Lambing Preparations: Part 3
Pregnant ewes beg for bagels
As lambing time draws ever closer, we feel good about the steps we have taken to get ready. Our shearing date is booked and the supplies are ordered. The last step is to construct lambing jugs.
A “jug” is a small pen that you put the newborn lambs and ewe into for the first 24-72 hours after birth. Closed quarters help the ewe bond with her lambs, provide shelter from cold and weather, and also protect the newborns from being kicked or stepped on by other members of the flock while they are learning to stand and walk. The jug also ensures that the ewe’s udder is within easy reach at all times.
As I mentioned in Part 2, you can buy jug panels from your local farm supply or a national store, or you can build your own out of scrap wood. We opted to build our own jugs both to save money and build to the exact dimensions that work in our barn. The design is for a two-sided panel that can be fitted into a corner of the barn, in our case the corner between the hay feeder and the back wall. The feeder acts as one wall of the jug and also allows us to provide hay to the ewe without setting up a special feeder for her. The back of the barn acts as the second wall, and the two walls of the jug complete the 4×4 foot enclosure. (Jug sizes typically range from 4×4 feet to 6×6 feet, depending on the size of the breed, likelihood of multiple births, and available space.)
These instructions can be modified to fit your preferred jug size and placement. For example, if you can not attach your jug to your hay feeder, you can use a corner of the barn as two walls of the enclosure. Or build a 3-sided jug and attach it to one wall of the barn.
Step 1: Attach Hinges
This design folds flat for easy storage in the off-season, and is small enough that one person can lift and carry it. We built two sets of jug panels to accommodate two ewes birthing at the same time. You should build one additional jug for every 8 ewes in your flock.
Materials
- Two 4-foot x 8-foot 5/8″ plywood sheets, or comparable product of similar weight and strength
- Six 4-inch strap hinges with wood screws
- Four 3-inch hook-and-eye latches
Directions
Step 2: Mark latch location
1. Cut the two sheets of plywood in half to make four 4×4-foot panels. Lay two panels on a flat work surface so that the edges abut. Secure three hinges spaced equally along the common edge.
2. Place the jug in the barn at the desired location, and mark locations for the hooks and eyes for the latches. For added stability and security, place two latches on each side, at the top and bottom of each jug panel.
3. Affix the hooks to the jug panels and the eyes to the barn wall or feeder. Repeat the process using the remaining panels and hardware to build a second jug.
You must also make feed and water available to the ewe while she is in the jug with her lambs. Because we use our feeder as one side of the pen, delivering hay is easy. How you set up the water is very important. You want it easily accessible to the ewe, so that she will drink enough to produce a steady milk supply.
Step 3: Install latches
However, you don’t want the water too low, or the lambs could climb into the container and drown. A high-sided bucket is one option, although there is a risk that the ewe could knock it over accidentally. We decided to purchase some inexpensive bucket holders from an online livestock supplier, in order to hang the smaller buckets that we get for free from a local business.
To accommodate the hanger, we cut a slit in one wall of the pen and slid the hanger through the opening. There are other options for watering that may be better suited to your setup.
A few days before your first possible lambing date, clean the barn thoroughly and set up one of the jugs. This will keep the inside of the pen clean, so that the space is ready to go as soon as the first lambs are born.
Completed jug with feeder and water bucket
Allow the ewe to complete her labor outside of the pen, and wait until all of the lambs are born. Then move the ewe and her newborn(s) into the pen and lock them in. Add a little molasses to the ewe’s water to entice her to drink it, and make sure she has a constant supply of hay available. Leave the new family in the jug for at least 24 hours, or longer for a first-time mom, or lambs that seem to be on the weaker side. If it is very cold, you can suspend a heat lamp over one corner of the jug to help the lambs stay warm.
Lambing Preparations: Part 2
A toolbox keeps supplies clean and organized.
In anticipation of our first yeaning (birthing season) I purchased some lambing supplies which arrived a few days ago. With an “unimproved” or heritage breed such as the Navajo-Churro, lambing should be easy with no assistance required from the shepherds. A good ewe will give birth on her own and clean and claim her lambs immediately, making sure that they find the udder and learn to nurse within their first hour of life.
That said, it is always a good idea to be prepared for unexpected birthing difficulties, weak lambs, or a first-time mom that rejects her lambs. It is also a good time of year to stock up on vaccination supplies, which will be needed at shearing time (for the adult sheep), plus two weeks and again four weeks after the lambs are born.
