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Advanced preparation for lambing

The Challenge

The lambing period is a labour intensive and stressful period.

The majority of lamb mortality occurs within the first few days of life.

Advanced preparation can improve flock productivity and reduces farmer stress.

The following video list and present the equipment that may be required during the lambing period: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfv6YFAbCmQ&t=28s

Preparation of a lambing inventory

  1. Lambing
  • Disposable lambing gloves
  • Lubricant for difficult lambing
  • Lambing “ropes” to assist with difficult lambing
  • Lambing aid to align lambs heads during the birth process
  • Fostering crate to foster surplus lambs to a surrogate mother
  • Basin for wet fostering lambs to a surrogate mother

 

  1. Lamb health
  • Iodine for navel disinfection
  • Thermometer to measure lamb temperature
  • Frozen ewe/cow colostrum
  • Lamb weighing scales to assess colostrum requirement
  • Feeding bottles and teats
  • Stomach tubes to administer colostrum to weak lambs
  • Heat lamp/heat box to warm hypothermic lambs
  • Milk replacer

 

  1. Veterinary
  • Prolapse harness/retainer
  • Syringes and needles
  • Antibiotics (under veterinary advice)
  • Oxytocin to assist milk let down
  • Energy boost (glucose/glycerine) for ewes (twin lamb disease)
  • Injectable calcium to treat milk fever

 

  1. Miscellaneous
  • Elastic tail and castration rings
  • Tail ring applicator
  • Marker spray for ewe and lamb identification
  • Management tags for ewe and lamb identification
  • Taggers
  • Disinfectant for lambing equipment (bottles, teats, lambing aid…etc.)
  • Bedding for lambing pens (e.g. straw)
  • Disinfectant for lambing pens (e.g. lime)
  • Phone number for veterinary surgeon
  • Adequate number of individual lambing pens
  • Plans for additional labour during peak lambing season
  • Nutrition plan for ewes in late pregnancy and post lambing
  • Concentrates/feed supplements
  • Clean water supply
  • Facilities to transport ewes and lambs to field
  • Cleaning equipment for lambing pens (yard brush, shovel, wheel barrow…etc.)

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