From Breeding to Lambing: A Summary

So this time of year is the normal lambing season for most shepherds. What that really translates to is long restless nights and exhausting hours spend waiting out in the barn for ewes to lamb.

A little visitor to the barn the past few days.

In order for the ewes to have lambs they need to be pregnant! This requires the ewes to be bred about 146 days prior to when lambing should start. This means that the rams were placed in with the ewes back in August or September through October or November in order for them to lamb this spring. Generally this is plenty of time for all the ewes to conceive and recognize the pregnancy.

Two lambs born just this morning.

The first tell-tale sign that ewes are pregnant is the development of the mammary tissue in the udder. This begins approximately a month before the ewes are due to lamb. This is the most utilized tool to determine if the ewe is pregnant. However ultrasound can be used to see if the ewes are pregnant as soon as 30 days after breeding, but most ewes are checked around 45 days. The way the ultrasound machine detects a ewe is pregnant is by utilizing sonar, or sound waves, to 'see' the tissue being examined. The device works by transmitting, receiving, and then interpreting those sound waves into an image viewed on the machine screen, by the CPU within the device. The sound waves are directed towards the uterine horns to determine if there are fetuses in there. The different tissues such as bone, muscle, fluid, and fat appear as different shades on the monitor, which allows the technician to determine if there are fetuses within the uterine horns.

For each lambing ewes are supposed to have 2 lambs since they have 2 teats on their udder. Generally ewes have no trouble raising twin lambs on their own, and some ewes can even manage triplets just as well. However some breeds are known for having multiple births such as the Finnsheep or Polypays. Most shepherds will allow their lambs to nurse from the ewes for about 60 days which coincides with the ewes starting to dry off (stop producing milk).

A day old romney ewe lamb in the feed tub.

Sorry for the shortness of the post, but its Super Bowl Sunday. To make up for the brevity there are 3 pictures instead of the usual one.