Pregnant ewes should be checked every 3-4 hours. If ewes are checked at 11 p.m. or midnight it is not necessary to check again before 5 or 6 a.m. Ewes that will lamb between these times usually show signs at the late night observation.
Lambing Kit
Most ewes will lamb within an hour of their water breaking, therefore ewes must be checked at least once per hour. Any ewe that has not made progress within 30 minutes after her water has broken should be laid down and checked.
Optimum time for scanning will be 80 days post ram removal, any earlier and the scan may identify the ewe as barren and any later may result in an inaccurate number of lambs scanned.
Sheep producers have two options for detecting early pregnancy: an ultrasound and blood testing. Ultrasound detection of pregnancy commonly is performed in humans and many livestock species.
Scanning at 80 days will ensure that the scanner can pick up all of the ewes that are in lamb. Ewes should be restricted from food for about 10 hours in advance of scanning to allow the ultrasound to accurately predict the number of lambs a ewe is carrying.
Another good indicator of twinning potential is early fertility. If a ewe produces her first lamb or lambs when she is a yearling, she is demonstrating early fertility. Many of these will go on to produce twins as 2 or 3 year olds and older.
We've had first-timers with a single go 7 days over before now. Older ewes with twins tend to be early in our flock. One year everything was 6 days late.
Sheep pregnancy scanning occurs at around 90 days after joining and is performed by a skilled operator using an ultrasound scanner. Pregnancy scanning is an important tool to understand the potential of the lambing season and to efficiently manage the ewe flock.
Ewes in early stages of pregnancy toxemia will go off feed and appear lethargic. Their heads droop and they lag behind the rest of the flock and walk aimlessly. Teeth grinding and twitching is common. Eventually, affected ewes become depressed, weak and have poor muscle control.
A good ewe will bag up about 5-10 days prior to giving birth. Again, if you look at her every day, you'll know what a normal udder looks like and thus, you'll be able to tell when it's not normal. My sheep all have different udders, as will yours, so start observing them early.
Traditionally, most flocks have wormed ewes at lambing. This practice is designed to combat the drop in immunity to worms that ewes experience from around 2 weeks before lambing to 6 weeks afterwards.
A ram that is kept with ewes is likely to be overfed, as a ram does not require as concentrated a diet as pregnant and lactating ewes. Some rams may be too aggressive to be kept with pregnant ewes.
Shearing during the latter half of pregnancy is a common practice to improve flock health and productivity. Previous studies have demonstrated that shearing pregnant ewes at mid or late pregnancy is associated with an increase in lamb birth weight.
Ewe lambing signs
The udder becomes engorged, swollen and slightly red. Ewe lambing signs also include the vulva stretching out and becomes red and swollen. Often, an ewe will miss a feeding or separate herself from the flock shortly before labor begins.
As labor progresses, the ewe will spend more time lying down on her side with her head turned in the air. Eventually, a large "bubble" or water bag will appear, break, and expel the water. At this time, the tip of the nose and front feet of the lamb can be felt. The lamb is expelled.
How can I prevent pregnancy toxaemia? Good nutrition and careful management are the keys to avoiding pregnancy toxaemia. Lambing ewes require feed on offer of more than 1500 kilograms per hectare during lambing. If this is not available, provide a supplementary source of energy, such as good quality hay and grain.
'How can you tell when a sheep is in labour?'
Restless standing up and lying down. Pawing at the ground – scratching up a soft 'nest' for the lamb to be born into. Visible straining at regular intervals. Visible mucus, water bag or a pair of feet protruding from the ewe's back end!
Pregnancy toxemia is a nutritional metabolic disease during late gestation in small ruminants. The condition is characterized by disorders in carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Obese and multiparous ewes are particularly susceptible to pregnancy toxemia, which may lead to maternal death, abortion, or premature birth.
Joining rams and ewes for longer than 3 months is not advisable as lambing will interfere with other management activities such as shearing and crutching.
When should you scan? If you are only scanning for pregnancy status (wet or dry ewes), sheep can be scanned 35 to 40 days after the removal of rams. When scanning for single or twin status (multiples), the recommended time is from 80 to 100 days after the commencement of joining.
Keeping Triplets on the ewe
Studies have shown that ewes are capable of rearing three lambs if suitably fed. However, if this is to be successful ewes need to be in a good Body Condition Score and lambs ideally need to be evenly sized.
Most ewes lamb during daylight hours, but management will affect when peaks occur.
A farm family have spoken of their surprise after a ewe gave birth to twin lambs ten days apart, writes Catherina Cunnane.
In our opinion the Dorper lamb has greater growth potential . In Bedouin and fellahin Awassi flocks, not more than 5070 of the adult ewes have twinss. In this study in the three lambings of adult ewes, 49.2% of ewes had twins.