Unlike calving, lambing can be a very concise period. Cattle farmers will target a six-week calving figure of close to 90%, while for sheep farmers, the target is likely closer to just three weeks. With such a strain on labour with this rapid increase in workload, having the correct facilities and preparation in place will go a long way towards having a successful lambing season with low mortality rates.

When housing, lying space and feeding space are critical areas to consider when stocking pens, with feeding space often being the limiting factor.

A lack of feeding space will result in weaker ewes being bullied away from the feed face, receiving the refused silage of the stronger ewes which in turn will cause the weaker ewe to lose even more condition. Regarding lying space, ewes on slats will require approximately 10% less space per head than those on straw.

A typical crossbred ewe will fall in to the medium category and will require 1.2m of lying space and 500mm of feed space. Taking a standard 4.8m long bay, there is adequate space for nine ewes to eat at the one time from the front of the pen. Regarding lying space, assuming it’s a bedded pen, the pen needs to only be 2.25m deep (7.5 ft) for there to be adequate lying space. With many pens being deeper than this, the temptation is to add more sheep.

If this is done, then feed space must be created.

Walk through feed troughs will work well and can be used to service pens either side. If using walk through feeders, 600mm of feed space needs to be subtracted to represent the length of one sheep that will block off space where a trough is placed at a right angle to the front of the pen. Where possible, feed out on both sides of a pen.

Ad-lib feeding is rarely ad-lib in sheep, with sheep rushing to new feed leading to bullying and possible abortions, so feeding space is critical.

Using a TMR (total mixed ration) to try and combat a lack of feed space is also not a silver bullet, as stronger ewes again will pick out the grains.

Scanning is possibly the most valuable task undertaken in the sheep farmer’s calendar, as it will determine the success of the breeding season and allow for batching of ewes depending on litter size.

Litter size should not be the determining factor, as thinner ewes may need to be upgraded to the next pen eg a thin twin-bearing ewe batched with triplet-bearing ewes.

Where flocks don’t practice winter shearing, it can be harder to assess body condition by eye, therefore it is important to routinely walk through pens and check ewes for body condition through handling.

Ewes should be housed in pens of less than 30, as higher numbers can lead to a high incidence of mismothering come lambing time.

For new born lambs, colostrum is the primary source of immunity from infections and diseases and is the first defence in protecting against scour and watery mouth.

Where there are issues with poor-quality colostrum, or a low volume, then these issues should be addressed by supplementing the ewe with a high-quality source of protein (such as soya bean meal in ration/nuts) on the run up to lambing.

As a rule of thumb, lambs should receive 200ml per 1kg bodyweight within the first 24 hours, at six-hour intervals, where lambs are being stomach tubed/bottle fed.

This equates to 50ml/kg/feed, with a typical 5kg lamb requiring 250ml/feed.

Extra colostrum should be stored in sealed Ziploc or special colostrum bags for ease of defrosting.

Frozen colostrum should never be defrosted in a microwave, as the rapid heating will kill the essential antibodies contained within.

A source of powdered colostrum is useful to quickly make up a feed as a top up, but natural is always best and the aim is for every lamb to get some ewe colostrum.

Lambing facilities will depend very much on the system being run. Outdoor lambing flocks will require very little housing post lambing, with it only being used for sick or triplet lambs, while highly prolific indoor flocks may need a good number of lambing pens and larger group pens, especially if the weather delays turn out.

Compact lambing flocks should have individual lambing pens for every eight to 10 ewes, while flocks with a large number of triplets that will require cross-fostering may need a higher number of pens.

Hay racks should be used to prevent waste by throwing hay/silage on the ground. Where buckets are used to water sheep, a water source should be located close by and buckets should be elevated from the ground to prevent lambs drowning in them.

Many farmers now have created water drinking points in a 6’’ sewer pipe, with the pipe running between the bars of hurdles with a float at one end connected to the mains water, while holes are cut out for each individual pen.

If doing this, ensure that there is a drainage point fitted to allow the pipe to be drained of soiled water.

Hygiene is often high at the start of lambing, but as the body gets tired and pressure builds on facilities, it can often slip.

Dry pens need to be well bedded down for lambing, and should be limed in between layers of straw.

Soiled straw will be a cold and dirty service for new born lambs, and they can easily pick up infections through their mouth or navel from such.

Slatted pens should be given a power wash before lambing commences, with this repeated if required.

Disinfection of slats should be completed every few days to keep infection levels low.

Lambing pens should be disinfected after every ewe, bedded with fresh bedding and be cleaned out fully after every second ewe at a minimum.

Where possible, pens should be allowed to dry out before rebedding, as again this will reduce bacteria build up.

For flocks practicing tagging, data recording can be done through various apps, but for those who don’t they can use other methods as an aid to identifying problem ewes and potential replacements.

Ewes can be identified for culling through using coloured identification tags where they have mastitis, poor milk yield or where they reject their lambs.

Red tags are the most common and can be used for these ‘red card’ offences.

To identify ewe lambs for replacements that come from litters of twins or triplets and from mothers with good mothering ability and milk yield, a small ear notch can be taken to identify the lamb at weaning time.

Using a colour coding system when it comes to marking ewes and their lambs is also of benefit, as it will allow farmers to know at a glance how many lambs a ewe should have e.g. red = single, purple = twins.

Look to the paddocks you hope to turn freshly lambed ewes out on to. Will they have a sufficient grass cover on them by turn out?

If they have only been recently stripped, the answer is likely no.

Where there are dry, sheltered paddocks close to the yard with very little grass on them, look at ways of increasing grass covers through spreading artificial fertiliser in the form of 15-20 units protected urea/acre or slurry on paddocks that will be grazed later.

Turning out sheep in the days after lambing will significantly reduce disease pressure on housing.

Where weather is still challenging, turning out by day and bringing ewes and lambs in by night will go some way to easing pressure.

In short