambing easier which others can highlight.  Then it's a doddle 

[VSS]

Just to make you feel better we have lambed 170 ewes, and only lost 4 lambs.

A couple of assisted lambings, but nothing major and no serious problems.  As said before, on forums, people tend to post about thier problems, rather than concentrating on the positives.

[Bramblecot]

Why not get someone to cut the fields for hay/haylage this summer - and you can check the quality and quantity you are likely to get each year.  Spend the summer visiting shows and getting to see what breeds of sheep are local (ie suit your area) and, most importantly, which breeds you like.  It is some much nicer caring for something you actually like, especially in the pouring rain /freezing cold/middle of the night.  And we all like different things 

[Windrush]

About 5% of lambs are lost in the national flock - rather less in small flocks. So if you have 4 ewes you'd be very unlucky to have much trouble. But it can happen - just be realistic and be ready to shrug your shoulders and move on if you do lose one. The statistics are on your side - do it and enjoy it!

[Brucklay]

This is only my second year lambing, I started on goats and got to grips with that (sort off). Last year we had 3 jacob ewes lamb 8 lambs - we lost one on the only day we had out the whole year at 2 months old but the Jacob ram was too big for me to handle so I now have shetlands and Castlemilks - 90% bought as lambs so they get used to me and won't lamb till next year but we have 2 of each breed to lamb this year - so far 2 healthy lambs from a shetland she virtually popped them out, hardly a mutter of discomfort - she had done it before though - lets see how the Castlemilk gimmers go 

[Remy]

This is my 6th year of lambing and the worst one!  In previous years the ewes just got on with it, had no casualties, only had to help pull one rather large one out last year from a first timer.  The things you read on here are when people have problems they haven't encountered before, and it's not typical!

Good luck if you decide to go ahead, it is very rewarding 

[wellies]

I was really worried about lambing my ewes for the first time this year and although the 5 of them seemed to take forever to have them all (nearly three weeks for all 8 lambs to be born  ) I can honestly say that to see them all running around in the field and seeing the ewes all healthy more than makes up for the 3 weeks of sleepless nights and worry. We had 8 healthy live lambs and one who unfortunately was dead when I found it. All the ewes did it themselves with very little help from me. The first one was the only one who had a problem and that was as she was still out in the field and I wasn't expecting her to lamb so early so wasn't doing my 4 hourly checks (obviously rather taken with the tup and took on the first day!). I can thoroughly recommend the whole experience. We kept the ewes for a year and a half before we lambed them and this allowed us to get good experience of them and also build up knowledge before embarking on the lambs