Sheep Vaccination & Dosing Pre-Lambing

Vandy West

Preparing for my first time lambing,

Going vaccinating and dosing for worm/fluke this weekend, which is about four weeks before lambing is to start.

Was considering also giving dose of cobalt and other minerals at the same time. Is there any problem giving cobalt,etc. at this stage?

Thanks for any advice.

sea12

Vandy West wrote: »

Preparing for my first time lambing,

Going vaccinating and dosing for worm/fluke this weekend, which is about four weeks before lambing is to start.

Was considering also giving dose of cobalt and other minerals at the same time. Is there any problem giving cobalt,etc. at this stage?

Thanks for any advice.

No Problem with dosing with Cobalt. Its just the handling that you have to be careful with. Dont rush the ewes and handle them easily.

roosky

i wouldn bother dosing at this stage sure 4 weeks the lambs will be one the ground and dose then

Vandy West

Thanks for the info!

Any advice on what is essential for lambing that a first-timer might not have?

sea12

Vandy West wrote: »

Thanks for the info!

Any advice on what is essential for lambing that a first-timer might not have?

Get yourself
-iodine for naval spray-
-Stomach tube
-A small pack of Lamb colostrum in case you have a ewe without milk and you don't have a suitable other ewe to give the lamb a drink from,
- Gloves for Hygiene reasons for you and for ewe if your handling her internally.
Lamb docking tail Rings.
- Liquid life Aid or equivalent Electrolyte in case a ewe goes down with Twin Lambing disease.
- Bottle of Calcium-

After that Perseverance and hard work. Best of luck with it.

roosky

http://www.sheep101.info/201/

Vandy West

Looks like a useful site. 'Helping' my neighbour during his lambing before my lambs are due, so hope this will bring me up to speed.

What is the normal percentage of ewes that need help during birth according to the books and what percentage have other people experienced?

roosky

sure it varies completely i lambed 50 ewes last year didn touch the first 30 then had 8 in one night that all needed help due to legs down ecetera

the following reasons may cause you to need to help ewes...
1. ewes too fat leading to over sized lambes
2.lamb not coming right eg breech....due to bad luck of rough handelling of ewes
3.hard lambed ram ...either just a hard ram to lamb or maybe a hard breeed eg suffolk vs charolais
4.ewe size obviously a large ewe with twins will lamb grand compared to a ewe lamb with a single

johngalway

Vandy West wrote: »

Thanks for the info!

Any advice on what is essential for lambing that a first-timer might not have?

Books & CD that are both useful and interesting They will cover a LOT of info.

http://www.oldpond.com/acatalog/david_henderson.htm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manual-Lambing-Techniques-Agnes-Winter/dp/1861265743

I've yet to do my own pre-lambing shopping list but Sea12 has given you a good start.