For those of you who may have contemplated lambing on pasture this year, I suggest putting on the brakes for that activity. I know the “experts” may praise the benefits of pasture lambing and having an “easy care” breed of sheep. Let me tell you my experiences with it.

One year I decided to give it a try. I had a breed of sheep who liked to have multiples – twins, triplets and occasionally more. Everything seemed to be going well when I had a ewe giving birth to a single, but when the twins and triplets started coming (all at the same time), things starting getting really interesting. A ewe would lay down to give birth and then another one or two ewes would appear out of nowhere and would try to steal a lamb or two.  The ewes were all due to lamb about the same time and their mothering hormones were running high. Another ewe interfering with a ewe that is lambing is not a good thing. Often when a ewe close to lambing herself steals another ewe’s lamb(s) she may not have milk yet so the newborn lamb, which needs colostrum very soon after birth, doesn’t get milk and dies. Or the stealing ewe may either desert her own lambs when they are born in preference to the one she stole, or the one she stole dies because she ignored it and gave her attention to her own newborns.

Another scenario is the weather. Oftentimes lambs may be born outside in cold spring rain, wind or snowstorms and chill from getting soaked to the bone.  Another cause of death in newborns, especially if they didn’t get that life-saving colostrum milk from their mom.

All this may be happening while the hapless shepherd is elsewhere thinking; “Oh, the sheep will take care of themselves. They are ‘easy care’ sheep that do pasture lambing.” Wrong. Sheep need a shepherd who looks after them. That year (I was new to raising sheep) I lost a lot of lambs. Bodies laying everywhere. Lots of bottle babies to try and save. NOT going to happen again. Needless to say, I do NOT recommend pasture lambing. If a ewe needs help and you need to assist in birthing, a ewe out on pasture may not let you get close enough to restrain and help her give birth.

When you do barn or barn lot lambing, things get a lot easier and you save a lot of lambs (and ewes). I have quite a few sheep so they may not all fit in the barn at lambing time if this occurs in winter with cold, wet, muddy, snowing conditions. In this case I keep them in a lot next to barn and have a door open where they can come in and out. Most of the times a ewe (usually an experienced one) will come into the barn to lamb. This makes it easy to pick up the newborns with mama following close behind and put them in separate lambing jugs in the barn. I want to make a comment about picking up the newborn lambs and taking them to the individual pens. Always pick up your lamb by the two front legs-chest area and hold them low to your leg at eye level with the mama so she can easily see them and will follow you to the pen. If you carry the lamb up high in your arms like you would a human baby that is wrong. The mama sheep can’t see her lamb and will think it has disappeared, will panic and will run back to her lambing site looking for it. This often happens if a ewe lambs on pasture away from the barn and you are trying to get the family to the barn. So hold the lamb low at your side leg and she will come right along with you.

In the barn for lambing “jugs”/pens I use either 4x5 or 5x5 hog size “cattle” panels which you can get in 16-foot-long lengths at most farm stores like Tractor Supply or Rural King. The “hog” height makes it easier to lean over the side to put water buckets, hay, etc., in the pen. I cut the panels with a bolt cutter and hold them together with baling wire. These are very lightweight to carry and can be taken apart and stored against the barn wall when not needed. This makes it easier to clean out the barn later with a tractor and loader rather than having permanent fixed pens.

Another thing I would like to stress is the importance of feeding a good sheep mineral mix to your sheep, especially at lambing time. When turning pregnant ewes out to new grass in the springtime, the grass is full of water and may be lacking in important minerals a very pregnant ewe needs – namely the correct ratio of magnesium and calcium. This can develop into sheep staggering, falling down and not being able to get up, convulsions and death. I lost two very pregnant ewes last spring before I realized what was happening with them. So be sure to give your flock, especially pregnant ewes, a good sheep mineral. A cattle or goat mineral mix will not do, as they contain more copper than is safe to feed a sheep. A very good mineral you can get that is especially formulated for sheep can be obtained from Jeff Hunter Nutrition at Brookston, Ind. You can look him up online. He has been raising sheep for many years, studied at Purdue and has a particular interest in sheep nutrition. That is where I get my mineral. You can also get the mineral with deccox in it, which helps prevent coccidiosis in sheep (diarrhea).

Well, that about does it for now. May you have a very successful lambing season and enjoy the coming warmer weather and sunshine!

Joyce Weaver raises both hair sheep and goats on 57-acre farm in west central Indiana. Contact lambjoyw@gmail.com.