Good preparation for lambing lowers veterinary costs, reduces stress for farmers and improves animal welfare, according to experts.

There are a number of key factors which are crucial for farmers to tackle to reduce losses at lambing, according to experts in Teagasc.

Key among these are infection, lack of colostrum, hypothermia and starvation.

According to Teagasc, target losses are less than 12% lamb mortality from scanning to weaning - lower is achievable with good management.

Over half of lamb mortality is due to infection and difficult lambing – both can be limited by appropriate actions on sheep farms.

Lambing

Teagasc adviser, Adam Harney has highlighted that pre-lambing nutrition programmes serve two purposes.

For the lamb, it is essential for the birthing of vigorous and healthy lambs of the correct birthweight.

While for the ewe, it is necessary for the production of colostrum and to minimise body condition loss in the lead-up to the lambing period.

In order to do this, the equality of the forage available needs to be assessed through forage testing, dry matter digestibility (DMD) drives intake and how much supplementary feed is needed,

Scan ewes and group according to litter size. The body condition score of the ewes should be checked, and thin twins may need triplet-level feeding.

One important factor for farmers to get right is the feeding plan for ewes.

A correct birthweight equals easier lambing and stronger lambs, very small lambs equal weak and have a poor survival chance while very big lambs equal to a difficult lambing and higher losses.

Feeding newborn lambs

According to Teagasc, lambs are born with no immunity and every lamb needs 50ml/per kg birthweight of colostrum within the first hours of live.

Farmers should aim to give every lamb some ewe colostrum. However, if the ewe is short colostrum, then they can mix ewe colostrum with cow/artificial colostrum and divide evenly so all lambs get ewe antibodies.

One stomach tube feed is not enough, as most stomach tube syringes are only 50ml.

It is vital that farmers also remember to clean and disinfect all equipment after every use.

Hypothermic lambs

According to Teagasc experts, hypothermic lambs should not be written off and can be saved.

They recommend that farmers invest in a thermometer for the lamb shed in order to accurately assess how cold a lamb is.

If a lamb's temperature is below 3°C, it is over five hours old and it cannot hold its head up, then it is important not to stomach tube but instead to firstly give an intraperitoneal (IP) glucose injection.

Farmers should then warm the lamb 30-60 minutes post-injection once it can hold its head up. A vet can provide instruction on how to give an IP injection.

Hygiene

Patrick Farrell from Teagasc has also advised farmers to keep hygiene levels as high as possible even when working under busy conditions.

He said this includes ensuring there is plenty of clean straw - this creates a barrier from bugs - the use of lime or disinfectant in lambing pens, good ventilation – dry air reduces bacteria survival - and having enough lambing pens: 1 pen per 8 ewes.

Farrell also said that when moving lambs, farmers should hold them by their front legs with their navels pointing away from you.

Other key advice was to always wear clean gloves for lambing assistance and change and dispose of gloves between ewes and to keep lambing ropes, pullers, and stomach tubes clean and disinfected.

If there is no sink in the shed, Farrell said a handy system to use is the 3-bucket system, because this can ensure that equipment is kept as clean as possible.

His key advice to farmers when lambing is to:

Wash - hot water and detergent;
Rinse - clean water;
Sterilise - soak in disinfectant for a minimum of 15 minutes;
There is no need to rinse after sterilising;
Change solution daily.

Flock health issues

Meanwhile Teagasc sheep specialist, Ciaran Lynch has also highlighted that primary health issues can occur in and around lambing time, such as toxoplasmosis, enzootic abortion, salmonella, listeria, and campylobacter.

If these issues arise, then farmers are advised to make use of the Regional Veterinary Laboratory services, and submit samples - particularly for post-mortem and further testing.

Some of the key metabolic diseases, like twin lamb disease, milk fever, and prolapse also need immediate action from farmers.

According to Teagasc, these conditions can often be related to nutrition and stress.

Overall, experts believe that the importance of maintaining hygiene and proper colostrum practices are both critical in limiting lamb infections and reducing losses.