Birthing Lambs

Spring Grove Birthing Lambs

Birthing a lamb

On our 2nd day at the farm, we were heading up to the field to check on the ewes. We found a ewe in labour and it needed some help birthing. She was a first time mother and was very scared. Naomi caught her with the crook and my mother held the sheep still. Naomi had to reach in and put the lambing rope around the lamb’s head and gently pull it out. I had to pick up the newly born lamb by the front legs and use umbilical spray to stop the umbilical cord getting infected. The lamb was covered in birth fluids and was very slippery. The mum would not come back to the lamb so we had to catch her. She would not let her lamb feed at first so we had to put her head in stocks. Eventually she let it feed and became a good mother.

I was also involved in birthing the triplets – when the second second lamb was born, I had to wipe the fluid off the lamb’s nose so it could breathe, and then picked it up and sprayed the umbilical cord.  When the third lamb came out, it was breach and came out backwards, but as it was tiny, that was not a problem.  At first we thought it was dead because it was blue, so Naomi wrapped it in a blanket and rubbed its sides to get it breathing.  We took it home to look after it, but brought it back to its mum for colostrum.

Spring Grove Easter Lambing Visit

Over the Easter holidays, I went to Spring Grove Alpacas to help out with lambing.  Lambing is a very busy time of year for farmers, and we went to help Scott and Naomi look after their sheep and other animals.  First thing in the morning, we fed the other animals, and made lamb milk for the sock lambs.  Then throughout the day we would do a sweep of the sheep field to see if any ewes were in labour, or if any lambs had been born.  This was important so that we could get the lambs into the warm shed as soon as possible, to protect them from the cold, and allow the ewe and lambs to bond.

Sock lambs

There were 9 sock lambs at Spring Grove when we went to work there this Easter.  A sock lamb is a lamb that has been taken away from its mother because:

-          It has been rejected

-          The ewe has triplets and cannot cope with feeding a third, as a ewe has only got 2 teats

-          The mother is dead

If it is being rejected some farmers will put the ewe’s head in a stock to stop her from killing the lamb.  Eventually the ewe will accept the lamb, but that might take up to 3 weeks.  It is important to try to keep the lamb with the ewe because ewe milk is better than fake milk.  The first milk, colostrum, is a thick milk full of antibodies, so this is particularly important.  It can only be absorbed in the first 6 hours of life, so even if the lamb has to be taken away, it should still be brought back regularly for colostrum.

If a lamb is taken away from the ewe it will need shelter, lamlac (a special type of milk) and a heat lamp . The lamb will need to be fed 2 times a day. If it is not feeding you have to insert a tube into the stomach and pour the milk down the tube. You have to make sure the tube it in the stomach and not the lungs, because if the milk went into the lungs the lamb would die.  You can tell the tube is in the right place by:

-          Listening – if you hear breaths, it is in the lungs

-          Looking – if it has gone into the stomach, the tube outside the body will be shorter.

Sock lambs are more friendly than regular lambs as they are more used to humans.  One sock lamb, Peanut, was the smallest triplet and had to be taken away from its mother. It could not go with the other sock lambs as it was too small, so it was kept in the house, in a laundry basket, with a nappy on.  She would climb out of the basket and come to have a cuddle with us.  It was very sweet.