Standard Lambing Supplies
- Nutritional gel supplement
- Digital scale & sling (for weighing newborn lambs)
- Heat lamp, bulb, & thermostatic plug (for lambs born on cold days)
- Notebook & pencil (for tracking birth weight, color, sire/dam, ear tag numbers, and potential names)
- Ear tags & applicator (both farm ID tags and official USDA tags)
- Ring expander & O Rings (for docking tails)
- Sharp scissors (for cutting umbilical cords)
- 7% Iodine solution (for sterilizing umbilical cords)
- Latex gloves
- Old bath towels
- Molasses (nutritional supplement for ewes)
- High-sided water bucket (tall to prevent lambs from climbing or falling in)
Emergency Lambing Supplies
- Digital thermometer
- Antiseptic lubricant (for easing stuck lambs)
- Shoulder-length gloves (for obstetric work)
- Powdered colostrum (instant first-milk for newborn lambs)
- Large syringe & rubber stomach tube (for force-feeding weak or cold lambs)
- Powdered sheep’s milk formula, bottle, & rubber teat (for rejected lambs)
- Prolapse harness & retainer (for treating uterine prolapse)
- Rectal ring (for treating anal prolapse)
Vaccination Supplies
- Chalk (for marking lambs after vaccination)
- Dewormer
- CD/T vaccine serum
- Rabies vaccine serum
- Disposable syringes and needles
In addition to the supplies listed here, there is one more item that should be purchased or built. A lambing “jug” is a small, private pen that you put the ewe and newborn lambs into. This gives the mom a chance to bond with her lambs, and gives the lambs easy access to her udder in the critical hours after birth. For large farms, it may be easiest to purchase jug panels from a supplier, however for a small farm such as ours, this is expensive and unnecessary. My next post will show you how to build your own lambing jugs.
Lambing Preparations: Part 1
Caution: Wide Load!
(shepherd shown for scale)
Lambing has been on my mind a lot lately as we prepare for the next phase of our shepherding adventure. Keeping adolescent and adult sheep has, thus far, been easy and fun. Even locating, selecting, and bringing in a breeding ram has been a relatively straightforward experience. We anticipate that raising our own lambs from birth will also be a lot of fun, and of course challenging and exhausting. So we’ve been doing our best to get ready. Although the ewes aren’t due until the end of March, there are details to attend to now.
Diet
We’ve been feeding a high-quality hay during the fall and early winter, and will continue this through the remainder of the ewe’s pregnancies. It’s important to provide enough calories and nutrition without letting the ewes get too fat, as tubby sheep tend to be more susceptible to stuck lambs.
Shearing
I’ve just called our shearer to set up an appointment. Spring is the busiest time for shearing, so it’s important to make arrangements early. Shearing two or three weeks before the ewes are due is important for several reasons. First, it allows us to be able to get a clear view of the sheep’s body, to determine whether they are, in fact, pregnant. Sheep are interesting in that they keep their fetus(es) small until just before birth. Combine this tendency with a winter coat, and it can be difficult to tell who is pregnant, and who is just fuzzy.
Second, shearing before birth keeps the fleece cleaner, and at the same time, provides a clear view of the action during labor and birth. Ewes are also more likely to choose a sheltered location to give birth if they are without their thick sweater. Lastly, shearing provides the added benefit of ease for…
Vaccinations
It’s easiest to administer subcutaneous injections when the sheep are freshly shorn and already restrained during shearing. In the Spring, we administer a CD/T (clostridium types C & D and tetanus) vaccine to all adult sheep. This acts as a booster shot and also ensures some protection for newborn lambs who will get the antibodies from their mother’s milk, before receiving the standard course of inoculations.
There are more details to address before the lambs arrive, so stay tuned for information on supplies and the construction of lambing pens.
Wham, bam, thank you ram!
Blaze strikes a pose for his registration photo.
“Blaze” is a two year old Navajo-Churro ram that we purchased from Orion Rising Farm in South Royalton, VT. When we were first looking for eligible bachelors for our ewes, he caught our eye with his beautiful and well-balanced rack. After the sheep were shorn in October, we were able to get our hands into the fleece, which contains soft, lofty wool and the correct proportion of wool undercoat and hair topcoat.
After he was shorn we could also see that Blaze had a nice solid shape and good body conformation. He was a perfect gentlemen with our flock, and has an easy temperament when being handled. This is an important trait, as offspring will often inherit the disposition traits of their parents. Nasty sheep don’t get to stick around; they matriculate to the freezer.
I wanted to pay tribute to this beautiful ram, who today went to his new home at a small farm in New Hampshire. Though it’s difficult to tell for certain without resorting to expensive ultrasound testing, the ewes are looking bred and healthy. I can’t wait to see what the lambs will look like.
2009: A Year In Farming
It’s been far too long since our last post. In the intervening year we’ve gotten our little farming business off the ground. In the spring we fenced a second pasture to give the sheep more room to graze. We sent our first batch of wool to Green Mountain Spinnery in August, and sold yarn at the Tunbridge World’s Fair and the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival. Our yarn is available for sale via the shop, and in the next few weeks we should also have some washed and carded fleeces available for hand-spinners. If you are interested in grease fleece or roving please contact us for colors and prices.
The big news is that we’ve bred the ewes and are expecting our first crop of lambs in late March. We’ll be posting pictures of all the lambs as they are born, and accepting deposits for breeding stock in April and May. We may also have locker lambs for sale. Please contact us with any questions about our products, sheep for sale, or for more information about raising Navajo-Churros.