It never rains, it pours! No I’m not talking about Storm Dennis but rather the start of our lambing season. You wait around anxiously for the first new born-lamb of the season and before you know it you are rushed off your feet setting up numerous individual pens where mother and lamb can bond in the early stages of a lamb’s life.

The early stages and hours of any new-born’s life are critical to their care and development and sheep are no different.

Pregnant ewes will often show signs of an incoming birth in the days before lambing with the size of their udders increasing due to the high storage of milk created ready for the lamb’s arrival. Ewes giving birth will often separate themselves from the rest of the flock as to get more space, with most ewes being able to lamb themselves without any assistance.

That isn’t to say that you should totally ignore a ewe as they can often have problems lambing on their own including if the lamb inside is too big, backwards or if they are suffering from ring-womb.

In these instances it is important to step in and assist lambing, usually by locating the front legs of the lamb along with the head, before pulling gently on the legs to allow a smooth passage for the head through the cervix.

Once a lamb is born it is equally important to clear it’s airways around its’s mouth and nose as some new-born lambs can have trouble breathing.

Once a lamb has taken it’s first couple of breaths and you are happy that its airways are cleared, the ewe should be left alone with the lamb to lick it clean and generally get used to it’s offspring.

Once lamb and mother are comfortable together, we move them into their own individual pen as to allow them not be disturbed by the rest of the flock. Once moved into their own pen, we check the ewe to make sure she has enough milk to feed the lamb. It is vitally important that a new-born lamb receives colostrum soon after birth and if the mother does not have much milk, colostrum should be made up and given to the lamb in a bottle.

The lamb must also have it’s umbilical cord sprayed with iodine solution in order to prevent any infection. Finally, the ewe should be given plenty of water and food usually in the form of silage to maintain her energy levels after birth and ensure that she keeps creating more milk.

As lambing continues over the next few weeks, in next week’s newspaper I will be discussing how we gradually move older lambs into bigger nursery pens alongside other ewes and lambs.

The terrible weather caused by Storm Dennis has led to us keeping lambs inside longer than usual this year, but with the stormy weather subsiding hopefully we will be able to move lambs outside which will help with their growth and development as Spring approaches.