Lambing

For years we have seen demand for 5 and 10kg bags of lamb milk replacer. But if we take a closer look at how much powder it takes to rear a lamb…should we really be buying these small bags?

Hygiene is crucial during lambing to help reduce stock losses through infections such as; watery mouth, joint ill and scours, and mastitis and metritis in ewes.

The preparation of lambs for weaning is a vital process to reduce the risk of a growth check during the transition from milk and to ensure lambs continue to thrive. It is therefore important to ensure lambs have access to clean and fresh water; high quality concentrates and a sufficient source of roughage alongside their milk supply. The type of roughage supplied can influence many factors, such as rumen development.

Discover the comminly asked Lamb Rearing questions. We begin with 'how much labour can be saved by swapping from bottle feeding to ad lib feeding milk to lambs?'

Practical management at tupping has a beneficial impact on both the profitability and practicalities at lambing. Effective and reliable marking lets you know which ewes have been tupped, by which ram and when!

Pre-season preparation is the key to minimising problems, reducing losses and achieving a higher lamb yield per ewe, which eventually will lead to improved daily liveweight gain and increased margins.

Lambs should receive colostrum as soon after birth as possible – ultimately within the first 6 hours. Lambs are born with a permeable gut wall to allow for the absorption of large antibody molecules.

During scanning, the results will provide an initial indication of how many lambs are likely to need fostering or artificially rearing. Before lambing starts preparing a carefully planned rearing protocol will be time well spent, since well grown artificially reared lambs will leave an acceptable margin that can be considered a worthy additional income stream.

It’s never too early to be thinking about winter ewe feeding.

Growing and utilising home-grown forage is key to maximising profitability of sheep enterprises. It is important to consider the size of your flock versus the amount of forage available.

Are your lambs chewing on the teats of your ad-lib milk feeders? Here are a few tricks you can try this lambing season.

Read our top tips!