What do you keep on hand?

[Kmac15]

We really hope the ewes are pregnant. If they are, we are planning for lambs as early as Oct. Having never had animals give birth here we have no idea what to have on hand.

What do you keep on hand for births....

[houndlover]

Lambing jug - a small pen to keep your ewe and lambs together the first couple of days
CMPK and an applicator gun for calcium deficiency
Ivomec to worm the ewe the day she lambs
drench gun for above, an extra large syringe without the needle will work too
Lamb puller
hand lube
sanitizer
7% iodine
scissors
colostrum or colostrum replacer
lamb replacer
Pritchard nipples and a pop bottle or two
Lambar bucket, although unless you have more than a couple of bottle lambs, you won't need it
B complex
BoSE gel
Sheep paste
syringes
tube feeder for a lamb - you can buy something called a "lamb saver" kit from valley vet or jeffers
castration bander
tyvek neck bands - all my lambs look alike and I like to write their dam's name and their date of birth on the band. Lambs get mixed up.
Tagger and tags for when they get a bit older.
Old towels
molasses just because mom will appreciate some in her water after she gives birth
The vet's phone number programmed into your phone

[sbanks]

clarification of "Sheep paste" please.
Hopefully I get to start lambing in the January/February time frame.

[houndlover]

It's a probiotic paste in a small tube, formulated for sheep. I buy it at Jeffers or Valley Vet online.

[bruce2288]

May i ask what makes you think the ewes are bred? If you bought these with the statement " they have been running with the ram for 2 months" I would not count on Oct. lambs. Folks in the south can give you a better idea of chances of out of season breeding. I know spring breeding happens more the closer to the equator you get. Where I am Nebraska fall lambs are an exception rather than the rule even if you run the rams year round.

[Fowler]

Just to add too houndlovers list.

attached water buckets to wall...mine are not...they are taller...but I read too many times on my other forum of babies drowning

also heat lamps if it's winter...

[houndlover]

I actually put my buckets outside of the jug, and the ewe has to reach through the bars. No spill in the pen, no lambs in the bucket.

OP doesn't say the breed, some will lamb year round, like dorpers. My ewes don't ever start heat cycles before mid July here in Oregon, and I've never had lambs born after April in my suffolks.

[Kmac15]

Thank you for all the replies, I welcome any info.


They are Kat/dorper mixes....the breeder I got them from said he normally has 1st year ewes breed at 6 months, so those are the numbers I am hoping with.

[sde219]

Originally Posted by bruce2288

May i ask what makes you think the ewes are bred? If you bought these with the statement " they have been running with the ram for 2 months" I would not count on Oct. lambs. Folks in the south can give you a better idea of chances of out of season breeding. I know spring breeding happens more the closer to the equator you get. Where I am Nebraska fall lambs are an exception rather than the rule even if you run the rams year round.

Totally breed specific - many sheep breed year round and it's not uncommon to get a March/April/May heat cycle with ewes that weren't bred in the fall.

I'm in Wisconsin and we've had ewes get bred in the fall, winter, spring, and even early summer.

[bruce2288]

I did not mean to put anyone down. Often weaned ewes are solding the sale barn in April May with the statement running with the rams. I have had Dorper, polypay, finn and dorset supposedly above average out of season breeders. Running 400 ewes with rams in year round the best I ever did was 23 ewes lambing in the fall, but these ewes were all fall bred also and not early weaned.
I do believe that individuals cycle out of season consistently. I had a tiny "western ewe probably rambolliet cross, short teeth, maybe weighed 110 lbs who consistanly twinned in the winter season and had a single in the fall.