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Soay
Lambing
Soay
ewes are fantastic at lambing. If you have raised animals or been involved in
the birthing process of other animals you will be surprised and pleased that Soay
ewes rarely have issues during the lambing process. And they are fantastic moms.
We
have had many lambs born at Wind River Farm and we have only had one ewe get into
trouble - and it was my fault.
It
was my first lambing season and I saw one of our favorite little ewes floundering
around in her pasture so I went to investigate. Even though I had good intentions
what I ended up doing was scaring her into moving, which led to her labor becoming
ineffective.
Spiking
stress does not even begin to adequately describe what I was feeling! Caribou
- pictured on this page - was a sweetie and was one of our very tame ewes, which
is why I think she allowed me so close and allowed me to help her.
There
I was
kneeling by her side, rubber gloves on, trying to calm myself down, talking on
a cell phone to Kate at Blue Mountain and Kathie at Southern Oregon Soay - mid-wifing
me over the phone as I assisted "Boo Boo" in birthing her ram lamb -
Cobra; I believe I was more upset than Caribou. She went on the following season
to birth without incident, as far away from me as she could get.
So,
my advice is to help your Soay birth by using binoculars.
Practical
Tips
- Check
all your fencing. If you have gaps under the fence even if it doesn't look big
enough for a lamb to walk out from under it, it may be enough for a raccoon, coyote,
or dog to wiggle under. We use chicken wire at the bottom of our fencing. See
our fencing page for details.
- Sometimes
ewes will get up and down up and down up and down, turn in circles and paw at
the ground when they are getting close to lambing. Sometimes they don't.
- A
few days before lambing sometimes the ewes will "bag up" - meaning their
udders and teats will distend. Sometimes they don't.
- Keep
clean bedding down at all times.
- We
have 4 x 8 foot sheds for our sheep and try to have one shed for each 2 ewes in
the paddock/pasture. Our ewes like privacy when they lamb and will normally chase
the other ewes out of the shed. So the evicted ewe will go spend a few days in
another shed. Once the lambs are born, cleaned, nursing and bonded with their
dams the ewes will share the sheds again.
- We
tend to feed extra rations during the last few weeks of gestation and while the
ewes are nursing. Extra hay, pellets, or treats seem to give them all a good boost.
- We
keep less water in our watering bins when the lambs are due. We use the high sided
rubbermaid plastic totes as watering bins during lambing season. We've never had
a lamb get into one, but know of one breeder that lost a lamb that somehow managed
to get into a high sided water container of some sort and it drowned. We only
fill the bins half way - or to the point where all the ewes can reach the water.
The high sides keep the new born lambs from stumbling into the water. If I have
to use a low sided water bin I put very little water in them, and put fresh water
in daily.
- Personality
conflicts between ewes can happen. When they happen between pregnant ewes we split
them up making sure that all the ewes still have company or have contact through
a fence.
- Every
lamb born at Wind River Farm - without exception - has been born between 6 A.M.
and 10 A.M.
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